Nutramax Laboratories Denamarin Liver Health Supplement for Small Dogs and Cats - With S-Adenosylmethionine (SAMe) and Silybin, 30 Tablets

I have 2 cats which I adopted in 2010 that spent the first 3.5 years of their life with chronic diarrhea, on and off metronidazole during that time, only for the diarrhea to return shortly after the antibiotic was stopped. Stools were always negative, but I found out my one cat had sky-high liver enzymes. I tried this (one pill for each cat at bedtime) and they had perfect poop within about 2 days. Also, my cat's liver enzymes quickly returned to normal. I treated the cat with the high liver enzymes for about 3 months and stopped. Both cats still had perfect poop, but the cat who had the sky-high liver enzymes in the past (at some point) started hiding under a comforter on the chair all day (which was not like him), and when I'd peek under I could just tell he wasn't feeling well. I didn't take him to the vet because he'd always act perky at mealtime. (In retrospect, I believe he started hiding around the time I stopped the Denamarin.) Fast forward to now, 2016... My husband & I started giving them bits of table food because we couldn't resist their begging - perhaps the trigger? Both cats developed diarrhea again and were treated by a new vet with metronidazole & amoxicillin (both positive for clostridium). Looking back in their records, they were positive for this in the past, but vets only ever treated them with metronidazole and never mentioned anything about clostridium to me. I was hopeful that clostridium had been been the cause all along and that these 2 antibiotics together would finally rid them of diarrhea forever, but even after a round of this combination, they still had stools the consistency of pudding. When I asked for another round of antibiotics, the vet refused and told me to take them both to a specialist and recommended (VERY expensive) endoscopies. I had already spent so much money in the past on stool tests, even a comprehensive and expensive stool test, probiotics, digestive enzymes, various cat foods, etc... Nothing ever helped. So I decided to start them both on Denamarin again - one pill at bedtime for each - and their stools were perfect again within 2 days. This stuff is nothing short of a MIRACLE for cats with CHRONIC DIARRHEA. I've therefore decided I will be giving them this f-o-r-e-v-e-r, and of course, resist giving them any table food. :-/ +++++ UPDATE (November 2017)...additional information... This is nothing short of a miracle for acute and chronic diarrhea in cats. I have two cats who had acute and chronic diarrhea from the day I brought them home from a shelter as kittens. THREE & A HALF YEARS of stool testing, even an expensive 'comprehensive stool panel' on the one who always got the sickest, all negative except a toxin present for clostridium perfringens, which the vet blew off as 'harmless' and not the cause. Both cats would always be prescribed a course of Metronidazole, so I knew a 'bug' was involved. Metronidazole would help firm them up some in the sickest cat, completely in the other cat, but then back to the mashed potato poop and squirts in no time. Whether or not it was this 'harmless' bacteria or not, I have no idea. I was told it must be 'food allergies', but tried every limited ingredient canned cat food I could find to no avail. And BOTH cats supposedly had food allergies even after stopping the tidbits of table food? My one cat, when tested, had high liver enzymes, 5 times higher than normal. I spent many nights googling how to bring his liver enzymes down. That is how I first came across Denamarin. He honestly looked like he was dying. ONE PILL and within the next day or two he had his FIRST normal bowel movement in his LIFE. I can't believe he had to live the first 3 1/2 years of his life sick like this. He was the one who would always get the sickest, but eventually if one had diarrhea, the other one would get it too. I will give him one pill for the rest of his life because when I stop, within a couple of months he'll start look sickly and eventually have an acute bout of diarrhea, turning chronic, the other cat contracting it soon after. During the time period I had stopped giving this one cat Denamarin, he developed one of these horrible bouts of diarrhea (the other cat soon after). He wouldn't eat, would pace and pant until he threw up to the point of dehydration, and would run to the litter box with the squirts, runs, mushy poop. Took him to an emergency veterinary hospital, and all they gave him was an anti-nausea medication, something to calm his stomach, and sub-q fluids. Next day he had diarrhea still. I called the hospital, and this vet refused to prescribe Metronidazole even though I'd just paid $530. So I pulled out the Denamarin...diarrhea gone the next day. Just last night I noticed the other cat had formed, but soft stool, mushy at the very end. I panicked and gave him a Denamarin. He didn't poop at all today. Denamarin is a MIRACLE, and if you have a cat in this situation...chronic or acute diarrhea, routine stool tests negative or comprehensive stool panels positive for ANY so-called 'harmless' bacteria or bacterial toxin, this is worth a try. Seriously, I love this stuff so much, I could do a commercial for it. I'm posting this, not because I'm positive it will help every cat, but I plead with anyone in similar situations to give this a try. I am convinced this pill saved my one cat's life. I give it to him daily, and I watch the stools of my other cat and may even start giving it to him daily as a precaution.

