Liver failure caused by too much protein!?

[Petra]

I recently heard from a girl I know that two dogs living on the farm she moved to died from liver failure due to too much protein in the food she gave them They had been eating some cheap dog food in the past and looked terrible, she wanted to be nice and started giving them the same expensive food she buys for her dogs. According to her vet it was the high protein in the food that caused the problem since they weren't used to it I just wanted to share it here in case someone rescues a dog and doesn't know what food it was on before... it may be safer to get a lower protein dog food to start with and very slowly introduce more protein so the liver can deal with the change. Sometimes being nice goes wrong, and I would be so sad if it happened to someone here This incident shows how important it is to gradually change food, no matter if it is from a "bad" food to a "good" one... Take care <3

[DudleysMom]

Thanks so much for sharing.

[bullmama]

Wow I'm sorry to hear of her loss when she was only trying to help.

I'm going to tag @Twice to see what she thinks.


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[Twice]

Too much protein won't cause damage to a healthy liver. What it will do is cause the liver to fail sooner if there is already an underlying problem. One of the livers jobs is to filter protein byproducts from the blood. If the liver is already compromised that excess protein will build up and cause further damage. The fact that you say these dogs "looked terrible" leads me to believe that they already had some form of liver disease that likely went undiagnosed. The fact that both dogs died of the same condition probably means that they were exposed to some sort of toxin or parasite.

That said, a diet high in FAT can also compromise the liver as will a trauma, heatstroke or the bacteria from tooth decay.

[FORDE'SMOM]

thanks for the info

[Libra926]

Thanks for the infor @Petra and @Twice!

[Petra]

Thanks @Twice, the dogs were random mixed breed dogs hanging around the farm so they were most likely abandoned by the farms previous owner poor dogges, who knows what those two had been through

[Twice]

poor dogges, who knows what those two had been through

I can only imagine. Poor babies They are in a better place now.

[Alice Kable]

Thanks for the information. Our vet says that really active dogs (working cow dogs, etc.) can handle high protein dog food much better than inactive dogs.

[2BullyMama]

How sad..... but great info to have shared with us

[Texas Carol]

Too much protein won't cause damage to a healthy liver. What it will do is cause the liver to fail sooner if there is already an underlying problem. One of the livers jobs is to filter protein byproducts from the blood. If the liver is already compromised that excess protein will build up and cause further damage. The fact that you say these dogs "looked terrible" leads me to believe that they already had some form of liver disease that likely went undiagnosed. The fact that both dogs died of the same condition probably means that they were exposed to some sort of toxin or parasite.

That said, a diet high in FAT can also compromise the liver as will a trauma, heatstroke or the bacteria from tooth decay.

Agree w/Bev @Twice...there was an underlying problem or a sudden, unknown fact
that caused their death and it coincided w/change of food. Altho, any food change
is best done slowly but I do not believe the food caused their death...so sad!

Thank you for posting this, Petra...GOD bless!

[Sherry]

thats so sad, she must be devastated. give her my sympathy