Problems with high tryglicerides & cholesterol causes brain problems?

L

LadyLee

Forums Novice
Hello,
My vet recently did a senior panel on my Rusty boy. His triglyceride and cholesterol levels were a bit high. She says that this is very normal for Shelties to have this problem and if it is not corrected, it can cause brain problems. She insisted that my two Shelties go on a special vet prescribed overweight formula low fat diet (neither were overweight) that only contains 8% fat for their servings. No meat protein...just a lot of fiber. Have any of you heard of this and what do you feed your senior dogs? Thanks. A new adopted Sheltie mom.
 
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Hi. I know quite a few dogs who have had similar findings, with warnings from the vet of developing diabetes, and they had a lot of success with the medicated diets. It does mean being very strict with the diet, which is hard for a lot of people, but it seems to work.

I cook for my dogs, and as they get older they get less meat and more vegetables. I've also reduced the level of fat in their diet, they don't need it and my male's stomach is more sensitive as he gets older. For their other meal they get a little kibble, just standard adult kibble (sensitive for my male and dental for my female) but they get less than 1/4 cup so it isn't much.
 
My concern, too, would be diabetes. There is a correlation between elevated lipids and canine diabetes, but we're not certain if one actually causes the other. I wouldn't go too crazy cutting fat from their diets but it wouldn't hurt to reduce it a little (especially if their lipids were only slightly high).
 
Cara Sandler said:
My concern, too, would be diabetes. There is a correlation between elevated lipids and canine diabetes, but we're not certain if one actually causes the other. I wouldn't go too crazy cutting fat from their diets but it wouldn't hurt to reduce it a little (especially if their lipids were only slightly high).
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Thanks for the input. I just wonder if his levels were this high because the day before, Rusty grabbed a serving of cake fondant off the sofa left by one of the kids. He ate most of it before someone noticed. :( Then he had his blood work done the next day.
 
Caro said:
Hi. I know quite a few dogs who have had similar findings, with warnings from the vet of developing diabetes, and they had a lot of success with the medicated diets. It does mean being very strict with the diet, which is hard for a lot of people, but it seems to work.

I cook for my dogs, and as they get older they get less meat and more vegetables. I've also reduced the level of fat in their diet, they don't need it and my male's stomach is more sensitive as he gets older. For their other meal they get a little kibble, just standard adult kibble (sensitive for my male and dental for my female) but they get less than 1/4 cup so it isn't much.
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His normal kibble was high in fat- 20% - since is was for sensitive stomach and skin salmon food. I have him on a 10% fat kibble now but would be interested in your recipe that you use for your dogs. He loves his veggies and fruit which are given as treats.
 
LadyLee said:
Thanks for the input. I just wonder if his levels were this high because the day before, Rusty grabbed a serving of cake fondant off the sofa left by one of the kids. He ate most of it before someone noticed. :( Then he had his blood work done the next day.
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That could be. Might be worth re-checking.
 
I don't really have a recipe for cooking for the dogs. Lean cooked meat or fish (whatever's on sale) and seasonal vegetables, basically a healthy human meal. I add a joint supplement (when I remember) and I figure with the green lipped mussel in the joint supplement that will help with coat. They also get a small amount of lactose free milk for the calcium. My vet has checked over their diet and said it's really good, she doesn't think they need the extra calcium at their age, but the dogs like their milk and I give Deska one of his tablets crushed into the milk.

With the blood work, it really depends how long before he had the test that he ate the cake, but I doubt it would have an impact, if it was more than 9hours it's unlikely to make difference. If you want a more accurate reading, a fasting test is better. If the test is done closely after having a meal then the level can be artificially high.
 
Coincidentally, Spirit had bloodwork done yesterday and she has high cholesterol as well. Triglycerides were normal. I'll talk to the vet tomorrow and come up with a plan. Thankfully she has health insurance that covers medications.
 
The vet said that since Spirit's labs were not done fasting the reading we got is just fine. So if Rusty had not been fasting prior to the test and the reading wasn't extraordinarily high, I probably wouldn't change anything. If you want to recheck the value under fasting conditions you could do that too.
 
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