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Does your dog have liver disease or problems, and as a result, often turns their nose up at their food? Lack of appetite is a common symptom of liver disease in dogs and can be anxiety-inducing for a dog parent, who quite rightly wants them to eat for their health. If your pooch has a liver that’s somewhat dysfunctional, sourcing the most beneficial food for them - and making sure they want to eat it - is an essential part of their ongoing treatment.
So, what’s the best dog food for dogs with liver disease? In this article we’ll go through the attributes you’ll need to look for when planning the best diet for your liver-strained pooch, and go over some key foods they should and shouldn’t eat in order to stay fit and well.
Just as in humans, the liver is mightily important to a dog’s internal function - put simply, it helps digest food, filter toxins and regulate the blood. There’s lots of contributors to liver disease in dogs, and if you’re not sure if your dog has it, you can read more about its symptoms and causes here.
If you already know that your dog has liver disease, you’ll hopefully be aware that the right diet is essential to their daily functioning and needs to be carefully chosen. A diet that’s tailored to support a damaged liver is called a hepatic diet - and that’s a phrase you’ll want to remember. A hepatic diet contains easily digestible ingredients and a clever balance of food groups that will nourish your dog, and their liver, while putting as little pressure on the organ as possible.
So when your dog has liver disease or problems, you’ll want to find a high-quality hepatic dog food for their regular meals. But what exactly does this mean, and what should you look for when sourcing this food?
Let’s lay out the main attributes of a hepatic diet, i.e. the best food for your dog’s liver problems:
Usually, a hepatic dog food has:
Though protein-heavy food is usually recommended for dogs of standard health, for dogs with liver dysfunction it tends to be the opposite. The liver works especially hard to process protein, so reducing the amount it has to work with means your dog’s body isn’t being put under stress that it can’t handle.
Protein is still an essential food group however, so dog food for liver disease will usually derive protein from small amounts of fish, eggs or peas as an alternative to red meat or offal.
So exactly what kind of food should you go for that supports a liver-friendly, hepatic diet for dogs?
For dogs with liver issues who also have a grain allergy or who prefer a grain-free diet, Pooch & Mutt offers a vet recommended, specialist dog food for liver disease that contains zero grain. Our Veterinary Food for Liver Disease uses the specifications of a hepatic diet for healthy liver function and is entirely grain-free. What’s more, unlike other prescription hepatic foods, we’ve boosted flavour by adding delicious chicken skin and salmon oil - the perfect amount of succulent fats to make it irresistible to dogs who may have gone off their food. To top it off, we’ve added milk thistle - its nutrients are excellent for liver function.
If your vet has instructed that your pooch eat hepatic dog food, then a premium specialist hepatic food such as our Pooch & Mutt Vet range should be fine, but chat it over with your vet first to be sure.
Hepatic dog food is usually prescribed for dogs with the following conditions:
If your dog doesn’t have liver problems, do not feed them hepatic dog food as it doesn’t contain the right balance of ingredients to support a standard dog diet and they could become unwell.
Not only are blueberries deemed a ‘superfood’ for humans, in moderation they are packed full of benefits for dogs too - and are even recommended for boosting liver function in dogs. Blueberries contain anthocyanins - clever antioxidants that protect the liver from oxidative stress; and also Vitamin K, which is especially good for liver health.
Lots of dog owners feed their pooches peanut butter, but it’s always a risk - and likely too dangerous to feed to a dog with liver disease.
Not only is peanut butter high in harmful trans fats used to preserve its shelf life, it can also contain aflatoxins - a cancer-causing mycotoxin that often targets the liver. The FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) warns that acute, prolonged exposure to aflatoxins “inhibit the normal functions of the liver, including carbohydrate and lipid metabolism and protein synthesis.”
Finally, any peanut butter brand that contains Xylitol - an artificial sweetener that is fine for humans, but toxic to dogs - should definitely be avoided, as Xylitol has also been reported to contribute to liver failure. In general, it’s probably a better idea to keep the peanut butter jar to yourself.
Bananas sometimes get a bad rep for being relatively high fat and high sugar, but they’re high in B vitamins and a safe snack for dogs with liver disease when given in moderation.
Eggs are one of the best sources of protein for dogs with liver disease. As they’re nutrient-rich and gentle on digestion, eggs are a tasty alternative to meat protein sources (especially red meat) as part of a hepatic diet.
Yummy sweet potatoes are packed with B vitamins which help support liver function, so it’s a great food option for a dog with liver disease. It’s also rich in starch and a good source of complex carbohydrates.
There’s lots of reasons dogs develop liver disease, and this can dictate what foods they should and shouldn’t eat. Some dogs have liver dysfunction due to copper build-up, for instance, so need to avoid foods rich in copper - but for other dogs, this may not be the case. Always talk to your vet to get specific recommendations over the needs of your pooch.
Usually, dogs with liver disease are recommended to avoid:
If your pooch has a poorly liver, you may be nervous over whether they’re eating the best food for their condition, especially as dogs with liver dysfunction suffer from a suppressed appetite. With the right specialist dog food, however, you needn’t worry - as they’ll be getting the exact right balance of food groups and nutrients to support their liver’s needs and boost their health and wellbeing overall.
Pooch & Mutt’s Veterinary Range has been developed for a variety of specific health conditions in dogs - including our Hepatic/Liver Veterinary Food which contains all the active ingredients and specifications of a prescription dog food on a tasty, grain-free base. With added chicken skin and salmon oil, your pooch will be licking the bowl clean every mealtime.
