On May 25, I lost my dog Milo to copper storage disease. In humans, it is called Wilson’s Disease.
I sincerely hope to give you an honest account of what I learned in the hopes if you’re dealing with this with your dog, it might give you an edge. FYI, as a standard, I research topics through credible source articles to help ensure I’m passing factual information. But today, I’m just relating what I personally experienced and learned.
First and foremost, know this: copper storage disease is survivable. In my mind, it was NEVER a reason to euthanize my dog, Milo. He was never in pain. He had a couple of different problems going on, quite possibly from either genetics or the fact that he'd been malnourished for the first year and a half of his life or so. If you have to deal with this or any other disease, my only thought is to be methodical: adjust one variable, such as diet or medicine, at a time if you can. At least that way, you’ll know how to account for changes in blood work.
Milo died beside me on a rainy Sunday morning in the front seat of my car in the parking lot of the local animal hospital a few minutes before they opened. My other dog was in the back seat, and at least we were all together. I'd spent the whole day the day before, no computer, no phone, just outside with the two dogs, enjoying each other's company. That was time well spent. I tried really hard to save him.
Background
I named him Milo after the dog from the 1994 movie “The Mask” with Jim Carey and Cameron Diaz. He vaguely resembled the movie dog, but my dog had a large, perfect heart-shaped patch on his right side, and sometimes I called him Pluto because of that.
He came from a bad situation: a house with seventeen other dogs where only the male dogs were allowed outside and were kept in the kitchen, while the female dogs were cordoned off in the living room and never saw the sun. I think it must have been terrible for them all.
When he was found, he was malnourished. He had bite marks in his head and was 5.5 lbs. as a fully-grown Chihuahua-Terrier mix. I found him through a pet adoption agency four months later, and by then he was 12.5 lbs. He was almost feral and was so bad that for the first two months, I didn’t even register his chip because I wasn’t sure it would work out. (Additionally, he and my other dog weren’t getting along, plus Milo had a never-ending supply of urine and treated my spare bedroom as his own executive bathroom. Fortunately, I own a steam cleaner, and as the Covid pandemic was in full swing, I didn’t have much else going on so I figured he might as well stay.)
Copper storage disease in dogs apparently comes from some genetic predisposition but can be compounded by animal’s environment and diet. (To the best of my knowledge, it’s genetic, but I wonder if diet and environment could act as a trigger or catalyst based on the fact that it seemed to just randomly start.) I understand that some farm animal feed is supplemented with copper chelate to help farm animals develop faster. I wonder if this artificial substance is in the food chain and linked to copper storage disease rise over the past 20 years.
How I Discovered Milo Was Sick
We were at a nearby park one day doing a walk (the one in the photo). It was a routine for us, and he loved the place. Halfway through the walk on June 11, 2024, he just laid down for no reason. I thought he’d been bitten by a snake, but there were no bite marks. Within a few minutes, he hopped back up and was ready to roll again. The next day just happened to be his annual checkup at the vet, and it was determined that the ALT enzyme (Alanine Aminotransferase) in his liver was around 950 (normal range is around 60).
Initial Treatment
We started him on antibiotics and got a referral to an internist who specialized in liver disease in dogs. The assessment was copper storage disease, and we came up with a plan: radically modify his diet to minimize his copper exposure and start him on daily antibiotics for the next several months. The prescribed medicine was enrofloxacin, and the goal was to get the ALT back down.
In Milo’s case, after about a week of oral tablets, he started experiencing nausea and just couldn’t keep the antibiotics down, and then he started refusing to take even the anti-nausea meds. However, the vet was able to offer a liquid alternative which Milo was able to stomach, and we were off to the races.
To keep tabs on his progress, every two to three weeks, I would take him to the vet for a blood check. At first, the ALT barely decreased: a 20 point drop logically seemed statistically insignificant. But in the next few months, his ALT dropped to 750, then 650, then 450. My morale was going up and his energy level was coming back!
Just before Christmas, his ALT was around 220, and shortly thereafter we concurred that that range might have been his “new normal.” We discontinued the antibiotics primarily out of concern that we did not want him to develop immune resistance to the enrofloxacin which would have made the whole situation that much worse.
At the time, I was just getting going with my company 90Threads (www.ninetythreads.com), an apparel store I started specifically to offer customers clothing options that reduced the impact of synthetic microfiber shed through laundry on the environment. I was thrilled Milo was doing well, yet the startup was challenging, and I had a variety of expenses going in several different directions. Milo’s health was a constant priority for me, regardless of his related expenses: I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
Biopsy Needed
In February, things took an unexpected turn. After less than two months being off the enrofloxacin, his ALT numbers shot back up to 950: back to square one.
In March, we had a biopsy done of his liver. It revealed a few layers of issues:
- - Copper hepatopathy
- - Portal hepatitis
- - Fibrosis, portal-to-portal with early regenerative nodules (some liver scarring)
- Additional issues indicating lipogranulomas, iron accumulation, some apoptosis and a mild lipid accumulation. However, it was likely that with the antibiotic treatment, there was no indication of inflammation.
The assessment was that there was no clear connection of some of these issues with the persistent liver enzyme elevation. However, the primary goals for treatment were clear:
- - Reduce copper accumulation in the liver
- - Mitigate scarring of the liver
- - Prevent further liver injury and secondary fibrosis that might occur.
