Hi everyone,

First time posting here. I took my six month old female in to be spayed today and her preop bloodwork came back with two liver enzymes elevated. She shows absolutely NO symptoms of being ill. They fed her and took another blood sample and sent it in for a bile acid test. The doctor said I shouldn't be overly worried - yet - because it could be nothing or just a minor something. He doesn't seem to be too worried about it being a liver shunt as he says they usually present pretty dramatically. Has anyone else experienced this issue? I'm a little paranoid because I lost my last shepherd to liver disease 4 years ago. He was 10 though. But still.....

She comes from great bloodlines - all German and Latvian lines - no American blood. I met both parents and everyone was healthy and happy. She is eating Royal Canin GSD Large Breed puppy formula.

Hi, and welcome.

I have an adult dog who consistantly showed elevated liver values, too. He had no symptoms, I just work in a lab and run blood on my dogs when I get bored. lol
I changed to a better quality kibble and started offering raw foods and was surprised the last time I ran blood on him, everything was within normal limits. (His attitude has dramatically improved, too).
You might consider changing her diet and rechecking in a few months.
Keep us posted to what the vet says, please.
ETA: you realize you don't 'have' to spay her this young, right?
Best wishes!

Hi, Kathy,


How was her blood sugar?

What were the elevated enzyme numbers?

When do you get the bile acid level results?

No poor growth or lethargy?

PS
That's not a very good food, IMO. I'm not connecting that with the liver numbers or anything -- just mentioning it because you did.

Connie,

Her blood sugar was fine. I'm not sure what the exact numbers were. We may get the bile acid level results tomorrow - if not then for sure on Monday. She has great growth and absolutely no lethargy. She eats like a horse, hasn't got an ounce of fat on her and is gaining about 8-11 pounds/month so far. I expect that will slow down a little as she gets older. Both parents were over 100+ pounds. She is a bundle of energy.

I'm completely open to suggestions for food. I have struggled with what to feed her. There are so MANY choices.

Lisa - I know I do not have to spay her yet, but I am a teacher and going back to work soon and my husband isn't willing to deal with the issues of a female in heat. We live in the middle of the woods and even though we have a fenced yard we could attract coyotes and who knows what else! If I didn't work I would not do it this soon, but all things considered I think it's the best choice. However, if this ends up being something that needs treatment I will obviously have to deal with that first.

Aside from raw diet, what food suggestions do you guys have?

Well, I would suggest the Orijen, you really couldn't do better for a kibble. All their food is sourced in Canada and is locally caught/raised/farmed.

Thanks, Joyce. Lovely dogs! They are black and reds, right? That's what Ruby is.

Thank you Kathy! I do love their colors too.

Ok, I just wanted to make sure you weren't being pressured into spaying her so young.
I can certainly understand your position (I have actually see GSD/coyote crosses - not something I would recommend to anyone!) lol
CoyDogs can be scary.

FWIW, (no pressure, I promise) the female in season is not that terribly hard to put up with, unless of course, you have light colored carpet. The smell is slightly less than pleasant, too.

As far as food goes, I think Joyce's recommendation is quite sound. Try her on that and see how she does. You may be surprised to find she may not eat as much of the good stuff as the lower quality foods. It saves money in the long run.

BTW, my youngest daughter wants to be a teacher - very noble profession, unfortunatly, I think you all deserve much better compensation. You all should make what pro ball players make and vice versa. JMO. lol

(Hi, Joyce!)

Kathy,

Has your dog been vaccinated recently? That is one thing that will make the liver work a little harder and raise some numbers. After each vaccination or surgery that my dogs go through I give them Milk Thistle and SamE supplements for 4 weeks to help the liver detox (this was actually recommended by my vet).

Just a thought.