Pets Liver Disease & Vitamins and Minerals

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Pets liver disease in dogs and cats is quite common and can range from mild to very serious to the point that it can be life threatening, and the causes can be numerous including bacterial infections, cancer, parasites, trauma, exposure to poisons or toxins, as well as being hereditary.

Pets liver disease deals with the largest of all the organs in your pets body, which should give you an idea on how important it is in your pets overall health picture, and how complicated it is too try to understand all the functions.

Liver disease and the functions of the liver are so complicated, that you could virtually spend your entire life in research and still not know all of the facts.

The liver in your pet is involved in almost every biochemical function and it is instrumental in the supply of nutrients that will be processed by your pet.

It also is a key, if not the key component in their body in fighting diseases of several types, providing the energy generated by your pet, and aids in the reproduction process, all at the same time.

The cells of the liver, referred to as hepatocytes, perform literally thousands of very complex biochemical reactions.

Some of these reactions occur as frequently as every second in your pet’s body as they perform several key functions.

But one thing is certain with this disease; to help in the prevention, vitamin supplementation and the proper diet is critical in both cats and dogs, as the liver is the main organ responsible for filtering and cleansing your pet’s body.

Not all, but most cats and dogs with this disease or anyone of several degenerative diseases associated with it, will be placed on restrictive diets of some kind.

Vitamin supplementations that are especially effective with this disease are vitamin K, C, and E because of their anti-oxidation benefits to your pets’ body.

Increased levels of zinc are also extremely important to the supplementation of your pet.

Pets liver disease can be helped by increased levels of zinc as it is a metallic constitute of pancreatic enzymes that are active in protein degradation.

So why exactly would this be important?

The highest concentrations of zinc found in your pet’s body are located in the liver, and lesser amounts can be found in the pancreas, kidney, and the pituitary gland. The absorption of zinc happens in the small intestine where it is eventually transported to the liver and other organs.

The fats soluble vitamins, vitamins K, D and E will require “bile” for their proper absorption into the intestines.

What makes zinc so vitally important in pets liver disease, is that these vitamins are stored in the liver and are only converted to active forms in the liver is healthy.

It only makes common sense, even as complex as the liver and liver disease is, that what goes into your pets body will be the result of their having a healthy and properly performing liver, or living a life, or even losing their life, because it is not performing.

There is one company, Hills Pet Nutrition Inc. that makes a food that could be an excellent food source, but supplementation should still accompany this food.

Their Science diet pet food line, although quite expensive, does have increased levels of zinc and several tests have proven it to be very effective with pets liver disease.

This disease, if caught and diagnosed early and properly, can be very effectively treated once your veterinarian has identified the kind of liver problem your pet may have, and there are several.

Hepatitis is perhaps the most commonly known type of pets liver disease and there are several forms of hepatitis; hepatitis chronic active, hepatic encephalopathy, and acute hepatic failure,

This disease can also include a fatty liver or hepatic lipidosis, copper storage disease, infectious hepatitis, and leptospirosis hepatitis.

More possible liver disease or degenerative problems can be abscess of the liver, cancer, benign tumors and even parasites in the liver.

The final and ending stage of pets liver disease is “cirrhosis of the liver”, where the liver is unable to filter and progress properly.

As a result of this, your pet’s body becomes overwhelmed with toxins and your pet will eventually develop seizure like disorders.

When trying to fully understand the magnitude of the various functions of the liver and how vitally important this organ is to your pet and thus how important it is to keep it healthy, there are some interesting facts about the liver and pets liver disease.

Just like the kidneys, 25% of the blood that is ejected from the heart goes to the liver. A healthy liver has a huge reserve of power and only uses a very small amount of its potential at any one time.

One of the other “huge” advantages that a healthy liver has in preventing pets liver disease is that the liver cells have the ability to regenerate themselves. There are very few organs in your pet’s body that have this ability.

FATTY ACID SUPPLEMENTS

The topic of pets liver disease again is so broad and so extensive and there are so many different treatments and solutions, that it is important to understand just a few things.

Your pets are, other than hereditary, basically what they eat and what they are supplemented with in the preventive of this very dangerous disease.

You control their destiny with pet’s liver disease in how well you protect them and feed them.

There are several very good brands and companies products to help you protect your pet.

Pets Liver Disease & Pet Meds Pharmacy