The liver is an important organ. Responsible for cleaning the blood, the liver plays a major role in waste removal and ensuring overall health in dogs. Sometimes a dog’s liver may get sick or not work properly, resulting in a domino effect and impacting body function as a whole. If you would like to learn more about the liver and hepatic system, liver diseases and how nutrition can help, keep reading!
The liver makes up approximately 5% of your dog’s body weight and may contain 10-15% of the body’s blood supply at any given time! As mentioned above, the main function of the liver is to filter and clean the blood of chemical toxins. In addition to acting as the body’s janitor, the liver also has a few extra functions including:
It is often the first organ to encounter nutrients like vitamins, minerals, drugs and toxins that have been ingested by the dog. Once it filters nutrients, the liver will break them down, store them for later use or excrete them into bile. Since the liver also filters toxins in the blood, it is one of the organs most at risk for chemical damage.
The liver is a solid organ made up of 4 lobes. Attached (but separate from) the liver is the gallbladder, which stores bile produced by the liver to digest fats.
The liver is situated between the blood supply (called the portal vein) coming from the gastrointestinal tract and the systemic circulation, allowing for it to be the primary filtering and metabolizing organ.
Like all organs, sometimes the organ can become sick and is unable to perform its normal functions. This can result in a very sick doggo. Liver disease can be caused by many factors some of which are:
Since the liver is such a major organ with a big responsibility, when it fails it can greatly affect the function of a lot of other systems. Some symptoms of liver disease include:
Fortunately, liver disease is often treatable. The most common treatments include medication, supplements, surgery, and dietary changes, depending on the cause of the disease's progression.
Diet can have a major impact on reducing the severity of liver disease in dogs. A dog with liver disease will need a diet that is low in fat and low in protein. It is also beneficial to feed a dog with liver disease smaller meals more frequently as this will be easier for them to process and digest.
Additionally, monitoring the mineral content of the dog’s diet will help reduce the severity of liver disease. According to Volhard Dog Nutrition, “reducing the amount of copper in their diet and increasing the amount of zinc may be enough to cause a significant impact on your dog’s health”. Copper specifically can build up in the liver and can be found in high concentrations in organ meat, salmon, pork and duck. Zinc helps to reduce copper build up and can be found in foodstuffs like red meat, poultry and legumes.
Dietary supplements may also be beneficial for dogs with liver disease. Specifically, milk thistle has an active compound that acts as a liver anti inflammatory.
Pet MD. “Liver disease in dogs”. (2019). https://pets.webmd.com/dogs/liver-disease-liver-failure-dogs##1
Volhard Dog Nutrition. “The Optimal Care for Dogs with Liver Disease” (2020). https://www.volharddognutrition.com/blog/the-optimal-care-for-dogs-with-liver-disease/
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