He was prescribed a low copper diet (which he was already on), penicillamine, prednisone, telmisartan, denamarin, phoschol, and vitamin E. Additionally, I was doing my best to ensure he wasn’t eating any plants, insects or rodents/lizards in the yard.
How Things Ended
At first, he was doing well with the treatment. He stomached everything well enough. But within a few weeks, I realized he was developing lesions on his belly that weren’t healing. It turns out that the penicillamine has a secondary effect related to impacting his bone marrow functioning and his ability to create platelets in the blood. Without those, his blood couldn’t clot.
A bigger dose of prednisone was prescribed, and for the last week of his life it was a battle to get his blood functioning properly again. We just couldn’t make it happen.
What Should Have Been Done Differently
After the first week of treatment with the multiple drugs following the biopsy, I wish I had taken Milo back into the vet for a blood panel to assess his system’s reaction to the treatment. I am convinced that this would have revealed the issue with his hemoglobin and platelet levels, and that a heavier prednisone dose could have been prescribed. Had that happened, we might have been able to balance his system’s needs much more quickly, rather than being “behind the power curve” in trying to help him get his red blood working properly again.
Why I Relate Copper Storage Disease in Dogs to Environmental Issues
To some degree, it’s a matter of what is artificially in the ecosystem.
Specifically: human-made contaminants get into the food chain and have an impact on not only the health of dogs, but on us as well. Microplastics have been shown to directly contribute cardiovascular issues and cancer, and have potential links to diabetes, among other illnesses. The impact of copper on my dog’s life was not just from natural sources but likely also from artificial sources such as supplements to farm animal feed.
What I’m getting at is that in spite of my best efforts to strictly control my dog’s food intake, there were factors beyond my control that were negatively impacting his health.
For nearly 11 months, I had his blood checked every two to three weeks and assessed what effect modifying some aspect of his diet or treatment had on his liver enzymes. I compared over-the-counter “low copper” dog foods to prescription hepatic diet dog foods for their effectiveness (in Milo, the over-the-counter “low copper” dog food was nowhere nearly as effective as the prescription dog food). I even compared the two main prescription dog foods and felt that one seemed to be more effective than the other at keeping his ALT low.
(I personally even use a water filter that removes contaminants down to a level that is not measurable and that is the drinking water in my house, including for the dogs.)
Diet Notes and “Lessons Learned” About Copper in Food
Copper is in almost everything: I was stunned to find out how abundant it is in food. I’m not a nutritionist, nor am I giving medical advice, but perhaps some of what I learned here can help inform you.
First, and to get this out of the way: zinc supplements may have some effectiveness at leeching copper out of the system, but I did NOT try this with Milo as using zinc has its own side effects and, in his case, needed to be coordinated with other treatments. His internist opted against using it. You’ve got to consult a veterinarian (or physician) before using it.
On the diet, here is I found to have the lowest copper content.
- Powdered mashed potatoes. Regular baked potatoes can have some copper, but for some reason the powdered potatoes have almost none.
- Carrots. I used organic carrots at first, but this CAN BE PROBLEMATIC because there’s no consistency from one source of carrots to another as to how much copper may inherently be in their farming practices. I ultimately switched to organic packaged baby carrots in the hopes that they might be more consistent in their copper levels, however low they might be.
- Apples (without skin)
- Milk
- Beef, white meat chicken
- Rice
- Blueberries
Dog Treats
I stopped giving Milo all chewy treats: they’re frequently made from other cow products that are high in copper.
Instead, I gave him a baby carrot, or I’d stuff a rubber “treat ball” with mashed potatoes (made with milk) with small chunks of apple. That would keep him occupied and he loved that stuff.
I also cut out the teeth cleaning green treats, as I wasn’t ever able to confirm how much copper might have been in those and just brushed his teeth manually.
NOTE: Milo, like many dogs, was a huge fan of peanut butter. However, nuts are a moderate to rich source of copper. I found that stuffing the treat ball with mashed potatoes was a great substitute.
Final Thoughts
I want to be clear that treatment derived from doing the biopsy was working to fix his liver. His ALT levels were dropping rapidly and his liver functioning was quickly going back to normal. I feel with that plan, the vets got it right.
Milo was my boy. I hate that he had this disease.
I hate that there’s even a remote chance that something human-caused in the environment might have made him sick, that it might have been mitigated or even preventable. I don’t know if it would or not, but I have read several times that copper storage disease in dogs has been on the rise over the past decade or so and I really do wonder if that’s from copper in farm animal feed making its way through the ecosystem and resulting in higher levels of copper in industrial dog food.
What I hate even more is that microplastics, human-made chemicals and industrial waste products are pervasive in the ecosystem at the microscopic level.
I personally believe it is urgent to not ignore the microscopic stuff. My goal with 90Threads is to offer natural fiber clothing to help achieve a cleaner food chain and ecosystem. I’d love to see a critical scientific assessment of whether chopper chelate really is harmless in the food chain.
If we’re seeing nearly impossible-to-detect side effects from farm animal feed supplement impacting the health of our dogs, that’s a cue. The effects of industrialization are not always big and obvious. Imagine what is happening that is preventable to us.