High ALT values over 2 labs & Diet/What's appropriate & what's not?

[JodyLT]

Hi everyone -

My Jasper is a 15+ lb Parsons Russell Terrier mix. Over the past two labs (2016, 2022), he's come up with high ALT values. His BEAM is great. He does do a lot of lip licking after eating and at other times, so could be diet related or could be stress/anxiety or something else.

I've attached the two labs so everyone can see.

I took him to a holistic vet here in Austin who actually knows @Dr. Jean pretty well. He said something is aggravating Jasper's liver and I should put him on a liver supporting diet, staying away from high Copper foods like Beef and other red meats. Duck, turkey, chicken, certain white fish...he told me to look up Dr. Jean's liver supporting diet. I did and was concerned about two things - the starchy white potato and the white fish because of mercury toxicity.

However, as @Dr. Jeff reminded me, elevated liver values don't necessarily mean anything of concern and he asked me if Jasper had had an abdominal ultrasound or a special kind of bile test (Dr. Jeff, if you would put that in here as don't remember the name. Thx. ).

Wanted to put this out into a thread in case others have experienced this, too. I'm not one to get wound up about an elevated liver value especially since Jasper has no other signs or issues, so I was surprised at the doc walking in and immediately saying the something is bothering his liver since his last 2 bloods came up with elevated ALT. Note that one of these labs is from 2016! The other is from 3 mos ago.

Thanks!
Jody

 

[Dr. Jean Hofve]

Don't know if you saw my earlier note, but your vet is talking about Dr. Jean Dodds and her website Hemopet, not me.

The ALT in June was only slightly high. It was three times normal in 2016, though labs from that long ago are less relevant. Any elevation of ALT should be further investigated as Dr. Jeff suggested with a bile acids test or ultrasound, but this is not a terribly concerning level.

In the last few years, copper toxicity has been increasingly documented in dogs, likely due to excessive copper in commercial pet food. (The looming concern about copper in dog food: Copper overload is quietly killing our dogs)

In analyses of homemade recipes, copper was more likely to be deficient.

I don't know of any reason to avoid beef or red meat in general; it is a very good source of iron, vit B12, and other important nutrients. However, because commercial ground beef is badly contaminated with pathogenic bacteria, I recommend either using organic ground beef, or buying larger cut of meats that you can have ground for you on the spot.

 

[JodyLT]

Don't know if you saw my earlier note, but your vet is talking about Dr. Jean Dodds and her website Hemopet, not me.

The ALT in June was only slightly high. It was three times normal in 2016, though labs from that long ago are less relevant. Any elevation of ALT should be further investigated as Dr. Jeff suggested with a bile acids test or ultrasound, but this is not a terribly concerning level.

In the last few years, copper toxicity has been increasingly documented in dogs, likely due to excessive copper in commercial pet food. (The looming concern about copper in dog food: Copper overload is quietly killing our dogs)

In analyses of homemade recipes, copper was more likely to be deficient.

I don't know of any reason to avoid beef or red meat in general; it is a very good source of iron, vit B12, and other important nutrients. However, because commercial ground beef is badly contaminated with pathogenic bacteria, I recommend either using organic ground beef, or buying larger cut of meats that you can have ground for you on the spot.

Hi Dr. Jean - Sorry, I was away from the computer all day today. I did see your notes; thank you so much. First, let me say I'm so sorry to hear of your health challenges. I hope it's nothing serious and that you're on the mend. Yes, you're right. Dr. Lassin is talking about Dr. Jean Dodds.
Thank you for your feedback. This is exactly what pet parents get so frustrated about; not knowing what to investigate and do something about. I'll ask Dr. Lassin about the bile and ultrasound tests, especially since we're getting Jasper ready to live in the UK with his dad. So there's the rabies vaccine, deworming, as well, that's mandatory and upsetting for this dod mom. I have a rabies tautode from Dr. Falconer and instructions, so mitigating that some but it's a lot for this little guy.
I am going to see how his does re his lip licking after being on turkey, chicken, white fish for a couple of weeks; do I notice a real difference there. The beef he was getting was from either a ranch I sourced here in Texas that is antibiotic/hormone free and pesticide/herbicide free, but of course, there's the toxic rain, soil, streams, etc.
Appreciate the feedback from you and Dr. Jeff, immensely. ?

