★★★★★
I have a 3 lb yorkie that was diagnosed with LIVER DISEASE. He is 7 years old and has always been healthy up until the past year. In the past year, he has has had chronic bouts of diarrhea and vomiting. His digestive system was so irritated that the walls of the g.i. tract had tripled in size with scar tissue. We had countless visits to the vet and tried various medicines and diets. Nothing seemed to work. The veterinarian said our options were to have part of his liver removed or to have him put down. After reading the posts on liver disease and milk thistle I decided to try it. I quit using all the other medications and I started adding a small amount of MILK THISTLE to his special diet (Hill's K/D Prescription Diet). I used the formula in the postings of 125 MG per 25 lbs of body weight. Basically I give him a small pinch of milk thistle about the half the size of a dime. My husband was skeptical but we were desperate for anything that would make our precious yorkie feel better. His health has improved dramatically. He is back to his perky self. He has no vomiting and no diarrhea. He eats all of his food twice a day whereas before he would go days without eating. We use the Solaray Milk Thistle Extract capsules and open about 20 up at once to create a small bowl of powder so it is handy at meal times. We bought them at a health food store. I hope this post helps someone else!
★★★★☆
My sweet Siberian husky was sick and we took him to an animal emergency and could barely afford the blood work. They said it was his liver and it would cost over $2000 for IVs, ultrasound, and days in the hospital. We went home with 2 kinds of antibiotics, sam-e, only 2 days worth, and told to get him to a vet. We are broke. I got him milk thistle and gave him 250 mg Esther-C, 400 vitamin E, milk thistle, and 200mg sam-e. and have hand (gentle "force") some oatmeal and salmon. (You see, the vet never said anything about diet for liver problems either.) However we offer him water and he takes it and I am able to get a little food now and he was not expected to make it to Tuesday and here we are. I hope we can lovingly nurse him gently back to a healthier state. when they were informed we had not the thousands and our "care credit was denied we were offed euthanasia, but we all felt that our Vladimir deserved any chance we could give. I spoon feed him and give him water. This dog is the best. When we lived in a dangerous area of Detroit and he heard gunfire he would, without any direction or a word, just quietly get up on his own and lay across the front door.
I have been up many nights to help our precious dog. It is not a burden, but a blessing to care for him.
Feeding them 4 smaller meals daily instead of 2 big ones helps lighten the load on their liver. If you can find a holistic vet, use them instead. They are so much more knowledgeable and can restore your pet's health. Feed a high quality diet - we use a Liver Cleansing Diet - you can find it online. We give our Yorkie the following supplements daily - milk thistle, SamE, vitamin E, Denamarin or Denosyl. You can also find liquid extracts made for pets online that have a number of herbs and natural remedies for the liver. These work and should be given daily. No beef or red meat. Eggs and cottage cheese are easier for them to digest. Cod or white fish is excellent. Cooked white meat chicken is also good but some liver dogs can't tolerate it. You want to reduce their protein until the liver is healed. The diet we've been feeding is about 23% protein, with the rest being cooked oatmeal (type that takes 5 mins to cook) and a veggie that is good for the liver (spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, parsley, cucumber, kale, carrots, squash and some beets - not to much of this as it can cause diarrhea). Read about their liver on www.dogaware.com. If the liver isn't too badly damaged, it can heal in about 2-3 months on this protocol. NO toxic chemicals like flea products - this will only further damage their liver. Filtered water or spring water only and be sure they get plenty daily. Add to their food to help get more into them.
Milk Thistle
★★★★★
Hi Theresa. Thank you for your advice on using Berberine homeopathic remedy for liver issues.
I ran to the health food store which was closed. Not to lose time, I decided to use Milk Thistle tincture which I always keep, even though I always had concerns how pets would react to the alcohol content. If the alcohol is left to dissipate, the remedy would not be potent. Tinctures are the most potent and pure herbal treatments.
So I put a few drops with water into a syringe which would give enough for four hourly applications. I was not too scientific about it. It is a week later and Katchina cat is doing so much better; her coat is improving, she is not crying so much and her stool has normal colour.
