Welcome

We here at the Canine Liver Disease Foundation would like to welcome you to our website. This site was created in memory of my Golden Retriever, Reiley, who passed away suddenly in October of 2008 only 2 weeks after receiving the diagnosis of liver disease. While scouring the internet to find out all I could about this disease, I discovered that the information available was scarce, scattered among several different sites and was not always complete. I decided to create this site to provide all of the information I had been looking for on ONE site.

Our Mission: To educate dog owners about the signs/symptoms of liver disease and how to prevent, diagnose and treat this serious condition. We intend to reach out to the public through accurate, timely, and inspirational information distributed on our website and at our sponsored community events, as well as social networking venues and local and national pet-related businesses.

Our Vision: We want to reduce the number of liver-disease related illness and deaths by alerting the dog-owning population to the signs and symptoms of this disease. We also intend to raise money for research on prevention and treatment of canine liver disease. We plan to work to remove liver-disease as the 5th leading cause of non-accidental death in dogs and reduce the numbers of animals infected annually.

Contact Information:

Founder - Lisa Smith

PMB#13

5820 W. Peoria Ave. Ste 107

Glendale, AZ 85302

602-619-8349

lisasmith@canineliverdiseasefoundation.org

Please browse through all of our topics and let us know if there is something else you would like us to feature, or if you would like to contribute your story to our blog.

Thank You,


Disclaimer: The Canine Liver Disease Foundation assumes no liability for injury to you or your pet incurred by following the information, descriptions, treatment options or procedures listed on this site. This site is not intended to be used as a replacement for veterinary advice or consultation. We always recommend speaking with a veterinarian or liver specialist before attempting to use any of the treatments listed on our site.

The Canine Liver Disease Foundation does not endorse, support or have affiliations with any company, product, or individual featured on our blog. This blog is for informational purposes ONLY and is not intended to be a recommendation for treatment. Links are chosen based on “key words” and listed here with the link to the entire article. For questions regarding individual posts, please contact the author of that specific post.

From the Blog

In Memory of Cooper

Hi, My name is Vanessa I’m from Guadalajara, Mexico. I found out about Canine Liver Disease Foundation 1 year ago. My brother, my sister and I donate every chance we have. It is very important to have an early detection of the disease. Saddly I didn’t know much about it, even though my dog just lost his appetite 3 days before he passed away. That was the only symptom, before he got jauntice but by the time he was already at the vets hospital . Lisa I’d like to thank this foundation. I hope you can post my story: I sent an e-mail to Canine Liver Disease Foundation on January 2nd 2011, the saddest day of my life. We’ve loss our little Cooper, my 2 years old pomeranian, and I must thank you, because of your foundation, and your words that made me feel better. It was really helpful to read and to know more about this disease, about other stories and to know that I was not alone in this. 1 year ago was the worst day in our lives, I didn’t understand why my Cooper... [Read more of this story]

Update on Tigger

Dear Lisa, You did a story on Tigger Jan 15, 2009 . First time he had mass on liver was 2007 it was hepatocelluar carcinoma it was removed with clean margins. Sadly 8 months later it came back in another location in the liver. This time it was in a location that no vet not even the chief of surgery at a well known hospital would even dare to operate. They gave him a few months to live. Since Tigger other wise was healthy I knew I had to search for help. I found Dr. Chick Weisse from interventional radiology who stated Tigger could have a non invasive procedure called chemoembolizations to shrink tumor. Its were a small incision is made a wire then goes to tumor with chemo drugs . He stated it could work. That’s all I wanted to hear was HOPE . I had procedure done and he was to get checked in four months to see if it worked. Our 4 month visit showed that the tumor did not shrink and the vet suggested we perform another chemoembolization. I agreed and I asked if I could bring... [Read more of this story]

Quality of Life Scale

When your dog is nearing the end of his/her life, the emotional weight that falls upon you can be tremendous. The endearing habits, the joy, the unquestioning devotion your animal gave you fill your heart as you confront the expected loss. Many of us view our dog as a beloved member of the family to whom we have made a commitment to care for. Unfortunately, there may come a time when this honorable commitment takes a different path. The medical options may be exhausted or the continued care might be unmanageable or too expensive and the best you can do for your dog is to let go. The hardest decision you may have to make is determining when the quality of your dog’s life is compromised to the point where it’s not worth going on. It’s especially difficult to determine when is the right time with dogs because we just don’t always know when they are suffering and ready to leave this life. My veterinarian always told me that I would know when the time was right, but... [Read more of this story]

Just a Dog

Read this online today and loved it From time to time people tell me, “Lighten up. It’s just a dog.” or “That’s a lot of money for just a dog.” They don’t understand the distance traveled, time spent or costs involved for “Just a dog”. Some of my proudest moments have come about with “Just a dog”. Many hours have passed with my only company being “Just a dog” and not once have I felt slighted. Some of my saddest moments were brought about by “just a dog”. In those days of darkness , the gentle touch of “Just a dog” provided comfort and purpose to overcome the day. If you, too, think it’s “Just a dog”, you will probably understand phrases like “Just a friend” or “just a sunrise” or “Just a promise”. “Just a dog” brings into my life the very essence of friendship, trust, and pure unbridled joy. “Just a dog”... [Read more of this story]

In Memory of Ripley

Ripley must have ingested some sort of toxins, as he was fine around Christmas time. The photo of him in the snow was days after Christmas. Then about 2 wks after Christmas, he wouldn’t eat his dog food & we fed him rice & chicken or boiled eggs. Eventually didn’t even like that. After xrays, barium liquid, blood work, more xrays & then surgery (thinking he had an obstruction), found out he had end stage liver disease (severe hepatic cirrhosis)…with no favorable outcome according to the surgeons. His brother, Rusty misses him dearly & is suffering from separation anxiety, so we have him on calming herbs that are helping. (as well as lots of extra TLC & walks!) I found this online, and it is nice: I just wanted to let you know that I made it home. The journey wasn’t an easy one, but it didn’t take too long. Everything is so pretty here, so white, so fresh and new I wish that you could close your eyes and that you could see it too. Please try not to be... [Read more of this story]

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