Hello,
Our mini is now 10 years old and has generally been very healthy. However, c 15 months ago, as part of a routine pre op assessment, our vet found that she had poor liver function (despite our being very careful never to give her fatty foods etc), and recommended Royal Canin hepatic canned food, plus Vitamin E and Hepatosyl, all of it very expensive, though it seemed to do the trick (no subsequent liver function tests however).
It works out cheaper to buy the Royal Canin food in bulk, and I recently ordered over 100 gbp worth of it online, However, it looked and smelt different, and the packaging had been redesigned, now with ZERO information as to the contents on the side of the can, which I think is unacceptable for something costing over 2gbp per can, marketed at dogs already in fragile health. So that will be going back.
Our dog ate the first can of the new batch, but within 24 hours suffered uncontrollable diarrhoea from which she is only starting to recover 10 days later. I am currently feeding her on white fish and peeled cooked potato with lots of water and pro-kolin to boost good gut microbes. Our vet could find nothing wrong with her on examination.
He was in an unusually bad on the date of our appointment and had nothing useful to offer in terms of feeding advice.
I have bought a number of cans of Lilys Kitchen, as at least there is transparency as to the ingredients, but don't think that fish and potato is a good long term option. Any advice please?
Thank you in advance
? Best food for poor liver function. Royal Canin useless
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Re: ? Best food for poor liver function. Royal Canin useless
Hi Vivien, my advice would be to seek a consultation with a specialist vet that understands canine nutrition as well as conditions like poor liver function. Here is a link to a number of vets hopefully able to do a phone consult in conjunction with your vet. I would always try to get a natural fresh diet rather than a heavily processed one and these vets will give advice around that. It says raw but don't worry about that if you are anti raw. They may suggest a lightly cooked diet is the best. Lastly, Lilys Kitchen has been taken over by Nestle I believe and the reports of that food haven't been good. You are right about your diet change not being good long term, potato isn't a good food for dogs and fish in a lot of commercial prepared dog and cat foods as been proven to contain some undesirable elements like arsenic. https://rfvs.info/find-a-vet/. Good luck.
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we also need a schnauzer.
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Re: ? Best food for poor liver function. Royal Canin useless
So sorry to hear about Lola’s illness and the poor quality vet advice re nutrition. You say that the liver function test was done pre-op - was this for an already diagnosed illness? Was she already showing signs of her liver causing problems?
As Julie has said, Royal Canin food is very low quality at the best of times and the tinned hepatic food looks more likely in my opinion to cause malnutrition from looking the ingredient list. I would agree with the post above that it would be worth speaking to a more knowledgeable veterinary nutritionist and / or find a homeopathic or holistic vet who can take a more rounded and individual assessment of Lola’s health.
There is an informative article here on liver disease in dogs with advice on the causes and how to limit or reduce liver damage and includes information on feeding too.
https://primalpooch.com/canine-liver-disease-raw-diet
Personally I would always go with raw feeding to maintain health and address illness in dogs and there are some companies who produce raw meals specifically for dogs with liver issue e.g.Nutriment:
https://www.nutriment.co.uk/liver-support/
Milk thistle is a useful supplement for dogs with liver problems whatever food you are feeding to Lola:
https://www.dorwest.com/product/milk-th ... -and-cats/
And bone broth can be another good addition to the diet, either home-made or pre-prepared:
https://www.boilandbroth.com/5-benefits ... -for-dogs/
Good luck and hope you can find good professional advice on Lola’s health and diet going forward from here.
As Julie has said, Royal Canin food is very low quality at the best of times and the tinned hepatic food looks more likely in my opinion to cause malnutrition from looking the ingredient list. I would agree with the post above that it would be worth speaking to a more knowledgeable veterinary nutritionist and / or find a homeopathic or holistic vet who can take a more rounded and individual assessment of Lola’s health.
There is an informative article here on liver disease in dogs with advice on the causes and how to limit or reduce liver damage and includes information on feeding too.
https://primalpooch.com/canine-liver-disease-raw-diet
Personally I would always go with raw feeding to maintain health and address illness in dogs and there are some companies who produce raw meals specifically for dogs with liver issue e.g.Nutriment:
https://www.nutriment.co.uk/liver-support/
Milk thistle is a useful supplement for dogs with liver problems whatever food you are feeding to Lola:
https://www.dorwest.com/product/milk-th ... -and-cats/
And bone broth can be another good addition to the diet, either home-made or pre-prepared:
https://www.boilandbroth.com/5-benefits ... -for-dogs/
Good luck and hope you can find good professional advice on Lola’s health and diet going forward from here.
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Re: ? Best food for poor liver function. Royal Canin useless
THANK YOU all very much for taking the time to reply.
I will spend some time looking at the useful links you have given,
Thank you again
I will spend some time looking at the useful links you have given,
Thank you again