If you're worried your pooch might be suffering with liver problems, take a look at our blog post all about liver disease in dogs.
Comments (38)
Hi Linda, Apple4 pets / Applecore do stock our products, but we can’t guarantee that they will have our new vet range unfortunately and we really apologise about this
I took my little Shih Tzu Allie to the emergency veterinarian and he diagnosed her with UTI and gave her antibiotic for seven days. They Gave her seven days of antibiotic and took blood and her liver enzymes were a little over 500. After two pills she seen much better but of course finished all of them and gets her liver enzymes checked in two more weeks. He did not know for sure what was wrong with her is there anything that you can think of that it might be? There were many test you wanted to do but I do not have the money and they will not do anything without money upfront. Thank you for any help. You can give me as far as diagnosis or possible diagnosis.
Hi Freda,
I am really sorry but we are unable to help with a diagnosis and your own vet would be best placed to advise as they know your pets history. If they have requested to run several tests, it might be that there are a few possibilities and might be worth discussing further with them.
Freda. I have experienced the same issue with my yorkie. The vets will not do anything with money. I took my yorkie to Tijuana Mexico. To my surprise, they took care my dog. My total bill there was less than my one visit here in California. I hoped this helps.
My 10yr mixed breed was diagnosed with SARDS in May .
A blood test has revealed very high enzyme liver levels .
She is allergic to chicken-
I am trying to find a food that will help her liver function??
Today I found out that my Pooch dog at 10 years have high ALT 305!
She eats mostly Vegetarian diet( Hindu) cooked beans and steam cooked Vegetables & waffle (120 Cal) in the morning. She is Obese per Vet ! Any suggestions for high ALT? Can it be Fatty liver? She likes fresh warm homemade food only. What else I can feel her? Thanks.
Hi Laurie, we do sell a Hepatic Dry Food which helps improve Live Function, however this does contain Chicken Fat so this wouldn’t be appropriate I’m afraid, you may need to contact your Vet and ask them to prescribe a food for you :)
Hi Hema, High ALT is not a specific sign and is something your vet should look into further.
While it can indicate liver disease, we can also see it with e.g. Cushing’s disease, heart disease or intestinal inflammation.
So further tests are needed to determine why the ALT is raised. This could include e.g. a Bile Acid Stimulation Blood test, urine analysis and/or abdominal scan.
As she is obese, for now I’d consider our slim and slender diet.
Reducing her weight is really important, both to prevent disease but also to ensure she gets the best quality of life.
She may need to be moved onto a veterinary diet (such as our hepatic food), depending on further test results going forward.
I have been feeding your food to my Chihuahua with Liver problems, the vet is happy with Barkley being on your food… But the problem is he has gained 1 kg , when he’s only having 50 grams a day.. Barkley walks 2 miles a day, any help appreciated because it is not good to have a over weight animal
Hi Pauline, If you would like to reach out to the team on [email protected] with your dogs breed, age and ideal weight, we would be more than happy to double check the feeding guidelines for you :)
My dog was just diagnosed with a very large fatty liver. I would like to reduce the fat on her liver but not sure what to do. I am going back for a follow up in a couple of weeks, in the meantime I have started to give her Milk Thistle. I would gladly change her food to Pooch and Mutt if that would help. Any other helpful things you can suggest? Fish oil?
Eggs? CBD? I’m open to every success story for ideas.
My Kobi is a 13 year old yorkie terrier that has high ALP they are as high as 900 and as low as 330 it changes every three months when I get his blood work done. He is on vet prescribed hepatic food which I have to mix a little chicken breast so he will eat it. Can I get the ingredients in your food pls. His ALT and AST and GGT are normal any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
Hi Maria,
You can find the ingredients for our food on the nutrition tab of the product page on our website. If you need any further assistance with anything, please reach out to the team on [email protected] :)
Are your products available in the United States?
Thank you.
So much good information
Hi Maria,
High Alp especially with normal ALt,Ast, and GGT may not be due to your dogs liver . Alp could also be induced by the bones or corticosteroids . A liver isoenzyme test breaks down the ALP into bone fraction, liver fraction, and corticosteroid induced . My 14 year old dogs high alp turn out to be almost all corticosteroids indicating possibly Cushings.
You may want to be sure it’s your dogs liver that’s the cause .
My dog has liver disease and at the moment is on Hills l/d dog food but I do not think this food is ok for long term feeding. Is your food OK to be fed long term or like Hills just 6 months the most
We don’t currently ship to the US, but this is something the team are actively working on! :)
Do you have a dog food with no chicken ? My dog is allergic to chicken all all by products of chicken.
How much would I feed a 16 lb dog? Do you ship to the United States?
Hi Adrian, We aren’t able to ship the US currently, but I will feedback to the team and hopefully we can in the near future :)
Hi Heidi,
We do have 2 dry foods available that don’t contain chicken, both our Health & Digestion and Skin & Coat dry food would be suitable for your pooch. :)
My dog is 15 weeks old and has been.diagnosed with liver shunt and has to be put on a HA plan
Is this hepatic food suitable for my puppy being so young
Hi Paul,
Our Hepatic food is suitable for puppies and if you would like to reach out to the team on [email protected] , we can send you the feeding guidelines over. We would still advise consulting with your vet, but our product team have confirmed this is suitable for puppies. :)
My dog has a lesion on her liver. Last year she had a benign mass removed from her liver.
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