For the most part I try and find the humor in the situations I find myself in.  With these two dogs, you sort of have to. 🙂  

But sometimes we have to talk about some serious issues.  After all both of my dogs are considered seniors.

You may recall last June when Delilah had pre dental blood work we discovered she had slightly elevated liver levels. Since then we’ve tried a number of different supplements, and treatments to bring those liver levels down, but with no luck.  My vet wants to do a liver biopsy and I’m really not comfortable with this.

Jodi Chick recommended Dr. Peter Dobias, a holistic vet in Canada.  Jodi swears by Dr. Dobias’ liver cleanse.  I e-mailed Dr. Dobias and was thrilled when he responded to me.  He suggested a liver cleanse for Delilah and to continue her on the supplements she is on.

Naturally I wanted to run it by one of the vets in my practice.  I spent a good 20 minutes talking it through with Dr. Atz.

This may sound weird, but my gut is telling me, the whole issue with the elevated livers is in Delilah’s gut.

Think about, this dog eats anything.   For heaven’s sake, Sunday she ate dog shit!

When I shared my theory with Dr. Atz he agreed.  I said I just picked up The Microbiome Diet and the premise is a good portion of disease begins in the gut.  And do you know what my vet said?  He said, “I agree, the gut is the root of all evil.”

So then I ran my idea by him.

My plan is to do a liver cleanse with Delilah and then add in a good probiotic and a good multi-vitamin.

Typically when a dog is diagnosed with elevated liver levels, the levels are quite high.  Often times in the 800 range.  Delilah’s are currently under 300.  As of this writing, Delilah has no symptoms of liver disease.  In fact, as Dr. Atz reminded me we wouldn’t even know there was an issue going on if we hadn’t had the pre dental blood work run.  Dr. Atz and I agree, this gives us time for experimenting.  

Because we feed raw, I try to keep the dog’s treats grain free, but that doesn’t mean we don’t slide occasionally.  Since I have been diagnosed with food allergies, it’s crossed my mind perhaps Delilah may have them as well.  I’m going to be very strict about the treats she gets and do my best to control what goes in her mouth.

Do any of you have experience with food allergies and how would I go about having her checked for them?  For me it was a simple blood test.  Can it really be that simple with dogs too?