Little Peanut's liver enzymes have tripled

[JennyS]

@Dr. Jeff My lil guy Peanut is a little over 6 (I think). He is a chi mix. 11-12 pounds. Neutered. I have not had him vaccinated since he was adopted 4ish years ago, but was forced to get him a rabies vaccine September 2024. His blood work came back with slightly elevated liver ALT then. He has suffered from focal seizures for years and I thought they had subsided, but they come and go. I feed him Steve's raw food for pets. Just last week I had blood work run and his liver enzymes have tripled to 900 from 300. I only had the bloodwork done because his breath is atrocious and I was thinking of getting his teeth cleaned even tho I am against anesthesia for dogs I was not sure what to do.

I have no idea if it is related to the focal seizures, but now the vet wants him to have a $1K ultrasound. he is going tomorrow for another test where they do something and he cannot eat and then they feed him? Other than being scared of his own shadow he is genuinely happy, When he is not scared, he is a happy little boy who loves to run in the dog park. he has def aged(grayed) a lot in the past couple of years. He is always hungry (unfort I cannot rid him of eating his own poop). I cannot seem to house break him no matter what. He has a dog door, but will go to the bathroom just inside of it and all over my moms house. he also pees in his water bowl sometimes which is strange. I am hoping that @Dr. Jeff can help me figure out what is wrong and what to do. Why are his liver enzymes so high.

 

[NancyK]

This is something to consider but not sure if it is the actual cause of the elevated liver enzymes...

There is a tendency in many raw commercial foods to use what I consider to be an extremely high percentage of organ meats. Organ meats IMO should be consumed in proportion to how they exist in an animal. To save money, the raw food companies often use huge amounts of heart meat in lieu of muscle meat and excessive amounts of liver. This is particularly true for the ruminant animals where muscle meat is more expensive and organ meats like liver are sky high in copper. Liver is also extremely high in vitamin A. To meet AFFCO standards, they often use more organ meats than a dog should consume to meet the crazy AAFCO rules without using supplements. The AAFCO rules are outdated and based upon dogs eating ultra processed foods that are not bioavailable. To me, they have little or no meaning for a raw fed dog. Although raw food is best for our dogs, these commercial formulas are dangerous and can cause problems over time. Too much of a good thing is not good.

One way to help with this is to at least rotate brands and proteins, however almost all raw foods nowadays are using excessive amounts of organ meats. And some will even add copper and vitamin supplements on top of a recipe that includes large amounts of ruminant liver. You could check copper and vitamin A content in what you are feeding. However, I personally believe in the common sense approach where organ meats should be a small part of a healthy diet.

The way I chose to get around this is to make my own dog food. To me this is the only way to know what your dog is getting. It also allows you to customize the ingredients per your individual dog needs.

There are some who say that huge amounts of organ meats are OK because they are "natural" vs synthetics. However, I disagree.

Anyway, this may not have contributed to the elevated enzymes but is a possibility you may want to consider.

Someone said the following which really hit home with me... "Dogs are ruined by abundance and perfected by lack".

Nancy

 

[Dr. Jeff]

Hey Jenny!

liver enzymes have tripled to 900 from 300. I only had the bloodwork done because his breath is atrocious and I was thinking of getting his teeth cleaned

Ah, so this isreally more of an "incidental" finding. Meaning that his BEAM is "normal" (for him) and he's not manifesting any new physical symptoms.

However, there has been a lot of "unrelated" things going on with him. Such as the chronic focal seizures, rising liver enzymes, fears, housebreaking challenges, voracious appetite (the poop eating is probably secondary to that).

he is going tomorrow for another test where they do something and he cannot eat and then they feed him?

Yes! This is the protocol for what is called a pre and postprandial bile acid test. This will help better define the dis-ease.

So yes, the next step if you choose to pursue further diagnostics, is an ultrasound and biopsy. That is, if you need to know more of what is going on physiologically with his liver.

help me figure out what is wrong and what to do

Sure! Whaat's going on is an imbalance in his energy flow. The physical symptoms are all a result of that. Meaning that his liver is showing us the high liver enzymes as a way of his body telling us what to do.

And where to start in most situations is with joy.

What does Peanut like to do more than anything else in the world? Happy Meals (and snacks) and running and playing in the park are a perfet place to start.

Ideally you'd be doing something he loves every 2-3 hours. Even if that just means gazing at him lovingly, petting or inviting him to sit in your lap.

The medical rationale is that you can smooth out and optimize his energy flow through joy, love, happiness and helping him to be his best self. These actions improve mitochondrial function (the mitochondria are tiny powerhouse in every cell that generate the energy we all need to live).

Here's a deeper dive into this approach from a human perspective:

How to Restore Your Body’s Energy and Heal from Within: Dr. Martin Pic

Dr. Mark Hyman and Dr. Martin Picard explore how mitochondria, stress, and recovery shape your energy, focus, and long-term vitality.

drhyman.com

There's lots of things you can do physically to support his detox processes. Fiber Detox is one of my favorite go tos:

Holistic Pet Support-Fiber Detox powder - HomeVet

Use Fiber Plus to support healthy bowel and anal gland function.

www.homevet.com

And of course there are tons of physiologic liver supporting supplements available. However, IMHO, none of those will address the root cause ("energetic entanglements" and blocked energy flow).

