Dogs
with impaired kidneys, lungs or livers may not be given Imizol (Imidocarb
diproprionate). When Thunder, my GSD, was finally scheduled to
have a shot of Imizol in the hope that it would knock out his
Ehrlichiosis once and for all, a blood test prior to the shot made it
clear that his ALT was far too high for him to have it. It was
over 1200, sky high. In an attempt to bring that result down, my
vet suggested that I give him Country
Life Liver Support Factors by BioChem,
a human supplement for support of the liver, which he took at the
human dosage since he was a big dog weighing almost a hundred pounds.
I was astonished when his ALT dropped over 500 points in one week!
At the end of two weeks, it had dropped far enough for danger to be
minimal and he was given the shot. I cannot speak highly enough
of this all natural supplement. For long
term use,
however, since it is composed in great measure of herbs, Milk Thistle
being the main one, I would suggest that it be pulsed, i.e., given for
a couple of weeks, then withheld for a week or so, and so on, to
prevent the body from becoming used to it, since herbs seem to lose
their effectiveness if given continually..
A
word here about Milk Thistle. Although it is the main ingredient
in Liver Support Factors, Thunder was on Milk Thistle alone for some
time before that blood test and it did little or nothing. It
seems to need the other ingredients in this supplement to kick it into
action.
Country
Life Liver Support Factors by BioChem can be found online.
Googling will bring up a ton of links.
Here
are a couple:
I
get no kickback from Country Life, by the way. Whether another
brand will work or not, I don't know since I never used another one.
What I do know is that my vet was quite specific in telling me to get
this one and this one only and I had to hunt to find it locally.
It was definitely worth the hunt.
I'm
told that another excellent product for support of the liver is S-Adenosylmethionine,
SAMe
for short.
Denosyl
is
the only brand of SAMe researched in US trials for veterinary use in
dogs and can be found at