She is not vomiting but I have to monitor her volume of food, spaced out to prevent indigestion.
So I gave hourly one cc the first two days and then three times a day and now twice one cc at a time. I did nothing during night time.
When I give her the medicine I make eye contact and she understands. Its a split second of strong med. and it is over.
I am delighted and know I can use hawthorn tinctures, etc. in future on cats and dogs. I use the one from V... in Switzerland. I thought I let you know the good news as well for EC visitors trying to help their pets. This is very affordable and I have used this for myself for many years. Actually, I thought that it might have been too late but it turned out surprisingly well. What a relief!
Namaste, Om
Hey Om!
I too worry about tincts with alcohol, but desperate times call for desperate measures - and so glad your kitty found relief!
Milk Thistle
★★★★★
You can give cats milk thistle which is an herb. Its good for pets and people alike with anything to do with the liver. My cat had a reaction to her vaccines and I took her right back to the vet and he did some test and told me he thought the vaccines may have damage her liver. He said take her home and that she may have to be force fed. I started her right away on milk thistle and even thought test showed liver damage she is still here yrs later and healthy. No more vaccines for her though.
Apple Cider Vinegar
this dog's gut functions/flora is destroyed by antibiotics. Use good therapeutic clay (Aztec Secret & others) or frest earth 1T in bowl of water & let dog drink daily until bowel flora is restored, then he/she will be well. Find good earth or clay or both for your dog. Either will kill unfriendly antibiotic resistant organisms (AROs, my term, like MRSA, PRSA, and many more to come) It will restore gut flora & that will do the rest.
All diseases originate in the gut. Hippocrates (460-370bc)
"The primary seat of insanity generally is in the region of the stomach & intestines." French psychiatrist & father of modern psychiatry, Phillipe Pinel (1745-1828)
And I would add, the gut is the primary seat of all acute & chronic physical diseases, including the so-called 'genetic' & those mysterious diseases like Autism that "always existed but are only now being diagnosed as such!" as the "experts" are now claiming (hogwash). Bowel flora is 85% of our brain & our immune system. When healthy it protects us against everything except industrial transfats (natural transfats, as in real butter, are healthy) Our bodies have no way to detect or protect against artificially hardened vegetable fats, transfats. Lard & coconut oil in the markets are now being hydrogenated, the Big Names do this. Big Food, Big Drug & Big Money - Big Gov. are not your best friends. Industrial Fake Fats become part of our structure, as in cell walls & inner structures, & these then malfunction, as in receptor sites & transmitter sites, & organelles. Trans fats started with margarine & Crisco, & are the biggest food nightmare & disease epidemic & plague ever to visit the human race. Then come antibiotics & birthcontrol pills & other drugs, which destroy gut flora, or allow gut flora destruction to proceed unchecked, while chasing symptoms around using natural or allopathic methods.
★★★★☆
Liver and Gallbladder Advice for my Dog, 12 years old and I Need Your Help to Heal Him
Hi there! My dog Buster (12 years old mixed breed Chiweenie) was diagnosed with elevated liver enzymes and gallbladder mucocele. Does anyone have suggestions for this? I am using small amounts of chlorophyll and ACV and am preparing fresh food, chicken, rice, broccoli, zucchini and he's on antibiotics (ugh), pain meds (which isn't this harming his liver?), and Demarin (milk thistle, Sam-e) and was on anti-nausea meds but he's off those now.
He's eating well for the past few days, but had some pain this morning. I was told surgery is the cure for this but it's very high risk and he has had two other procedures (assessed anal gland and tooth infection which was extracted) in the past 2 months and I don't feel like this is an option for him. Leading up to this he was fine, really have not taken him to the vet for years. I've always made homemade food for him but I have realized that I did not probably prepare it as I should have, but he did eat kibble as well. Now I am boiling his food and following the guidelines for a low-fat, pancreatic/liver diet.
Any advice would be so much appreciated. I'm struggling with the vet stuff, they all are pushing meds and surgery and the bills I have already are insane. I would do anything for my dog but I'm not going to put him through the trauma of this surgery that has about a 50-60% success rate at this stage of his life.
