How Healthy is Your Pet's Liver?

The liver is the largest and one of the most important organs in the body. It has a number of very important tasks and is involved directly or indirectly, in all physiological processes.

It plays a vital role in the digestive process, facilitating the secretion of bile and is also involved in the metabolism of carbohydrates, fats and proteins, maintaining blood sugar levels, storage of fat soluble vitamins, and inactivating hormones, but one of its main functions is to cleanse and filter the blood stream.

Liver disease and impaired liver function generally result from toxin accumulation in the body. This can result from over-exposure to chemicals, and pollutants from the environment – household cleaners, pesticides, herbicides, paint fumes, cat litter deodorizers, petro-chemicals, drugs, exhaust fumes & preservatives.

Every one of these toxins that your dog is exposed to, requires breaking down by the enzymes in the liver.

Most domestic pets are constantly bombarded with a huge array of chemicals and artificial products. They are often vaccinated every year of their life. They are routinely given drugs for worms every few months along with daily or monthly heartworm pills, or yearly injections, then most also have oral or external flea and tick treatments, not to mention eating highly processed packaged food!

When your animal’s liver is over-burdened with more toxins than they can handle, these toxins along with dead blood cells and micro-organisms will build-up in the blood stream. This causes an increase in the workload of the immune system. This immune dysfunction can then lead to further health problems such as allergies, auto-immune diseases and other serious health disorders.

Your dog or cat may not necessarily have liver disease or be showing any symptoms, but this does not mean that their liver is functioning efficiently. Poor liver function may contribute to a range of health problems such as –

• Itchy skin or skin rashes
• Smelly skin and breath
• Allergies
• Anaemia
• Digestive and Bowel disorders
• Pancreatic problems (diabetes or pancreatitis)
• Hormonal imbalances
• Jaundice
• Cancer

So how can you minimize the risk of your dog or cat developing liver dysfunction?

Avoid exposure to pesticides and other chemicals – Remember that animals are closer to the ground than people and will breathe in more fumes, they also lie directly on, and walk (bare foot) on the ground so will be in direct contact with sprays and chemicals. Then when they lick themselves they will ingest the poisons directly.

Feed a fresh unprocessed, preservative-free raw food diet.

Avoid or restrict the application of chemicals directly onto their skin. If it’s not safe for your skin, then it’s not safe for theirs either!

Heavy metal toxicity is alarmingly high in many domestic pets these days.  High accumulations of lead, mercury, aluminium and copper may cause liver damage. Hair mineral analysis is one of the most accurate methods of testing the levels of these toxins in the body. Once results are known, then treatment may commence to detox these from the body.

Preservatives such as ethoxyquin, BHA & BHT which are found in many processed pet foods can contribute to liver damage and cancers.

Early diagnosis of liver disease is important to prevent further destruction of liver cells. Most animals show no symptoms initially or the symptoms may be quite subtle such as tiredness, nausea or skin disorders.

By ensuring your animals liver is functioning at its peak, will also ensure their blood stream is kept clean and the endocrine, digestive and immune systems are able to function efficiently.

Himalaya Pets LIV.52 is a fantastic liver support supplement for compromised livers and overall liver health.