Comments on: Chronic Active Hepatitis http://phoenixdogphotography.com/2009/07/chronic-active-hepatitis/ We make your dogs look well behaved. Sat, 07 Jan 2012 01:46:29 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Sue Smith http://phoenixdogphotography.com/2009/07/chronic-active-hepatitis/comment-page-1/#comment-2959 Sue Smith Sun, 25 Sep 2011 16:52:24 +0000 http://phoenixdogphotography.com/?p=80#comment-2959 About a month ago my beautiful red dobe -Hope_ was diagnosed with CAH. Thanks for putting all this info out there so I don't feel so alone. There is a book called Hope for Healing Liver Disease in Dogs that is available to download. It also has been extremely helpful.Check it out at www.cyndismasal.com My dog is on a whole host of meds and supplements---we go back for new test in two weeks---I am praying for improvement!! About a month ago my beautiful red dobe -Hope_ was diagnosed with CAH. Thanks for putting all this info out there so I don’t feel so alone.
There is a book called Hope for Healing Liver Disease in Dogs that is available to download. It also has been extremely helpful.Check it out at http://www.cyndismasal.com
My dog is on a whole host of meds and supplements—we go back for new test in two weeks—I am praying for improvement!!

]]> By: adogslifephoto http://phoenixdogphotography.com/2009/07/chronic-active-hepatitis/comment-page-1/#comment-2951 adogslifephoto Wed, 21 Sep 2011 12:34:12 +0000 http://phoenixdogphotography.com/?p=80#comment-2951 Patti - What terrible news about Annie. I really hope that she will be ok. I am not a vet, I'm just a fellow concerned dog-mom. So, I can't offer any medical advice but what you are describing does not sound like Chronic Active Hepatitis to me. In my experience and from what others have posted here, most dogs have no appetite at all when this disease flairs up. It is only wen they are on the Prednisone as a treatment that they start getting really hungry. Please keep us posted. Feel free to send me an email at susan@adogslifephoto.com if you want to chat some more. Patti – What terrible news about Annie. I really hope that she will be ok. I am not a vet, I’m just a fellow concerned dog-mom. So, I can’t offer any medical advice but what you are describing does not sound like Chronic Active Hepatitis to me. In my experience and from what others have posted here, most dogs have no appetite at all when this disease flairs up. It is only wen they are on the Prednisone as a treatment that they start getting really hungry. Please keep us posted. Feel free to send me an email at susan@adogslifephoto.com if you want to chat some more.

]]> By: Patti http://phoenixdogphotography.com/2009/07/chronic-active-hepatitis/comment-page-1/#comment-2948 Patti Wed, 21 Sep 2011 04:43:48 +0000 http://phoenixdogphotography.com/?p=80#comment-2948 Hi, I have a three year old Jack Russell Terrier named Annie. She is usually a very active little dog. About a month and a half ago she started acting lethargic on occasion and mostly at night, but then would be fine the next day. After eating, her appetite was ravenous, her tummy would bloat up and then go away, kind of like a puppies does at an early age. Two weeks ago her bloating got worse and she started to act more lethargic and depressed. I took her to my vet right away and he ran blood tests and determined it was acute pancreatitus. One week after being on medication, steroid, antibiotic and id food, she kept getting worse. I took her to an internal specialist, and a liver biopsy was performed today. They do not think she ever had chronic pancreatitus, but suspect Chronice Active Hepatitis. She still has her ravenous appetite, is still lethargic, but is going potty and holding steady. Until we get the test results back they are treating her as if she has Chronic Acute Hepatitis. The vet that took the liver biopsy mentioned her wall of her gall bladder was thickened and that she definately has ascititis sp?, fluid in the body cavity....I'm trying to remain positive, am hoping she is a fighter and will make it through this. It seems that once the fluid in the abdomen starts the disease is pretty severe.....It's a waiting game and she is hospitalized and on IV support for now. I don't know how advanced the damage is on her liver so I don't know what to expect. I'm not sure that I'm asking a question but the last 48 hours have been pure hell and I read one post that has a poor prognosis and then another that has a happy ending and pray that my little Annie will have the same. She has never lost her appetite, never had vomiting or diarhea, so I just don't know what to think. Hi, I have a three year old Jack Russell Terrier named Annie. She is usually a very active little dog. About a month and a half ago she started acting lethargic on occasion and mostly at night, but then would be fine the next day. After eating, her appetite was ravenous, her tummy would bloat up and then go away, kind of like a puppies does at an early age. Two weeks ago her bloating got worse and she started to act more lethargic and depressed. I took her to my vet right away and he ran blood tests and determined it was acute pancreatitus. One week after being on medication, steroid, antibiotic and id food, she kept getting worse. I took her to an internal specialist, and a liver biopsy was performed today. They do not think she ever had chronic pancreatitus, but suspect Chronice Active Hepatitis. She still has her ravenous appetite, is still lethargic, but is going potty and holding steady. Until we get the test results back they are treating her as if she has Chronic Acute Hepatitis. The vet that took the liver biopsy mentioned her wall of her gall bladder was thickened and that she definately has ascititis sp?, fluid in the body cavity….I’m trying to remain positive, am hoping she is a fighter and will make it through this. It seems that once the fluid in the abdomen starts the disease is pretty severe…..It’s a waiting game and she is hospitalized and on IV support for now. I don’t know how advanced the damage is on her liver so I don’t know what to expect. I’m not sure that I’m asking a question but the last 48 hours have been pure hell and I read one post that has a poor prognosis and then another that has a happy ending and pray that my little Annie will have the same. She has never lost her appetite, never had vomiting or diarhea, so I just don’t know what to think.