Denamarin has been a great addition to my dog's health routine. I appreciate that it contains SAMe and Silybin, which both support liver health effectively. My dog has Cushings disease and high liver enzymes. It simplifies the process with just one pill a day, and I feel confident in its quality. Highly recommend for liver support. It is the gold standard.

Over two years ago my dog (then three years old) was going into renal failure. I lost a dog to it before, (senior foster dog with unknown past) but none of the same factors were at play here. I was so scared because I was so helpless before. Milk thistle was mentioned this time, I did the reading on it, & due to my dog's plant allergies I decided to give this a try. It is expensive, but WELL worth it. With in a couple weeks her values were back in normal range. We kept her on it daily for over a year. For about a year now we've given it to her about every other day & she is still doing great in regards to her liver. It improved her health so much that it inspired me to find the money to start myself on milk thistle extract and I have had some noticeable health benefits too. (My liver values weren't even "out of range.") (e.g. I have a severe alcohol allergy and even if a tiny amount is in food I'd get violently ill. food poisoning ill, headaches, and my abdomen would be stiff for a day or two. Now being on the milk thistle, a tiny bit of alcohol in food only gives me mild discomfort.) I would highly recommend Denamarin not only for pets on the brink of death, but as part of a regular maintenance regiment for healthy pets. (Given as often as you can afford. Even if it is just once per week.) These do taste awful! My dog can't stand the taste of them. I can't hide them in anything. I have to push it down her throat. They did her so much good though that if I forget, she reminds me at that time every day. (Helps that I had lots of practice on a bigger dog years ago for another pill.) Though it says an hour between the pill & food, I've heard others say that it works better if it's two hours. I pushed it out to three hours when we can. I do give her a very tiny piece of treat in about two teaspoons of water in her bowl after pilling her to make sure it goes down all the way. I wanted to leave a positive review for this product much sooner, but kept forgetting. I wish I could leave something more articulate. I would give this product a five star review several times over. (This coming from a person who denounces most pharmaceuticals. My own Dr. has a hard time convincing me to take anything.)

In September, we adopted a 6-pound poodle/yorkie dog from the local animal shelter. A special needs adoption, Dusty required immediate dental care. At our first visit with our vet, we learned that the little guy also has a heart murmur. But most troubling were his liver enzyme numbers. One in particular, which shows 'liver destruction', was over 1000, completely off the test chart. An ultrasound failed to show any tumors or lesions in the liver. We decided to go ahead with the oral surgery regardless of the liver problems. Dusty already had our hearts. The vet sent Dusty home with a box of Denamarin tablets, telling us they provided support to the liver and might make a difference in his liver function tests. So every night before bed, Mr. Toothless Dusty gets a soft treat with the pill embedded in it. Fast-forward to today, for Dusty's follow-up visit. All of his liver tests are now completely normal except for the highest one, which went from over 1000 to a reading of 191, today. High normal is 140, so the elevation is negligible compared to what it was. He has also gained a full pound in body weight. An x-ray of his chest showed that his heart is still within normal size ranges and there is no fluid build-up and no displacement of his trachea. So no heart meds, for now! Dusty has gone from a very sick, emaciated little guy, barely able to eat because of his rotten teeth, to a rambunctious, playful beastie that doesn't know the meaning of back-up, let alone stop. It's hard for us to imagine that he's over ten-years-old. He runs our other two dogs a merry chase and has to be on-lead outside because of his penchant for chasing rabbits (and dogs) that are bigger than he is. We are completely sold on Denamarin and will keep Dusty on this product for life. We are certain that, along with good nutrition and the removal of his teeth, this product has aided in the return of good liver function in this dog. Time will tell how long we have Dusty. We will love him, however long we have.

Gave this to my cat based on my vet's recommendation, because she had high liver values. After a month they did go down, we're not sure if it's due the denamarin or other treatments, but she's going to stay on it. My cat HATES taking pills, and a downside is these pills are rather large. Like a human ibuprofen sized pill. They can't be cut or crushed, and honestly I tried it and it smells so bad that she would not take it that way anyway. If crushed or cut and it gets wet it smells like burnt rubber. I also tried rubbing butter around it, reading somewhere that the fat will help it not get the moisture issue. But that didn't work well either. In case it helps, what finally got her to start taking, it was using a pill paste I found on Amazon and wrapping around the pill. My cat does not like pill pockets, I tried every brand and flavor and she did not like that. But there's a bacon flavored pill wrap that's like a putty that she'll tolerate. I take that and fold it in some bonito flakes (basically the pill wrap helps the bonito flakes stick). So it's not on a empty stomach, but it's the only way that she'll actually eat the pill. If she tastes the pill at all she not only won't swallow it, and if she does swallow but somehow gets a taste of it, she will throw it up. But she loves bonito flakes so much and she eats them so fast that she swallows the pill whole. It's been over 2 months and it's still working every night, thank goodness.

