Anyone have experience with cirrhosis in dogs?

[partgypsy]

To give you some background our chow chow dog is 8 years old. A great family dog, loving and protective our our 2 girls. Just about 2 years ago she developed a seizure disorder. She has been on a quite high phenobarbitol regimin to keep her seizures under control otherwise has breakthrough seizures.

A couple weeks ago she chewed up her back legs, also her legs looked a little swollen so we brought her in. There was just a superfical infection. We gave her the antibiotic and the antihistamine. After we got her home over the week she became progressively bloated. She was also having trouble staying on her feet, and not very responsive. We brought her in on Thursday. An xray showed her abdomen was filled with fluid and the labwork indicated it was her liver. An ultrasound the next day confirmed it was cirrhosis. We brought her home after some of the fluid was drained. We have been weaning her off her phenobarb and onto a new drug, but she still seems very drugged. We are giving her a prescription dog food and a supplement to help her liver as well. Has anyone had experience with cirrhosis in dogs? What is her possible life expectancy? Right now her quality of life is not very good, but we will continue if there is a possiblity she can recoup. I always thought I would know when it is time, but I am torn. Regardless we are to bring her in on Friday. I''m afraid of what they will say.

 

[ang3199]

I''m so sorry to hear about your pup! I have no experience with that but if my mind serves me right I think Bee works for a vet, or is a vet, or something like that.

So, bump for BEE

 

[partgypsy]

Yes, let''s hope she can chime in! At work I can hardly concentrate. My mood has been really up and down about this. The latest is as of this morning she doesn''t want to eat her prescription food.

 

[bee*]

Hey, sorry just saw this now. I haven''t come across this in a while but I''m in college and work tomorrow so I''ll ask the vet that I''m on with tomorrow. Anything else that you want to know apart from life expectancy? I''m not in work until 4pm our time (Ireland) so I have time to check here beforehand. In the meantime I''ll check one of our college sites to see is there any info on it.

 

[bee*]

ok just from reading some of the articles on our college pages, it seems to be that the prognosis really depends on the response to the therapy, however unfortunately their life span does seem to be greatly reduced. It also depends on how much damage has been done to her liver. A lot of the vets were recommending that a liver biopsy be done to determine the extent of the damage, but personally if it was my Amber, I don''t think that I''d put her through that. From the cases and depending on the liver damage they seem to give anything up to 12 months. I am so sorry that your dog is ill and I wish you the best for your appointment on friday. I''ll post tomorrow evening once I get back from work and I''ll let you know what the vet said.

 

[partgypsy]

thanks Bee for your posting.
It''s not looking good right now

. She''s not eating her food today either. She did lick a little of the chicken soup we poured over the top, but that''s about it. She will get up to go outside (she always has been fastidious about her toliet habits) but then walks in and lays down where she will have privacy, can''t engage her in anything.

Someone we knew recommended a high protein dog food helps control dog''s seizures. So about a couple
months ago we switched from Flint River Ranch to Innova. In retrospect it wasn''t such a good idea; I think the high protein food ended up just putting more stress on her liver.

Between the medication she was on and the food we were giving her I can''t help but blame myself I inadvertantly hastened the death of my dog.

 

[bee*]

Hi I''m just back from work now. Please don''t blame yourself-unfortunately liver problems do crop up in a huge amount of dogs. I was speaking to my boss and she was saying basically the same thing that I had read yesterday, in that it really depends on how she responds to the treatment and basically she was saying that it''s all about controlling it. I was looking through our patient files today that have had liver problems and there are so many of them and the life expectancy seems to differ a huge amount. She did say that it''s not good a good sign that there was fluid buildup so unfortunately I guess it really seems to depend on whether she gets her appetite back. You really can''t blame yourself for it though. If they are having seizures, they do need to be on pheno to control them otherwise their quality of life isn''t great, so you cannot blame yourself for her being on medication. I really hope that she begins to eat for you and that she responds to her meds. Hugs xxx

 

[partgypsy]

Betty passed away Friday evening at home. Her passing was peaceful.
My husband said, "she was not my favorite dog, but she was the best family dog I''ve ever had." It was true. She never made messes, she barked at strangers and was protective of our babies, but was so gentle to our kids. They would get on top of her and ride her, take food out of her bowl and feed her by hand. The thing I''ll remember most is that I loved to smell the top of her head. It was this clean fur smell, almost baby powder smelling. She never smelled doggy. When she was a puppy she was like a living stuffed animal.


Here is Betty as a puppy being held by my sister in law.

 

[partgypsy]

Betty at Thanksgiving time, on back porch steps. She had slowed down the last 2 years because of her seizure disorder.

 

[bee*]

I''m so sorry to hear about Betty passing, but I''m glad to hear that it was peaceful. Take care of yourself. She sounded like a great dog and she those photos are gorgeous. Sending hugs