]]> By: Susan http://phoenixdogphotography.com/2009/07/chronic-active-hepatitis/comment-page-1/#comment-2936 Susan Wed, 14 Sep 2011 13:40:57 +0000 http://phoenixdogphotography.com/?p=80#comment-2936 Thank you so much for sharing your journey and treatment with Misty. We have 3 year old Dobe that is showing signs of CAH. We just took labs twice in the last week that indicated high liver levels and started some treatment. We started feeding L/D but switching NOW to your homemade diet. You have given us a ray of hope that we will have our much loved companion for a few more years yet. We are already struggling with our male Dobe with DCM. Heartbreaking does not even scratch the surface of my sorrow right now. You have given us some encouragement/advice and it is greatly appreciated. Thank you so much for sharing your journey and treatment with Misty. We have 3 year old Dobe that is showing signs of CAH. We just took labs twice in the last week that indicated high liver levels and started some treatment. We started feeding L/D but switching NOW to your homemade diet. You have given us a ray of hope that we will have our much loved companion for a few more years yet. We are already struggling with our male Dobe with DCM. Heartbreaking does not even scratch the surface of my sorrow right now. You have given us some encouragement/advice and it is greatly appreciated.

]]> By: martha http://phoenixdogphotography.com/2009/07/chronic-active-hepatitis/comment-page-1/#comment-2858 martha Mon, 22 Aug 2011 19:55:34 +0000 http://phoenixdogphotography.com/?p=80#comment-2858 My 14 1/2 year old rat terrier,SUGAR,has too much copper in her liver.She got sick 3 weeks ago.My vet gave her Marin and an antibotic for 1 week.She is back to her normal happy self.I also give her homemade food.1cup cooked oat meal and 2 boiled egg.Some times I feed her homemade food 1 cup of white rice,1/3 cup plain non fat yogurt,1 boiled egg.She still takes 1/2 pill of the Marin every day on a full tummy.I think she will stay on this the rest of her life.I need to add some sweet potato and green beans to both recipes so she can get her veggies now.My little SUGAR is 14 years old,she will be 15 on Oct 17th,she is tri color black,tan and a little white.She weighs 15 lbs.I also and 3 other 4 legged kids.I hope your MISTY BLUE is still doing well. MARTHA I enjoyed reading all your blogs about your baby,made me smile!! My 14 1/2 year old rat terrier,SUGAR,has too much copper in her liver.She got sick 3 weeks ago.My vet gave her Marin and an antibotic for 1 week.She is back to her normal happy self.I also give her homemade food.1cup cooked oat meal and 2 boiled egg.Some times I feed her homemade food 1 cup of white rice,1/3 cup plain non fat yogurt,1 boiled egg.She still takes 1/2 pill of the Marin every day on a full tummy.I think she will stay on this the rest of her life.I need to add some sweet potato and green beans to both recipes so she can get her veggies now.My little SUGAR is 14 years old,she will be 15 on Oct 17th,she is tri color black,tan and a little white.She weighs 15 lbs.I also and 3 other 4 legged kids.I hope your MISTY BLUE is still doing well. MARTHA I enjoyed reading all your blogs about your baby,made me smile!!

