Liver Disease in Our Pets

Nowadays, with the modern people’s hectic and unhealthy lifestyle, liver disease seems to be an ordinary disease. As we all know, liver disease is a condition when liver is not able to run its normal function or at least losing its ability to do its work. If in human liver is running one or two roles, the in our pets, this internal organ becomes a major organ than become the brain or food digestion, nutrient conversion, mineral and vitamin storage, and the toxic removal.

The Causes
In human, liver disease can be caused by food, alcohol and drug consumption, and many other causes. However, in pets the main causes of liver disease are drug, bacteria, and virus. Therefore, make sure that we pay more attention to our pets’ condition and environment if we want to prevent this disease from our pets. 
- Based on the age, pets that more than 10 years old are having higher risk on liver disease, but it is very possible if liver disease occur in young pets.
- Some breeds are having higher risk on liver disease. For the dog, Yorkshire Terrier, Bedlington, Cocker Spaniels are having the most risk. For cat, Siamese cat breed is one that has higher risk among all. 
- If drug and alcohol are the main causes of liver disease in human, then pesticide, drug, herbicide and all chemical products are the most common cause. 
- Obesity is one of the causes of liver disease in pets. On the other side, if our pets are not eating for days, then they have higher risk on this disease.

The Symptoms
Liver disease becomes one of the killing diseases in our pets because most of us think that the signs shown are just like the other light disease symptoms. For an early prevention, make sure that we pay attention to these symptoms:
- Unstable emotional and depression 
- Significant weight loss
- Diarrhea 
- Vomiting
- Pale color on gums
- Dark urine
- Thirst
- Skin, gums and eyes yellowing 
- Fluid in the abdomen 

The Diagnosis
In several cases, the vets will be able to identify liver disease in our pets, but to make an accurate diagnosis, these steps will be done:
- Blood test
The blood test is aimed to identify the changes in biochemical. The changes will show the indication of liver abnormal function.
- Biopsy 
Biopsy is a process to identify liver disease by taking a small part of tissue.
- Liver Imaging
This diagnosis is aimed to check the blood supply, live size, liver shape changes with x- ray.

The Treatments
Our body or pets’ body are having a magical ability for self recovery. We can find such thing in our pets’ liver as well. If the liver damage is not too severe, then nutrition therapy can be a good solution because the liver is only need a support for the self recovery process. However, if the disease is in a severe condition, then drug or surgery is the best solution. 

Liver disease can be a deadly disease, but unfortunately the symptoms are sometimes similar with other diseases and can be varied, so make sure that we always give extra attention to our pets, mostly the aged pets.