Mom, my liver!

I have learned more about doggy livers than I ever thought possible. 

It all began when I took Jack in for his semi-annual check-up in November. He has one of these check-ups every May and November. The vets give him whatever shots he needs and do a full exam with blood tests and such. We've never had a problem, until now. In November, his liver enzyme levels were a bit high. Not too high to cause serious alarm, but high enough to stop and go "hmm...what is up with that?". 

The vet recommended we just wait it out and come back in a month to check again. December comes along and we march back into the vet's office for testing, and the enzyme levels have dropped significantly. They still aren't in the normal range but far lower than before. Good news! However, the vet suggests we come back again in a month just to be sure. January comes and we head back to the vet once again. This time, the poor baby's liver enzymes are back up. Not what they were the first time but almost. Ugh! Again, the vet reassures me that it is not a mega problem, but since his enzyme levels are not stabilizing, we should take some action. 

At that time, the vet put Jack on a prescription medicine (that isn't cheap) to regulate his liver enzyme levels. Basically, the vet thinks he may have an infection and the liver is having trouble healing itself. If the medicine works, fantastic! If it doesn't, we have to do more testing to figure out what is wrong. We return to the vet in March to see how the medicine did. 

From all of my independent research, I have learned that almost anything from an infection to disease to diet to stress can cause problems with the liver. I fully recognize and suspect that the stress of grad school (prelims, dissertation, classes...yada, yada, yada) is causing Jack's problems. I actually explained to the vet what I do and asked if that could be causing stress, and she gave me a noncommittal answer. We will see. 

Here's to hoping we can figure out the poor baby's problem and get him back to perfect health! I should also note, his behavior has not changed and is as Jack-like as ever, so at least that is a good thing! :)