Purple and Paws Oh, hey there. You thought my last health update was the end of Socks’ troubles, didn’t you? Well, you thought wrong.
Pretty much immediately after I posted that Socks’ issues were due to food allergies, he had another bad day. And another. And another.
Fed up, I messaged and my vet and told her it was time to take him to a specialist.
So last month to a specialist we went. After describing what was going on, she said it could be a couple things and first mentioned this copper storage disease I’d never even heard of it. Oh, he doesn’t have that, I thought. Then she said it might be a gastrointestinal issue or some other stomach problem. That day Socks had an ultrasound and when I returned for the results, I was shocked to hear and see that Socks had irregular dots along his liver. She decided a closer look at his liver was needed to really figure out what was going on, and the next week, Socks came back for a biopsy.
While we waited for the biopsy results, she put Socks on new liver health food and four different meds.
I’m not going to lie, after months of trying different strategies and none of them working, I was skeptical that any of this stuff would help.
And then one week went by with no bad days.
And two weeks went by.
And three.
We are now at four weeks of no bad days.
We returned to the specialist today and got the final results of the biopsy.
Copper Storage Hepatopathy (Liver Disease).
I’m so relieved to have a diagnosis, and that we caught it in the early stages. He’ll likely have to be on special food and medications permanently but as long as I take him in for regular check-ups and blood work, he’ll be able to live the life of a normal dog.
The only confusing part is that, according to PetMD, hepatopathy is most common in Bedlington terriers, Doberman pinschers, West Highland White terriers, Skye terriers, and Labrador retrievers. It’s also more prevalent in females than in males.
Socks is a male Border Collie/Australian Shepherd mix.
How weird is that?
I’m thinking maybe he has some terrier/pinscher/retriever genetics going way back in his blood line, and it’s kind of making me want to give him a DNA test. Maybe one day.
For now, I’m just so happy we know what’s wrong with Socks and how to make him feel better.