 

[Dr. Jeff]

I agree 100% with Dr. Jean that Jasper's elevated ALT is probably not a problem and is definitely nothing to worry about. However, it's definitely worth investigating.

In fact, examining every symptom in full context (by defining it fully) is key to understanding what Jasper's body is doing.

All we know right now, as your vet said, Jasper's liver is challenged for some reason like MVD or a shunt, or inflammation, or... and definitely could use support as Dr. Lassin recommended.

His liver like all of the cells that make up his body need "vitamin" V.

Meaning that all of the cells of his liver, kidneys, heart, intestinal tract, etc., needs vitamin V (vitality) and energy in order to work properly.

An extra hour/day of BEAM therapy should do the trick and help his body normalize his liver blood test results (do you have previous tests which will show us his historical norms for ALT?).

You can easily do this with extra Therapeutic Sniff Walks, playing, snuffle mat use, Happy Meals, Love Therapy, etc.

Fantastic work with monitoring and supporting, but not manipulating the internal symptom of elevated ALT!

Remember that symptoms are of two types.

Some are 1-externally visible biomarkers like BEAM, whereas others are only 2-internally measurable biomarkers like ALT, kidney tests, etc.

This Persistently elevated liver enzyme only scores 1/4 on the "pay attention to me" symptom scale of:

Persistent, Prominent, Problematic and Peculiar symptom that are most worth investigating (though you can always better define any visible symptom by using a Kent's repertory).



Whatever you learn (like a modality, or test result) should go in Jasper's health journal for future reference. It will be super helpful to refer to, if needed, in a year or two (or five).

Use Kent's repertory to help you better define observable symptoms.

Repertory of the Homeopathic Materia Medica, James Tyler Kent - Narayana Verlag

 

[JodyLT]

I agree 100% with Dr. Jean that Jasper's elevated ALT is probably not a problem and is definitely nothing to worry about. However, it's definitely worth investigating.

In fact, examining every symptom in full context (by defining it fully) is key to understanding what Jasper's body is doing.

All we know right now, as your vet said, Jasper's liver is challenged for some reason like MVD or a shunt, or inflammation, or... and definitely could use support as Dr. Lassin recommended.

His liver like all of the cells that make up his body need "vitamin" V.

Meaning that all of the cells of his liver, kidneys, heart, intestinal tract, etc., needs vitamin V (vitality) and energy in order to work properly.

An extra hour/day of BEAM therapy should do the trick and help his body normalize his liver blood test results (do you have previous tests which will show us his historical norms for ALT?).

You can easily do this with extra Therapeutic Sniff Walks, playing, snuffle mat use, Happy Meals, Love Therapy, etc.

Fantastic work with monitoring and supporting, but not manipulating the internal symptom of elevated ALT!

Remember that symptoms are of two types.

Some are 1-externally visible biomarkers like BEAM, whereas others are only 2-internally measurable biomarkers like ALT, kidney tests, etc.

This Persistently elevated liver enzyme only scores 1/4 on the "pay attention to me" symptom scale of:

Persistent, Prominent, Problematic and Peculiar symptom that are most worth investigating (though you can always better define any visible symptom by using a Kent's repertory).



Whatever you learn (like a modality, or test result) should go in Jasper's health journal for future reference. It will be super helpful to refer to, if needed, in a year or two (or five).

Use Kent's repertory to help you better define observable symptoms.

Repertory of the Homeopathic Materia Medica, James Tyler Kent - Narayana Verlag

Thanks @Dr. Jeff. I've been using Kent's for a couple of years now. LOL. It's a staple.