Delilah recently had her annual exam.  In CT the rabies vaccine is mandatory every three years and we also vaccinate for Leptospirosis.  This was Delilah’s year for her Rabies booster, and since I don’t like giving multiple vaccines in the same visit, on her initial exam our vet made Delilah ‘legal’ with the rabies and I scheduled her Leptos vaccine for a couple of weeks later.  During her exam Dr. Soutter discovered Delilah had a broken tooth on the upper left side of her mouth.  We schedule her for a cleaning and tooth extraction next month.

During her second visit we had a blood draw to check her thyroid level (she takes Levothyroxine) heart worm and I asked for a glucose check as she’s been drinking a LOT of water.

When Dr. Soutter called with Delilah’s results I was caught off guard when she said, “Delilah’s blood work is fine, except her liver levels are slightly elevated.”

I’m not surprised at all.  I bet your liver levels are elevated too. You do put an awful lot of whiskey in our coffee.

Dr. Soutter explained that Delilah could have an infection in her liver or a bit of inflammation.  She said the levels weren’t high enough to prevent her from doing the dental procedure next month, but we still want to lower the levels.  She started Delilah on Amoxicillin and Metronidazole for antibiotics as well as Denamarin for liver support.

After I hung up from my vet I did the worst thing possible.  I consulted Dr. Google.  “What causes elevated liver levels in dogs?”

Words like Hepatitis , Liver disease and Liver Cancer came up and it scared the bejesus out of me.   And then I started thinking, what if we treat her with antibiotics and liver support and it turns out to be the wrong treatment?

I placed a call to my vet.

I told her everything.  And she told me to stop consulting Dr. Google.

The Denamarin will boost her liver and the antibiotics will take care of any type of infection.

Hepatitis is different in dogs than it is in people.  In people Hepatitis is viral, in dogs it’s bacterial.  She’s also almost certain it’s not liver cancer, she said typically with liver cancer the levels will be normal or very high and there will be other indicators.

The Denamarin is a combination of SAMe (SAH ME) and Silybin (Milk Thistle).

Here’s what the manufacturer’s of Denamarin have to say, “Administering SAMe (S-Adenosylmethionine), which is found in Denamarin, has been shown to markedly increase liver levels of glutathione,^1,2 an important compound for liver health formed when SAMe is metabolized. The SAMe in Denamarin has also been shown to help protect liver cells from cell death^3,4 and may help cell repair and regeneration.⁵

Denamarin also helps support your pet’s liver through the administration of silybin. Silybin is an active part of an extract from milk thistle, known as silymarin, and has been shown to support liver function by helping maintain a healthy oxidative balance.”

We will check her levels again in a month and if they are still elevated we will do an ultrasound.

Animals can’t speak for themselves to tell us when something is wrong.  Dogs in particular are very stoic and don’t always show us when they are hurt or not feeling well.

I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to not only have your pet physically examined once a year, but it’s so important to have their blood checked as well.  I’m praying it’s a simple (if you can call a liver infection simple) infection that we caught early enough to prevent it from becoming something more sinister.

You’re a worry wart Mama, has anyone ever told you that?