Hyperlipidemia
Hyperlipidemia
Increased plasma lipids are often discovered in dogs only serendipitously following biochemical testing for a clinically suspected disease that is subsequently known to elicit increased plasma lipids.
However, dogs may not exhibit overt clinical signs of such a disease, and laboratory testing may be the only route by which lipid disorders are initially identified.
Therefore, routine health screening blood work can be important in early detection of lipid disorders. Dogs should be fasted for 12 hours before blood samples are collected in clot or heparinized glass tubes.
PRIMARY LIPID DISORDERS
Primary lipid disorders are rare in dogs, and the mechanisms inducing them are often unknown.
SECONDARY LIPID DISORDERS
Frequent causes of secondary lipid disorders include high-fat diets, DM, hyperadrenocorticism, hypothyroidism, acute pancreatitis, protein-losing nephropathy (PLN), and cholestatic liver disease.
THERAPEUTICS
Because most lipid disorders in dogs arise from secondary causes, correcting or managing the secondary cause is the aim of many therapeutic regimens, which in turn should lower plasma lipid levels.
However, dietary intervention is considered the most practical and efficacious treatment of hyperlipidemia, primarily hypertriglyceridemia. Placing dogs on balanced low-fat diets is the aim of this regimen.
Many reduced-fat diets for dogs are available on the market; however, what is mostimportant in managing hyperlipidemia in dogs is feeding a high-quality, balanced ration that maintains dietary fat below 12% based on dry-weight matter.
In human medicine, hyperlipidemia is often reduced through various “cholesterol-lowering” medications. Although these medications are not approved for use in dogs, niacin at 25 to 100 mg/day and gemfibrozil at 200 mg/day have reportedly been used in dogs.
Pruritus and erythema are two reported side effects of niacin in dogs, whereas minimal side effects of gemfibrozil have been reported. Other lipid-reducing strategies for dogs include dietary supplementation of marine-life oil, omega-3 fatty acids, and fish oil.
Menhaden fish-oil capsules (which are omega-3 fatty acid rich) at a dose of 1 g/4.55 kg along with reduced dietary fat have reportedly been effective in controlling hypertriglyceridemia.
Interestingly, one study of the effects of fatty acid supplementation in canine renal insufficiency induced by nephrectomy showed that addition of omega-3 fatty acids lessened associated hypercholesterolemia in dogs and minimized or protected further renal impairment compared with omega-6 fatty acid supplementation.