]]> By: adogslifephoto http://phoenixdogphotography.com/2009/07/chronic-active-hepatitis/comment-page-1/#comment-2764 adogslifephoto Sun, 05 Jun 2011 17:57:09 +0000 http://phoenixdogphotography.com/?p=80#comment-2764 Hi Christy - I think you are correct about the increased appetite being due to the Prednisone. Misty was exactly the same way. She has been doing great. We keep a close eye on her copper levels with regular blood tests. She did have to go back of the Prednisone a few months ago for a short cycle because her levels were a little high but she is fine now. She is almost 9 years old and still acts like a puppy most of the time. I'm glad to hear you are on a homemade diet. My vet did not mention any concerns about calcium intake. I had talked to a pet nutritionist and she just mentioned that it might be a good idea to put the egg shells into a coffee grinder and add them to the food for additional calcium. She also recommended giving her marrow bones to chew on. I don't remember the name of the supplements I was using and I hesitate to recommend anything specific to you. I would strongly advise you to talk to a nutritionist because what worked for my dog may not be right for yours, especially since he has a different condition. I am so sorry that you are going through this. I know how touch it can be. Feel free to drop me an email if you want to chat some more - susan@adogslifephoto.com. Hi Christy – I think you are correct about the increased appetite being due to the Prednisone. Misty was exactly the same way. She has been doing great. We keep a close eye on her copper levels with regular blood tests. She did have to go back of the Prednisone a few months ago for a short cycle because her levels were a little high but she is fine now. She is almost 9 years old and still acts like a puppy most of the time. I’m glad to hear you are on a homemade diet. My vet did not mention any concerns about calcium intake. I had talked to a pet nutritionist and she just mentioned that it might be a good idea to put the egg shells into a coffee grinder and add them to the food for additional calcium. She also recommended giving her marrow bones to chew on. I don’t remember the name of the supplements I was using and I hesitate to recommend anything specific to you. I would strongly advise you to talk to a nutritionist because what worked for my dog may not be right for yours, especially since he has a different condition. I am so sorry that you are going through this. I know how touch it can be. Feel free to drop me an email if you want to chat some more – susan@adogslifephoto.com.

]]> By: Christy O http://phoenixdogphotography.com/2009/07/chronic-active-hepatitis/comment-page-1/#comment-2763 Christy O Sun, 05 Jun 2011 16:13:43 +0000 http://phoenixdogphotography.com/?p=80#comment-2763 It seems it has been a year since you have last posted, I hope Misty Blue is doing well... My Goldendoodle is six and my story with him is almost identical to yours, only difference being that the cause of his CAH is unknown, but lepto and copper storage toxicity have been ruled out. He is on all of the same meds as Misty Blue was with the exception of the med.for copper toxicity. He is currently a few weeks out from the beginning of this very frightening occurrence and he is doing pretty well as he has responded to prednisone which they finally started him on just over a week ago. He went from no appetite to being absolutely starving with no amount of food seeming to satiate his appetite (I attribute to this to his high dose of pred). I am currently home cooking and he seems to really be doing well with that. I would like to continue on this path, but I am concerned about giving him the proper nutrition. The diet I feed him is similar to the one you posted, with slight deviations now and then. My biggest concern right now is figuring out how to balance the phosphorous/calcium ratio in his food. Dogs get a lot of phosphorous from animal proteins and in nature, they are able to balance this by eating the bone of the protein source to get their calcium. I've heard the phosphorous/calcium ratio is very important in dogs and cannot be ignored as a diet low in calcium can lead to hazardous health problems such as Ricketts. Additionally, if you add a calcium source such as cottage cheese, the calcium in the cottage cheese is only enough to balance the phosphorous in the cottage cheese, not enough to help balance the phosphorous in the entire meal. So, my long awaited question.... Did your vet mention anything about this to you and did you use any sort of supplement? I am wondering what was in the Powdered Vitamin supplement that you used as I am trying to figure out the best way to get my dog the calcium that he needs. Thanks for reading this and I hope to hear from you. Sincerely, Christy It seems it has been a year since you have last posted, I hope Misty Blue is doing well…
My Goldendoodle is six and my story with him is almost identical to yours, only difference being that the cause of his CAH is unknown, but lepto and copper storage toxicity have been ruled out. He is on all of the same meds as Misty Blue was with the exception of the med.for copper toxicity.
He is currently a few weeks out from the beginning of this very frightening occurrence and he is doing pretty well as he has responded to prednisone which they finally started him on just over a week ago. He went from no appetite to being absolutely starving with no amount of food seeming to satiate his appetite (I attribute to this to his high dose of pred).