Hi - fellow breed owner here, although we call Sally a Daschihuahua. They are the best dogs.
Please try to give her about 1/8 to 1/4 tsp DMSO mixed with 1 tsp Colloidal Silver. Mix them together and use an eye dropper to get it into the back of her mouth. On a cellular level, DMSO is said to correct the DNA in the body back to what it's supposed to be doing.
Most important would be the use of Castor Oil Packs (directions on this site). A Study showed that this calls a body's own T11 Leukocyte healing cells to the area. Put this over the liver. Tell her it's her "warm relax time" and to stay still for 30 mins with the hot water bottle on. Do this a.m. and p.m. for a few days.
Take good care of your baby. Mine is "queen of my world", little barky-barkeson that she is! :)
PS - Info about colloidal silver and how to make the Castor Oil Packs are here in this wonderful site. Castor Oil Packs were one of Edgar Cayce's favourite "healing ingredients ". Been using it for 10+ yrs, usually as a last resort as it is my "best club in the bag", my "big gun" as the saying goes. It has never ever failed me.
Oh, and 3 belly rubs per day won't hurt either.
SAMe and Milk Thistle
Forgot to say that Castor Oil really stains, so put towels down wherever your dog lays.
It can also be hard to get off the dog's fur, so I simply put the shampoo on straight (no water), rub the area with a hand cloth to try and get suds up, and rinse. This is what people do after the coconut oil hair treatment too - it really helps to get oil off!
Milk Thistle
So question: the alcohol in a tincture will not harm the dogs liver or kidneys? I am giving blackwalnut wormwood and clove all in one to rid worms and I read the one nade with alcohol is the only one that works ..im using the one without cuz I am concerned about giving my dog alcohol.
Apple Cider Vinegar, Coconut Oil
Does anyone know how much Apple Cider Vinegar and coconut oil I would give my 8 lb 5oz chihuahua that has elevated liver enzymes and beginning of formation of struvite crystals? She has had hepatitis before and was on flagyl antibiotics.
I hope your dog is better. We've recently been dealing with our Yorkshire terrier (age 7) in the same way as you have with your dog. The vet didn't even run any tests - just felt his bloated stomach and wanted to put him down.
I hope you have put your dog on the low-protein diet as well, because our Yorkie has really responded to that. His stomach was bloated (water retention) so much that he couldn't even lie down one night. Now, ten days later, he seems his old self and the bloating is barely there. He improves every day.
We are feeding him hard-boiled eggs (mostly the whites, sometimes also the yolk), plain yogurt, cottage cheese, canned pumpkin (NOT the stuff for pies, just the vegetable itself), yams, low-sodium canned (home canned) green beans,
oatmeal, etc. There are several websites that specify low-purine foods that are good for liver disease in dogs.
Thanks to several people above, we are also going to be putting him on milk thistle - we didn't know how much.
Apple Cider Vinegar
I have a 4 year old maltese who has a liver problem. I am searching for a remedy that could help him improve his liver condition. I've read from your site about ACV. Has anyone tried ACV to cure liver problem in dogs. Please help me my maltese means so much to me.
★★★★★
Our4 pound Yorkie after surgery wouldn't eat for days and the vet said we couldn't bring her home until she would eat. Our dear friend and Chiropractor told us to take to the vet equal amounts of ACV and water and give to her as he felt she might have streph throat. It worked right away and she ate all of the food I had in my hand and wanted more. Our vet said you never heard of streph stomach as it has the stomach acid in it. Hope this helps. Blessings. Jean
Milk Thistle
How much of milk thistle must we use? Please people; kindly be extremely specific in terms of dosages to help other desperate folks like me.
