Hello Everyone, About a month ago we adopted another corgi from some guy who could no longer take care of him. He is a very sweet boy who we call Banjo (I attached pictures because he is the cutest thing). I took him to the vet to get him fixed about two weeks after we got him, they did the initial blood test and it came back that his liver enzymes were very elivated (over double) so they didn't go ahead with the neuter.

 

Earlier this week he was back at the vet getting a bile test done, I got the results back and they were normal before eating but doubled after eating. The vet said it could be a number of things including shunts, liver damage, liver disease ect. We are going for an ultrasound soon so they can see what it might be. He is three this month so he isn't an older dog, I did notice he pants, drools, urinates excessively and drinks alot of water, from what I have read these are all signs of liver problems. He is also very tiny (about 22 pounds, my female corgi is way bigger framed than him) so my question is, has anyone elses dog had liver problems? What was the prognosis/treatment?  What symptoms were they showing?

 

Alot of what i have been reading is scaring me that he will have to have surgery or there may not be anything we can do to fix it.. :(

 

 

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Hi Alynne, Banjo is a handsome boy:) If the condition is severe, surgery might be the only option, if it is not that bad, a low fat diet is often prescribed by a vet. We had a foster with liver problem, she didn't need rx, poop was often mushy and had a hard time putting on weight. All the symptoms you've describe matched. Her previous family was feeding her greasy human food, she is now with her forever family, doing awesome and packed some solid muscles :)
He is a handsome boy! Good luck and keep us updated!
He is the sweetest looking little boy ever. I have no experience with the issue, I just wanted to say good luck and I hope all is ok with him.

Heather
a lot of the symptoms sound like Cushing's, including the increased liver enzymes. However, generally with Cushing's you have a fat dog or a potbellied dog, but the increased urination/thirst/panting are all symptoms. They will be able to find out if its Cushing's by the ultrasound as well. Good luck!
I was thinking Cushing's as well. My 11 year old Rat Terrier is getting tested, and that is everything they had us look for.  Her liver is 3 times the size it should be, and is pushing on her other organs, making her panting worse.  She is very overweight and looks extremely bloated, which was one of the first signs.  If money allows, I would encourage a blood test, ultra sound, and we monitored exactly how much water she drank for two days.
Thanks everyone for the good thoughts, I hope it is something we can treat with diet. I have a picture of them together, neeka is on the left (i know she could lose a few pounds) and banjo on the right. They are the same age so this is showing how much differnt they are in size

Hi Alynne, my 4 year old corgi is going thru the same thing right now.  Elevated ALT and bile acids higher than normal.  Would you mind sharing your experience and letting me know how Banjo is doing?

We go for an ultrasound on 11/3....keeping my fingers crossed to pray that it is a best case scenario.  The vet is leaning towards shunt, but U am still praying for a miracle.

By the way, Bentley is clinically healthy with no signs or symptoms of any health issues.  Routine bloodwork was done because of infection of some kind, then showed elevated ALT.  Looking for answers...thank you and hope Banjo is doing well.

Oh, I sincerely hope this is just a road bump in a long, happy life together. Please keep us posted.
My older dog had a bad liver also with elevated enzymes and a ultra-sound's were done twice the first time to get a good idea of the size(more than just feel) and the second for comparision right be he passed. The bile test he would give back looked like Strawberry millkshakes since show much of what he ate was just passed straight into the blood. he was at risk for pancreantitus and  did go through 2 boughts even though he was on a strict rx diet. Have they tested for cushing's at all? that maybe causing the freguent urination/panting/drinking part and can be controlled with drugs and or surgery depending. My dog couldn't have the surgery because of the liver test's but my step mom's dog did and she is doing wonderfull =)

 I believe milk thistle is good for the liver. I remember asking my  vet about it and he refered me to a website that sold a liver support vitamin that he said had given positive results to other clients allthough he couldn't garentee any of it since he practiced conventional medicine and some other stuff along those lines, but at least he recomended something. It's been a few years so I don't remeber the name and can't really say if it helped alot or not since his liver was allready pretty bad when I started giving them to him.

he is refusing to eat tonight :( and i feed them raw so usually I can't keep them from the food!! Thanks everyone for the advise though. We go on the 17th for an ultrasound!

try some boiled chicken and white rice, maybe add a bit of low sodium chicken broth. If he continues to not eat, get him into the vet ASAP (like tomorrow if he doesn't eat breakfast). Knowing he has liver issues, if he quits eating this could be a serious problem. Poor little guy

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