I am currently home cooking and he seems to really be doing well with that. I would like to continue on this path, but I am concerned about giving him the proper nutrition. The diet I feed him is similar to the one you posted, with slight deviations now and then. My biggest concern right now is figuring out how to balance the phosphorous/calcium ratio in his food. Dogs get a lot of phosphorous from animal proteins and in nature, they are able to balance this by eating the bone of the protein source to get their calcium. I’ve heard the phosphorous/calcium ratio is very important in dogs and cannot be ignored as a diet low in calcium can lead to hazardous health problems such as Ricketts. Additionally, if you add a calcium source such as cottage cheese, the calcium in the cottage cheese is only enough to balance the phosphorous in the cottage cheese, not enough to help balance the phosphorous in the entire meal. So, my long awaited question…. Did your vet mention anything about this to you and did you use any sort of supplement? I am wondering what was in the Powdered Vitamin supplement that you used as I am trying to figure out the best way to get my dog the calcium that he needs.

Thanks for reading this and I hope to hear from you.
Sincerely,

Christy

]]> By: Terry Reich http://phoenixdogphotography.com/2009/07/chronic-active-hepatitis/comment-page-1/#comment-2760 Terry Reich Tue, 26 Apr 2011 07:16:55 +0000 http://phoenixdogphotography.com/?p=80#comment-2760 I have read your article about your blue doberman who has had chronic active hepatitus. My 7-year-old dobe has been diagnosed with the same thing. You said that you fed your dog chicken breast, sweet potato, rice, green beans, hard boiled eggs, flax seed oil, powdered vitamin supplement. Can you tell me in what proportion you fed this diet? And what vitaman supplements? I would like to try it. Thank you so very much. I have read your article about your blue doberman who has had chronic active hepatitus. My 7-year-old dobe has been diagnosed with the same thing. You said that you fed your dog chicken breast, sweet potato, rice, green beans, hard boiled eggs, flax seed oil, powdered vitamin supplement. Can you tell me in what proportion you fed this diet? And what vitaman supplements? I would like to try it. Thank you so very much.

]]> By: adogslifephoto http://phoenixdogphotography.com/2009/07/chronic-active-hepatitis/comment-page-1/#comment-2658 adogslifephoto Thu, 13 Jan 2011 00:34:45 +0000 http://phoenixdogphotography.com/?p=80#comment-2658 Shannon - I am sorry about your Great Dane. I believe the liquid medicine was Lactulose. I looked it up and it says that it is mainly for constipation in cats but it is used for some liver conditions. I have a call in to my vet to confirm. I would definitely clear any advice that I give you with your vet because every case is different! I think you are doing the right thing by cooking homemade for now. I have Misty on 1/2 NRG Dehydrated food and 1/2 Great Life grain-free chicken because they are both low in copper and she is doing amazingly well! She is still on Denosyl & Zinc Acetate and I giver her a Vitamin E capsule twice a day. I'll let you know what my vet says about the liquid medicine to confirm. Best of luck! Shannon – I am sorry about your Great Dane. I believe the liquid medicine was Lactulose. I looked it up and it says that it is mainly for constipation in cats but it is used for some liver conditions. I have a call in to my vet to confirm. I would definitely clear any advice that I give you with your vet because every case is different! I think you are doing the right thing by cooking homemade for now. I have Misty on 1/2 NRG Dehydrated food and 1/2 Great Life grain-free chicken because they are both low in copper and she is doing amazingly well! She is still on Denosyl & Zinc Acetate and I giver her a Vitamin E capsule twice a day. I’ll let you know what my vet says about the liquid medicine to confirm. Best of luck!

]]> By: Shannon http://phoenixdogphotography.com/2009/07/chronic-active-hepatitis/comment-page-1/#comment-2657 Shannon Wed, 12 Jan 2011 21:10:23 +0000 http://phoenixdogphotography.com/?p=80#comment-2657 I am very happy I stumbled across this site, as my Great Dane was diagnosed with CAH and high copper accumulation. I have not been able to get him to eat anything consistently since Christmas, and I've been making all of his food since then; trying everything. Any chance you can get the name of the medication that was used to chelate the copper (I presume it was the liquid you had to squirt down your Dobie's throat)? We tried Cuprimine and it made our dog sick, so now we are trying Syprine, which is supposed to have fewer adverse side effects but is SO EXPENSIVE. Thank you for this site!! I am very happy I stumbled across this site, as my Great Dane was diagnosed with CAH and high copper accumulation. I have not been able to get him to eat anything consistently since Christmas, and I’ve been making all of his food since then; trying everything. Any chance you can get the name of the medication that was used to chelate the copper (I presume it was the liquid you had to squirt down your Dobie’s throat)? We tried Cuprimine and it made our dog sick, so now we are trying Syprine, which is supposed to have fewer adverse side effects but is SO EXPENSIVE. Thank you for this site!!

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