I just want to come back here and provide some updates (Jan 7th, 2017). I recently took my cat to the vet and had a blood test. His liver levels, exactly one year ago, were hundreds of times higher than normal levels. I got the blood test results today and all liver levels came back totally NORMAL. I have given him this pill daily for a year now and I am positive this is what got him back into good, normal levels. The vet also said to keep doing this, as it has been working. So even she seemed ok with long-term use of this. my cat (about 8-9lbs.. about 8-9 years old too) has had a bad liver for the last couple years. He underwent emergency surgery to remove and re-route his gallbladder in early 2014.. early this year (2016), his liver disease came back with force - blood tests came back showing his liver enzymes / bilubrin levels were through the roof (100's of times over normal levels).. I was given this from my vet and was afraid to stop the regimen, so I have been buying this off amazon since that first month ran out. the fine print of this stuff does indicate that animals given a larger dose over a long period of time did not have any adverse affects. it's the exact pill and definitely less expensive purchasing here. I have given him a pill daily for the last six months. he is used to me shoving a pill down his throat, so if you're reading this and you're wondering just how the heck you're going to get a large, blue pill down your little one's throat whole, it does get easier. I don't follow the directions to a T, in that he does not fast overnight for practical reasons (he's not the only cat here, etc). I can say with confidence this product is keeping my little guy happy and healthy. I am extremely grateful and will continue to purchase this.

Okay, so my cat is ten and suddenly his liver levels were bad but nothing else. My other 3 cats all got healthy bloodwork. We’re not sure what’s wrong but we’re working on the liver levels first to see if once they’re fully down, maybe they’ll stay that way. I asked my vet about Denamarin based on my research. He said great idea (why I’m the one who thought of it is a whole separate issue I’m tired of vets man.) After about six weeks his liver levels went down 60 points. So he went from 589 to 529. Other areas of his bloodwork that weren’t perfect and not related to the liver somehow also improved. other improvements: his ears have always had coffee grind black stuff likely from constant yeast or allergies, now that’s gone, he gained weight very drastically and was losing weight before even though he was eating so much, he’s calm (and he’s an anxious out of control bengal) and sleeps better. Now, the vets, instructions and Google all told me there were specific ways to give this pill and it would ONLY work if I did it this way: No cutting up or crushing, empty stomach, don’t give with food, and dont feed until one hour after the pill is taken. Well. The second I saw the pill, the big, blue round pill I instantly gave up. I tried to do it their way. It didn’t work. I did it my way and it worked: 1) yes to the empty stomach (sometimes I’d feed him at 4/5 am to stop his early morning wake up then gave the pill a few hours later so it wasn’t always a total empty stomach but many times it was) 2) i cut it up. It says not to cut or crush. I cut the pill with a flat blade kitchen knife into pieces smaller than his teeth. 3) I soak a bunch of Stella Chewys duck freeze dried treats until they got very soft and I would put one piece into a molded up piece of treat. So he’d end up with about ten pieces of molded wet treat with a piece of pill inside each one. Many times he eats it fine. Sometimes he’ll turn away. I will sometimes add purina probiotics sprinkles on top and it helps. There are some days once in a blue moon where he will absolutely just not be eat the treats but 85% of the time he will be eat it. And doing it my way, not according to the rules that are impossible to follow for a cat, still worked. His levels are going down pretty quickly. Just wanted to share my process bc it works. I told my vet and he said to keep doing it the way I’m doing it. However if you try this and the levels don’t change then this might not be the best process for you. Anyway 5 stars. This stuff works. The pill size and smell of it sucks for cats.

In September 2020 I took my 13 year old cat to the vet. All of her major liver values were extremely high - ALT, AP, AST. Her highest value was nearly 700 which indicates a pretty severe condition. All of her other values were normal, and her teeth were cleaned, so no other diseases or infections were contributing to the high numbers. My vet recommended Denamarin and she's been on it ever since. Admittedly it was a real struggle to be consistent in the beginning because she'd never gotten pills before and cats are notoriously hard to pill. Eventually I learned the trick of coating it in a little bit of melted coconut oil. She loves the taste of it, it goes down easy with coating and doesn't get stuck in her throat, and doesn't break the enteric coating so the pill dissolves correctly and can be effective. I took her for another annual and had all of her blood work checked again. 9 months later (with 6 of consistent dosing after figuring it out), he said ALL of her liver numbers are now firmly within the normal range and she's a perfectly healthy cat. No joke this pill really saved her life. I was skeptical when I first bought it but the numbers don't lie. My vet said she's now looking at plenty more healthy years in front of her. Yeah it's expensive and can be a pain to deal with but this appointment just showed me it's worth every penny.