I recently received a letter asking about the safety of using SAMe (S-Adenosyl methionine) to treat dogs with liver problems. The letter and my response to it follows.

I came across an article, attributed to you, online at nfwNews about the use of SAMe in the treatment of liver disease in dogs.

I have been using SAMe in the UK (Samylin Tablets) for almost six years on my oldest dog, who has elevated liver enzymes.  I stopped dosing her some months ago when I began to question the correct dosing of the supplement and couldn’t get any response from the manufacturer, nor any scientific reports about its efficacy.

Yesterday I became aware of a study into the use of SAMe by Manchester and Kyoto Universities, the link here is to the journal: https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-022-03280-5.

The bottom line is that SAMe breaks down in the body to substances known to be toxic causing liver and kidney damage.

I am sorry you have not had a good experience with SAMe. I read the article you linked to. The research involved in vitro studies of cell lines and also mouse studies that measured the effect on circadian rhythms and demonstrated that the SAM was broken down into adenine. It is an interesting study. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.

I initially became aware of the use of SAMe and Milk Thistle as supplements useful in liver support in the early 1990s when attending veterinary conferences sanctioned by veterinary teaching hospitals here in the United States.

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Over the last 25 years or so, I have dispensed and recommended SAMe, then the products Denosyl and Denamarin when they became available.

I have used these products on pets with elevated liver enzymes and various liver toxicities. These conditions have included toxicities such as Sago Palm ingestion and chronic liver diseases such as cirrhosis of the liver, nodular hyperplasia, chronic hepatitis and other disease processes involving the liver.

Subjectively, the pets that have been on these products have either visibly improved in demeanor and condition (improved appetite, activity levels), or, at a minimum, not gotten any worse.

Objectively, I have not seen any elevations of kidney values or renal failure in a pet on Denamarin or Denosyl. Many of the pets saw measurable improvement in liver enzyme levels.

Granted, I am not a researcher. I am just a practicing veterinarian. I have only my “boots on the ground” experience to go by. But I have been pleased with the results I have seen with these products. I would not have continued using them if it had been otherwise.