Remember the old Chicago Second City liver song?

“I hate liver, Liver makes me quiver, Liver makes me curl right up and die (makes me cry!) Gives me hives, gives me scurvy, it turns my stomach topsy-turvy, Liver just simply ain’t my bag (makes me gag)...

Well. If you've ever had a pet with liver disease, you know it's a lot more serious than a silly song. Liver disease can cycle from better to worse, from your pet feeling well to feeling very sick, from having a good prognosis for recovery to a sudden turn for the worse. Western medicine has few evidence-based tools to treat liver disease.

But in a remarkable 2 hours today at the AHVMA meeting (www.ahvma.org), Dr. M learned some startling new things about how to safely & effectively treat acute & chronic liver disease. At Knollwood Hospital for Pets, we've successfully treated liver cancer for years using integrative medicine - but now we have more hope for non-cancerous liver disease, which can also severely affect a pet's quality of life.

What are some of the symptoms of liver disease? Changes in eating/drinking, reduced activity, nausea, skin or eye inflammation, personality change, muscle loss or weakness, and jaundice. (If you are seeing changes like this in your pet, please contact us right away for an appointment). Liver disease can flare up during periods of seasonal change - like now. There is a predictable change in liver function from hour to hour, from day to night, and a bigger seasonal change. When we learn something like that, it gives us hope that we can control existing liver disease better.

More information, new ways to deal with health challenges, and better tools with which to address both acute and chronic disease - THAT’S why Dr. M attends the AHVMA meeting every year and why she has done so since 1993. The best of the best in integrative medicine, Western medicine, holistic medicine, and the medicine of many cultures blend at each AHVMA meeting, and there’s always a lot to learn. It’s also an honor and a privilege to lecture at this meeting, as Dr. M has done during over a dozen meetings.

There’s more to learn during the next 2 days: use of essential oils for treating physical and behavioral issues, the role of inflammation in many diseases, electroacupuncture, acupuncture for pain management, and suicide awareness and prevention. After dentists, veterinarians and their staff have the highest suicide rates in the nation.

Dr. M will be back, with lots of info to share, on Tuesday , October 9th.

Yours in pet health,

Dr. M.