If you can also provide your numbers so we can call you as in some cases it's "life & death"
Regards
Prishen
South Africa
27325358081 (W)
27828533730 (M)
Milk Thistle
★★★★★
I have a 3 lb yorkie that was diagnosed with LIVER DISEASE. He is 7 years old and has always been healthy up until the past year. In the past year, he has has had chronic bouts of diarrhea and vomiting. His digestive system was so irritated that the walls of the g.i. tract had tripled in size with scar tissue. We had countless visits to the vet and tried various medicines and diets. Nothing seemed to work. The veterinarian said our options were to have part of his liver removed or to have him put down. After reading the posts on liver disease and milk thistle I decided to try it. I quit using all the other medications and I started adding a small amount of MILK THISTLE to his special diet (Hill's K/D Prescription Diet). I used the formula in the postings of 125 MG per 25 lbs of body weight. Basically I give him a small pinch of milk thistle about the half the size of a dime. My husband was skeptical but we were desperate for anything that would make our precious yorkie feel better. His health has improved dramatically. He is back to his perky self. He has no vomiting and no diarrhea. He eats all of his food twice a day whereas before he would go days without eating. We use the Solaray Milk Thistle Extract capsules and open about 20 up at once to create a small bowl of powder so it is handy at meal times. We bought them at a health food store. I hope this post helps someone else!
SAMe and Milk Thistle
My Dachshund has been diagnosed with very high liver enzymes. ALP 1123, CGG gone up which is new and bile acids three times the normal range. My heart is shattered because he is my heart. Regarding the oral DMSO. Please help the info I have read says it should be used with caution in liver disease?
I am giving him NAC, Vit E, Milk Thistle, SAMe and starting with the burdock. He is nauseous because of the high bile acids. I have him at a Allopathic vet and a Naturopath. Please help.
Berberine
My 11yo lab has had elevated liver levels for quite awhile. Has anyone used Berberine for this issue? If so, what dosage?
Supplements
Hi everyone,
My cat has been on 50mg's of itraconazole for her sporotrichosis which is toxic to the liver. She does take a liver supplements as well as immune booster supplements. I also do topical treatment on her using turmeric and extra virgin coconut oil, and I alternate it with a safe plant based gel. I am feeding my cat home cooked food which is a balanced diet together with leafy vegetables, turmeric and extra virgin coconut oil.
Recently, I suspect due to her last visit to the clinic, she has shown signs of upper respiratory infection and her lungs sounds very congested. She is on a course of antibiotics and anti-phlegm medication. I want to minimize the number of supplements she is taking because I think her body is worked up.
My question is, is it okay for me to continue giving her bovine colostrum while she has a mucus build-up? The other thing I need to know is, lets face it..we are what we eat. Is it necessary for me to continue giving her a liver supplement when her liver enzymes are all fine and her diet should be able to protect her body naturally? Money isn't the issue, I am just sick and tired of feeling her body up with all of these 'pill formed natural supplements' which does, like it or not, contain chemicals no matter how much they would market it to be safe. Part of me wants to just quit giving her the liver supplement and focus on nourishing her body with the necessary nutrients, but the other part is also afraid since I don't know how much is needed for cats to protect them from toxins from medications. Any suggestions would be appreciated but please, if you have a conventional outlook, don't respond back. Thanks.
Hey Yasmin!
I will check my conventional outlook at the door, and give your question a stab.
The fungal infection you are treating your cat for, requiring the itraconazole, requires about 8 weeks of treatment. It sounds as if your cat has a skin infection, rather than a lung infection. In your shoes, given the nature of the disease, I would check with the vet to be sure the infection is not also in the lungs.
And, if no infection in the lungs, and you stop treatment with the itraconazole, it would make sense to wean her off the liver supplements. And if your gut feeling is that liver support is needed on *some* level, since you feed a home made diet you can simply incorporate beef liver [or whatever liver you can buy] into the home made diet you prepare; feeding liver will help the liver.
DMSO
DMSO combined with ionic silver saved my cat's life more than once. My vet accidentally poisoned my cat with Methimazole (seemed the only option for controlling hyperthyroidism after other options failed). I researched DMSO and it's relation to the liver and found it could possibly help the body detoxify and take the load off of the liver and would reduce inflammation. 2-3 days on DMSO and cholestasis reversed, liver values improved, appetite returned, and kitty was happy again.
I am now looking for a safe dose for subcutaneous (much diluted in her daily fluids to 2 or 4%) AND IV administration of DMSO. Topical isn't very practical and it bothers her. The wonderful thing is about 40 minutes after she has a topical application, she is purring and obviously feels better than before the application.