The Return to Wholeness and Homeostasis

As the legacy of Decartes comes to an end, the principle of dynamic equilibrium is being rediscovered and gaining prominence in veterinary medicine.

www.holisticactions.com

 

[JennyS]

This is something to consider but not sure if it is the actual cause of the elevated liver enzymes...

There is a tendency in many raw commercial foods to use what I consider to be an extremely high percentage of organ meats. Organ meats IMO should be consumed in proportion to how they exist in an animal. To save money, the raw food companies often use huge amounts of heart meat in lieu of muscle meat and excessive amounts of liver. This is particularly true for the ruminant animals where muscle meat is more expensive and organ meats like liver are sky high in copper. Liver is also extremely high in vitamin A. To meet AFFCO standards, they often use more organ meats than a dog should consume to meet the crazy AAFCO rules without using supplements. The AAFCO rules are outdated and based upon dogs eating ultra processed foods that are not bioavailable. To me, they have little or no meaning for a raw fed dog. Although raw food is best for our dogs, these commercial formulas are dangerous and can cause problems over time. Too much of a good thing is not good.

One way to help with this is to at least rotate brands and proteins, however almost all raw foods nowadays are using excessive amounts of organ meats. And some will even add copper and vitamin supplements on top of a recipe that includes large amounts of ruminant liver. You could check copper and vitamin A content in what you are feeding. However, I personally believe in the common sense approach where organ meats should be a small part of a healthy diet.

The way I chose to get around this is to make my own dog food. To me this is the only way to know what your dog is getting. It also allows you to customize the ingredients per your individual dog needs.

There are some who say that huge amounts of organ meats are OK because they are "natural" vs synthetics. However, I disagree.

Anyway, this may not have contributed to the elevated enzymes but is a possibility you may want to consider.

Someone said the following which really hit home with me... "Dogs are ruined by abundance and perfected by lack".

Nancy

Thank you for this info. I had no idea. I thought i was doing the right thing and feeding him the best. I do rotate the kid sa well, but wow, what if I am killing him. Do you think I can find out the amount of organ meat? guh this is so disheartening.

 

[JennyS]

Hey Jenny!

Ah, so this isreally more of an "incidental" finding. Meaning that his BEAM is "normal" (for him) and he's not manifesting any new physical symptoms.

However, there has been a lot of "unrelated" things going on with him. Such as the chronic focal seizures, rising liver enzymes, fears, housebreaking challenges, voracious appetite (the poop eating is probably secondary to that).


Yes! This is the protocol for what is called a pre and postprandial bile acid test. This will help better define the dis-ease.

So yes, the next step if you choose to pursue further diagnostics, is an ultrasound and biopsy. That is, if you need to know more of what is going on physiologically with his liver.


Sure! Whaat's going on is an imbalance in his energy flow. The physical symptoms are all a result of that. Meaning that his liver is showing us the high liver enzymes as a way of his body telling us what to do.

And where to start in most situations is with joy.

What does Peanut like to do more than anything else in the world? Happy Meals (and snacks) and running and playing in the park are a perfet place to start.

Ideally you'd be doing something he loves every 2-3 hours. Even if that just means gazing at him lovingly, petting or inviting him to sit in your lap.

The medical rationale is that you can smooth out and optimize his energy flow through joy, love, happiness and helping him to be his best self. These actions improve mitochondrial function (the mitochondria are tiny powerhouse in every cell that generate the energy we all need to live).

Here's a deeper dive into this approach from a human perspective:

How to Restore Your Body’s Energy and Heal from Within: Dr. Martin Pic

Dr. Mark Hyman and Dr. Martin Picard explore how mitochondria, stress, and recovery shape your energy, focus, and long-term vitality.

drhyman.com

There's lots of things you can do physically to support his detox processes. Fiber Detox is one of my favorite go tos:

Holistic Pet Support-Fiber Detox powder - HomeVet

Use Fiber Plus to support healthy bowel and anal gland function.

www.homevet.com

And of course there are tons of physiologic liver supporting supplements available. However, IMHO, none of those will address the root cause ("energetic entanglements" and blocked energy flow).

The Return to Wholeness and Homeostasis

As the legacy of Decartes comes to an end, the principle of dynamic equilibrium is being rediscovered and gaining prominence in veterinary medicine.

www.holisticactions.com

they called it a bio acid panel. what will it tell me and will it help? Do you think there is validity to the kind response above that feeding him a raw diet that I thought was the best, could have too much organ meat and cause liver enzymes to increase? Just giving him love is gong to solve this? That does not seem right. Unfort we have had such a freeze that we have not been going to the dog park in a couple of weeks. I will look at the links you sent, but it seems there is more to it. And is it necessary to do the ultrasound?

 

[JennyS]

Hey Jenny!

