03/02/2024
This was posted in one of my private groups. In all of the research I’ve done on dog food, I had no clue on the copper poisoning. In that group (specific to Great Pyrenees) there were MANY comments on the post citing similar symptoms and ultimate deaths, but the vets chalked it off to some sort of cancer. Also, many posted about a food called Voyager that has no copper. I am not endorsing Voyager, just sharing the consensus of those that also had copper issues with their animals. Evidently the dog food company needs to be contacted directly to determine if copper is added.
I have some information I need to share about my late Pry. She had barely turned 5 a couple months before her trip over the rainbow bridge. What prompted me to post this is I see people regularly post concerns over their LGDs not eating their kibble well. So my dog fell extremely ill very quickly or so it seemed at the time. I rushed her to the emergency vet where I was told she was completely jaundice and in liver failure and should euthanize. I had them do supportive care and took her home to go to my regular vet the next day because I was just shocked. Next day at my vet he did blood tests and although some levels were not in the normal range nothing pointed to the problem, ultrasound showed a belly full of fluid so the vet thought possibly pancreatic cancer maybe spreading to the liver and suggested we open her up to see if we remove the pancreas we can save her. I told him to call me during surgery if he saw anything on the liver and we will let her go, no biopsy or removal of any organs. Well he saw something so we let her go after thousands in vet bills. Thankfully he was so curious he sent in for a biopsy on his own dime, I got a call a week later and he told me it was not cancer but copper poisoning. Prys are not genetically predisposed to carrying the gene for risk of copper poisoning not any LGDs from what I can see. Copper poisoning comes from kibble due to the lack of an upper copper limit dictated to the dog food manufacturers, there is a lower but no upper. Many of the add ins they use are extremely high in copper. Looking back my dog hated her kibble, maybe she knew it was making her sick? I don’t know the answers but it’s true she was sick for a very long time, it just wasn’t obvious and it’s not picked up on blood tests unless a vet familiar with it is looking specifically. The behavior I saw in hindsight that would have given me a clue was her appetite decline slowly over time and she started attacking my other dog who she grew up with. Copper poisoning and subsequent liver failure changes their behavior subtly over time. Looking back she looked at me in a weird way and was behaving off for probably a couple months before she was critical. Behavior outside of your dogs normal see a vet, ask them to check for copper poisoning even if your breed is outside of the common breeds affected, if you can catch it early you may save their life. Be prepared for vets to tell you you’re crazy. Google copper poisoning and the recent jump in cases that aren’t breed specific. Make sure you are feeding a kibble low in copper today, you might need to call the manufacturer to find out. If I can save one dog having to suffer from slow poisoning with the time to write this post it was well worth it. My beautiful girl one year before she was gone. I have cross posted to other Pry groups and getting many questions please see AAFCO website on copper limits in dog food.
