Denamarin vs other liver supplements

[blakat]

I've been giving my 10 years old cat Denamarin for at leat 3.5 years now: his ALT was over 540 and, as soon as he started taking Denamarin, it went significantly down to reach normal levels (now it's about 76); now, I was wondering if I should stop the Denamarin and get him a liver panel blood work in a couple of months and see what happens....my vet recommend to do blood work before and after (last bloodwork was done January 2014 and it was all good, but it looks like thoose results are too "old" now....) and go from there. Other vets recommend to just continue with the Denamarin though...
As Denamarin is getting more and more expensive, I'm also considering a different kind of liver support, like milk thistle or Prohepatic liver support supplement.....ANY SUGGESTIONS? Thank you in advance.

 

[furmonster mom]

It depends on what the cause of the liver issue is, I think.

My Pippen will be on liver support for the rest of his life because of severe scarring.  He gets Sam-e (s-adenosyl) and Milk Thistle (silimarin) on alternating days along with a low dose of prednisolone. Because of the scarring, his liver will never be back to "normal", but his ALTs have gone from the high 700's down to the low/mid 100's. 

I get the supplements through WholeHealth.com.   One thing to be aware of is that human supplements are much higher dosage levels (in mg) than the veterinary version, so it may be necessary to divide out a capsule... Trick to that is, MT is extremely bitter, so you may want to look for tablets instead of capsules.  The other thing about MT is that it can actually raise ALT readings, even though it is providing support.  This is because while it is providing support, it still has to be processed through the liver.  So, again, dosage is key to balancing that out. 

All that being said, if your case is a simple matter of inflammation, or the underlying cause has been resolved, and everything seems to be under control, it might indeed be time to wean off the meds entirely.  I would take it slow, get ALT readings two weeks after an adjustment.  Then, if all looks good, stay on the new dose for another 3 months and get readings before adjusting again.

 

[oceanbreathes]

My veterinarian recently recommended Denamarin for one of my cats(we are still in the process of getting a diagnosis).  I already had some 100mg SAMe on hand so, with the vet's approval, he is taking the "human" 100mg SAMe along with a separate silybin supplement.  This is MUCH more affordable than buying Denamarin.

SAMe: http://www.luckyvitamin.com/p-5075-now-foods-same-vegetarian-enteric-coated-100-mg-60-tablets

Silybin: http://www.chewy.com/cat/nutramax-marin-capsules-liver-health/dp/108978

I have yet to look into it but I imagine there are some suitable milk thistle/liver combo products out there(I've given plain milk thistle to cats in the past).  This is one I've looked at and will be running by my vet: http://www.luckyvitamin.com/p-917-now-foods-liver-detoxifier-and-regenerator-90-capsules#ingredients