Ah, so this isreally more of an "incidental" finding. Meaning that his BEAM is "normal" (for him) and he's not manifesting any new physical symptoms.

However, there has been a lot of "unrelated" things going on with him. Such as the chronic focal seizures, rising liver enzymes, fears, housebreaking challenges, voracious appetite (the poop eating is probably secondary to that).


Yes! This is the protocol for what is called a pre and postprandial bile acid test. This will help better define the dis-ease.

So yes, the next step if you choose to pursue further diagnostics, is an ultrasound and biopsy. That is, if you need to know more of what is going on physiologically with his liver.


Sure! Whaat's going on is an imbalance in his energy flow. The physical symptoms are all a result of that. Meaning that his liver is showing us the high liver enzymes as a way of his body telling us what to do.

And where to start in most situations is with joy.

What does Peanut like to do more than anything else in the world? Happy Meals (and snacks) and running and playing in the park are a perfet place to start.

Ideally you'd be doing something he loves every 2-3 hours. Even if that just means gazing at him lovingly, petting or inviting him to sit in your lap.

The medical rationale is that you can smooth out and optimize his energy flow through joy, love, happiness and helping him to be his best self. These actions improve mitochondrial function (the mitochondria are tiny powerhouse in every cell that generate the energy we all need to live).

Here's a deeper dive into this approach from a human perspective:

How to Restore Your Body’s Energy and Heal from Within: Dr. Martin Pic

Dr. Mark Hyman and Dr. Martin Picard explore how mitochondria, stress, and recovery shape your energy, focus, and long-term vitality.

drhyman.com

There's lots of things you can do physically to support his detox processes. Fiber Detox is one of my favorite go tos:

Holistic Pet Support-Fiber Detox powder - HomeVet

Use Fiber Plus to support healthy bowel and anal gland function.

www.homevet.com

And of course there are tons of physiologic liver supporting supplements available. However, IMHO, none of those will address the root cause ("energetic entanglements" and blocked energy flow).

The Return to Wholeness and Homeostasis

As the legacy of Decartes comes to an end, the principle of dynamic equilibrium is being rediscovered and gaining prominence in veterinary medicine.

www.holisticactions.com

the HA10 does not work for your fiber product and is there always shipping charges? Sorry, I am a teacher spending thousands of dollars on my fur baby and need to cut costs.

 

[JennyS]

results-not today's

 

[NancyK]

Thank you for this info. I had no idea. I thought i was doing the right thing and feeding him the best. I do rotate the kid sa well, but wow, what if I am killing him. Do you think I can find out the amount of organ meat? guh this is so disheartening.

JennyS,

I definitely did not mean to scare you. I was just raising awareness of what I feel is a problem which is excessive amounts of copper in some dog foods. Rotating the proteins definitely will help as ruminant liver is higher in copper. I am not sure if you can find out the percentage of organ meats. Some foods specify heart and liver as top ingredients. Heart is a muscle but also an organ and IMO is not a replacement for muscle meat. Checking the nutritional analysis could be helpful as well and finding out how much the food exceeds the minimum requirement. Note there is no maximum requirement.

Nancy

 

[JennyS]

JennyS,

I definitely did not mean to scare you. I was just raising awareness of what I feel is a problem which is excessive amounts of copper in some dog foods. Rotating the proteins definitely will help as ruminant liver is higher in copper. I am not sure if you can find out the percentage of organ meats. Some foods specify heart and liver as top ingredients. Heart is a muscle but also an organ and IMO is not a replacement for muscle meat. Checking the nutritional analysis could be helpful as well and finding out how much the food exceeds the minimum requirement. Note there is no maximum requirement.

Nancy

I asaked the company to give me the % of organ meat so we shall see. Unreal.

 

[NancyK]

I asaked the company to give me the % of organ meat so we shall see. Unreal.

Here is an interesting article on copper in dog food.

Considering Copper

Why Care about Copper? The mineral copper is an essential dietary nutrient for dogs. It is needed for the formation and activity of red blood cells, acts as a cofactor in numerous enzymatic reactio…

thesciencedog.com

Nancy

 

[JennyS]

Here is an interesting article on copper in dog food.

Considering Copper

Why Care about Copper? The mineral copper is an essential dietary nutrient for dogs. It is needed for the formation and activity of red blood cells, acts as a cofactor in numerous enzymatic reactio…

thesciencedog.com

Nancy

Thank you. I really appreciate it. I am so upset right now as you are prob right. I asked several companies to give me the organ meat % so we shall see. Do you know anything about Dr. Marty's?

 

[JennyS]

results-not today's

the HA10 does not work for your fiber product and is there always shipping charges? Sorry, I am a teacher spending thousands of dollars on my fur baby and need to cut costs.

@Dr. Jeff please let me know your thoughts about my several questions-especially the food one. Could it have elevated his liver enzymes? See results attached. and if you could get the HA10 to work.

 

[Dr. Jeff]

especially the food one. Could it have elevated his liver enzymes?

Unlikely IMHO.

When you say HA 10 do you mean the HA! 101 course?