My 4 year old American Eskimo had a seizure on Friday morn…I took him to the vet and blood was drawn.. and his liver values were double the values they were 6 months ago, when they thought he had Kushins disease..
he is scheduled for a ultra sound of his abdomen on Wedns..
I am devastated..this dog is truly a member of the family.. and am in the process of losing my home..so money is more than tight.
I will have the test done..anything else you could suggest..he was also diagnose for lymes disease also and they have him on Doxycycline.
Thank you for any and all help.
There are several possible causes for elevated liver enzymes. Not all of them are catastrophic although some of them are.
I would advice that you make sure that the abdominal ultrasound is done by a board certified radiologist and that you authorize fine needle biopsies if the radiologist deems necessary. It might not be bad news. Some liver diseases are treatable.
The history of the case is very important and testing the urine and water consumption is also very important.
Good luck.
Dr. Annie Forslund, DVM
Home Pet Euthanasia of Southern California
Tustin, CA
Sounds like a challenging case… a lot of tests should ideally be done, but it can get very expensive. I would really encourage you to have a test called Bile Acids (pre and post prandial) done because that is a very accurate test for liver function – that will help your vet to figure out if it’s the liver disease that is causing the seizures. If the bile acids are normal (or close to normal) then there is probably something else causing the seizures (i.e. something in the brain, epilepsy, etc.). Liver disease can be challenging to treat without a diagnosis, so hopefully they can get an answer from the ultrasound (or maybe even an aspirate/biopsy of the liver while they are doing the ultrasound). Then, they will recommend the best course of action for your dog. The supplement Milk Thistle may be helpful for some dogs and cats with liver disease, so you may want to ask about that. Sometimes they need to be on a special diet as well. You should get a lot more information from the ultrasound. Good luck!
Dr. Kirsten Bock, DVM
Animal Clinic of Benicia
Benicia, CA
What did the ultrasound show? Seizures and Cushings are usually separate problems, and Cushings usually has many other clinical signs. Possibly epilepsy.
Phillip McHugh, DVM
Park Veterinary Hospital
Durham, NC