I am not finding much information about SQ dosing except in concentrations higher than 30% which isn't well-tolerated. I would love to know if anyone has experience using it IV or SQ in a cat, dog or human and can share dosages. PLEASE help me help my cat and other animals who need my healing.
Thanks!!
Hi, Guardian (of many pets) --- DMSO Dr. Stanley W Jacob web site. He is the father of DMSO.
I thought that DMSO should never be injected. However, do peruse the web site.
Otherwise I use drops of milk thistle on the tongue or by syringe.
Namaste, Om
Milk Thistle
My dog's ALT was 508 .After checking for hours on net found Dr Andrew Jones, e-mailed him with my problem told him vet put Chauncy on Denamarin Dr Jones (on the internet, treats holistic) suggested keeping him on Denamarin plus 500 mg Milk Thistle based on his weight two week later his ALT went down to 102, amazing as this is lowest he has ever been.
Chauncy has always had this problem and gets blood work every 4 months. I used to have a local holistic vet and we parted ways but am looking for another holistic vet locally. Now he is going to regular vet and they asked me what else I put him on as the Denamarin would never have brought his ALT count down so quickly.
Enlarged Liver Remedies
Hi everyone, I am looking for something new to give to my 13 year old Jack Russell mix who has an enlarged liver and arthritis. For the enlarged liver, I give her a mushroom pill, few drops of milk thistle and blessed thistle, along with Flor Essence tea and Denesyl. She is also on a mostly raw food diet. I've lowered the amount of protein she gets and load up on raw veggies rehydrated.
She recovered from the Remodoyl meds that created the enlarged liver and almost killed her, back in 2009. Her liver enzymes are close to normal again with this regime. But she still has a huge belly that causes her discomfort. Vet said liver functioning okay for now, despite the size.
But I need a way to shrink the liver back to normal size. I've read about Vitamin B and Essiac Tea; however, the tea is the same as Flor Essence, and she is already on multi vitamins.
I won't go into all the stuff I do for her arthritis, as I am focusing on the enlarged liver for now.
Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks. Patrice
Hi Patrice,
Did you ever find anything to help shrink your dog's liver? My 10 yr old beagle has an enlarged liver 3xs normal size (ultrasound). Her blood work all comes back normal. And she is acting fine. Starving as always... but her enlarged belly sometimes pushes on her diaphragm and she struggles to breathe. The two vets she has seen seem stumped. Suggested taking a sample of her liver? I am not putting her through that. I am hoping for some good advice? Maybe the Milk thistle? Did anything help shrink your dog's liver?
Thanks! Paula
Enlarged Liver Remedies
Dear Paula --- one item I can suggest from experience is Milk Thistle tincture. For years I thought because of the alcohol content it was not advisable for pets.
But one day I did give it to a cat that really needed liver treatment. And it worked. I made silent eye contact and she took it even though she was a bit overcome from the taste. But I still give it to her in a slim syringe and if I keep up with this, the stool looks much better. In addition this condition calls for probiotics. She is also doing better.
Leaving the tincture to evaporate, the remedy becomes ineffective. Milk thistle is still a major powerful remedy. But I would research on EC under ailments or liver what can be added.
All the best. Namaste, Om
Liver Shunt Remedies
Hi- I just wanted to include a post in this forum to make people aware of liver shunts. We have a 5 lb chihuahua, that we've had in the ER 3 times in the 2.5 yrs we've had her. I FINALLY FINALLY figured out what's wrong: she has a liver shunt. Here we're her symptoms. At the time a was desperate for info but had a hard time coming up w a diagnosis, and now it seems so obvious. Loni started acting really strange- she seemed disoriented, couldn't walk, list depth perception, seemed blind... Honestly she looked like she was on drugs. She syarted having mild seizures (eyes rolling back, floating, etc) She spent 3 days in vet ER, thy deduced that she ate some kind of toxin (like a dropped pill or something). This happened several more times over the next year. We finally realized it happened after we fed her meet. Now I know that it is a liver shunt. If your dog is exhibiting weird symptoms- look up "Liver Shunt" online. And treat it- once we figured it out our vet acted like it was no big deal and didn't give any instruction- just said if got worse to have surgery. Loni has continued to have mild symptoms for the past year. Now we know what todo and will start her on diet and supp protocol. Also Google "Ginger the Yorkie w liver shunt on YouTube)... This is the best example of a dog with liver problems and a liver shunt. I wish my vet had seen it :-/
Apple Cider Vinegar, Coconut Oil
How did you administer the apple cider vinegar and coconut oil to your dog?
Milk Thistle
★★★★★
Hi, my dog was very week and I took him to the vet who diagnosed him with liver problems. He had blood in his urine. She gave me a preporation which contained milk thistle. Within 24 hours he was completely healed. l have heard that milk thistle is excelllent for humans who have liver problems.
Supplements
My little Jessie was diagnosed with liver problems only a week ago, at only 8 years old. As soon as she was discharged I had already done some research and bought the foods that are advised and the herbal things I had seen on other sites. I did not even have a chance to really start giving her any of it as she passed away this morning. I only came across your site today and found it so informative and am only sad that I cannot try out some of the suggestions and have another chance to get her back to complete health.
Supplements
There is alot of liver disease in dogs now. I have read it is the dog food quality. I do sometimes cook for my dog. A drop of olive oil, brown rice , no spice , sweet potatoe , a chunk of chicken or beef. No chicken bones. My Grampa was a Vet. No onion .
Supplements
Reading all these stories brings tears to my eyes as I know exactly what you all are going through. My dog Hendrix is a 13yo Elkhound mix and has liver disease. Its frustrating that our Vet doesn't believe anything can be done and that we should just make him comfortable until his time comes. I can not accept this!
I have been searching the internet for an alternative treatment and answers. I have discovered Milk Thistle. I have read that for severe liver disease 200mg per 10lbs should be given. I have started this yesterday. I am opening the capsules and mixing with very little water and using a syringe to give it to him. He is at the point where he stopped eating and all he wants is water. I am limiting his intake of water and am force feeding him baby food. I read I should be mixing the Milk Thistle with baby food. Does it make a difference if I mix it with baby food or water? Also being he has liver disease what kind of baby food should I be giving him? Now I am giving him chicken and vegetables. Any input would be helpful and greatly appreciated.
Supplements
Go get some Dandelion Root or Dandelion Root Tea. Make the tea and let it steep covered for 15-20 mins after you turn the stove off. This is for maximum benefit. You can give this to your dog 2 times per day. 1/2 in the morning and 1/2 later. This is great as it helps the liver detox and become stronger. Good luck!
Supplements
Milk thistle Dosage
The usual recommended extract of milk thistle contains 70 to 80 percent silymarin. Each extract should be labeled with the silymarin percent. Recommended dosage for dogs with liver damage is approximately 20 to 50 mg per day per each kg of body weight. A kg is equal to 2.20462262 pounds. The daily dosage should be taken in two equally divided doses. For example: 200 to 500mg daily for a dog weighing 10 kg or 22 pounds; 452 to 1130mg daily for a dog weighing 22.6 kg or 50 pounds.
Apple Cider Vinegar
I have yorkshire terrier which is suffering from bad liver condition he also vomit sometimes which contain little amount of blood but not often, but he is very active. Now according to doctor, recommends I am giving him royal canine hepatic food. But he don't like it. So I want to know, is there any other homemade which I can give him and if there is any medicine yes which can protect his liver?
Apple Cider Vinegar
I was just told by the ASPCA that they notice in my 7year old female maltese/yorkie that she has in her blood enzymes liver problem. I want to give her Milk Thistle. She is 13 pounds and I don't know how much I should put in the water.
Milk Thistle
★☆☆☆☆
I NEED HELP, MY 3YR OLD BOXER HAS LIVER TROUBLE. I HAVE BEEN USING MILK THISLE AND IT IS NOT WORKING. MY VET HAS HER ON MEDS ALSO. ANYONE ONE HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS FOR ME. I LUV MY DOG SO MUCH AND CAN'T BEAR THE THOUGHT OF LOOSING HER.
