Liver shunt - help!

[Rrolog]

Hi!

My name is Raquel and my little dog's name is Toto. We both live in Orlando but our hometown is Venezuela. I rescued Toto around a year ago from abusive owners and he is now currently 2 years old and 2.9 pounds. Lately, he was unable to walk properly and without falling down and became more lethargic than usual, but the vet did not know what was wrong with him. After some research and talking with yorkie rescuers, I decided to ask for a bile acid test. It turns out that the results were high and apparently he had liver shunt.

He did not tell me what type of liver shunt he had and gave me an antibiotic (amoxicilin) and another medicine called lactulose, plus a can of hill's liver desease food. I would like to take him to a specialist, but since I am new here, I really need a recommendation.

I would appreciate if anyone with some experience with this desease could contact me and further talk about my options, tips and maybe recommend a new vet.

Thanks for reading

Here is a video of Toto before he got really sick.

YouTube - Toto's story!

[orlnurse]

Raquel, I posted some info in your other thread.

http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/sou...hunt-help.html

[kalina82]

OMG he is the cutest thing ever! I'm sorry he has LS though

Many of us yorkie owners on YT have pups with liver issues unfortunately. If you do a search here you will find tons of information. I'm sorry i can't help you with any vets down in Florida. A lot of people who choose to have the surgery done go to see Dr. Tobias at the University of Tennessee. From what i've heard, she is the best!

[boopster]

Raquel - welcome to Yorkie Talk! I don't have any answers for you either, but you will find tons of info that should help here, and we do have members in Florida who may be able to recommend a good specialist.

Your little Toto is the cutest thing - thanks for sharing the video. I hope you find the answers you need and get Toto on the path to recovery very soon.

[amcgriff88]

I have heard that the vet school at University of Florida in Gainesville is great with liver shunt and MVD patients. Can I ask what the results of the BAT were? A great group to join is the Liver Shunt and MVD support through Yahoo groups. There are a lot of knowledgeable people in that group that will be able to get you the help that you need.

Alyssa

[yorkieusa]

Your little one is precious. I'm sorry. I don't know if the info on this page has been kept up to date, but I believe it probably has been.

What is Liver Shunt?
The symptoms of portacaval liver shunt can start to appear at almost any age. Dogs with a liver shunt are usually very thin dogs who pick at food. They not only have a poor appetite but they can become lethargic, dizzy, and stagger. They may try to climb out of their pen, climb higher on you and cry and throw their head far back after eating, and they may go into convulsions.
This is not a new disease but one which is coming to the attention of all Yorkshire Terrier breeders and other toy breeders in the 80's and 90's and many breeders feel that it is an inherited disease and that the only way to eliminate that disease is to cull those dogs who are affected and producing this disease from their breeding program.
This disease usually goes hand in hand with a kidney disorder and it seems that a special diet can sometimes keep it under control with some dogs for a time. Surgery sometimes works depending on where the "shunt" is. What happens is that the blood by-passes the liver and goes directly to the heart and therefore the liver shrivels up, becomes filled with infection and the dog convulses.
These dogs so affected are unable to cope with barbiturates. We accidentally found this out in '86 when I dosed my dogs with Ace Promazine for travel sickness and one "sickly" girl puppy slept as though she died. She did come around the next day. Later we associated this with her condition when she convulsed and died at 12 weeks. An autopsy revealed an infected and shriveled up liver, the result of a liver shunt.
The Yorkshire Terrier Foundation is in the process of trying to clinically prove that this is an inherited disease, but I have proven to myself that it is because of my own test breeding and eliminating those dogs involved which thereby ended my problems now for many years.
There's always the possibility that this is the first time it happened to a breeder. Hey, there was a first time for me too!! It's not SHAME ON YOU for having the problem, but it is SHAME ON YOU if you, as a breeder, don't take steps to see that it doesn't happen again.
If your dog shows any of these symptoms, the blood tests alone and the bile acid tests are INCONCLUSIVE. If the dog dies, have your veterinarian do a simple autopsy to examine the liver.
Do not just put the dog to sleep because the blood test has an elevated white count and the veterinarian THINKS it may be the liver disease. Unless the dog is extremely debilitated, it may not be the liver disease and you will have put him/her down for no reason.
There are various specialists who *know* how to recognize the disease so that you are certain that you are getting an accurate prognosis. We will add more connections for information on liver shunt as it becomes available.

In the Dallas Ft Worth, Texas area:
Dallas Veterinary Surgical Center. Dr. Robert D. Barstad
Phone: 972-235-2096
Fax: 972-680-0859
He is one of only two in the state of Texas that does this surgery and is reported to have a 95% success rate.

Cornell University - Ithaca, New York
Phone: 607-255-2000

Dr. Susan Center at Cornell has been quite helpful with liver shunt pups. She has at times done surgery free and spayed/neutered, and rehoused donated pups. Her email address is sac6@cornell.edu. She is quite knowledgeable, has kept some in her home, and is currently studying diet along with surgical repairs.

University of California at Davis, California
Dr. Clare Gregory

Dr. Karen Tobias
University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine
PO Box 1071
Knoxville TN 37901-1071
(865-974-8387).

Dr. Tobias is undertaking a genetic evaluation of Yorkies with shunts.

"I have no idea whether we will find that this disease is more prominent in one line, or if it's polygenetic. We would hope that all breeders would be interested in clearing this disease from their lines and would welcome the results. The study has been completed in Australia, where they have shown that breeding 2 Maltese dogs with shunts will result in a 25% incidence of portosystemic shunts. We have not performed any breeding studies of Yorkshire terriers, but will start with the basic genetics, and will give the information to the next group, which is planning on trying to find an actual genetic marker. Imagine that- a blood test to diagnose the propensity for shunts! I am not familiar with what will be involved, but I think the possibilities are incredible. I imagine we could test every Yorkie and selectively breed this disease out of the population."


Dr. Tobias Update

Karen M. Tobias, DVM, MS, Diplomate ACVS
Associate Professor, Small Animal Surgery
University of Tennessee
College of Veterinary Medicine, PO
Box 1071, Knoxville TN 37901-1071
865-974-8387

If you would like an appointment or consultation, please have your vet contact me directly.


Dr. Cynthia M. Smith.
State of Washington
253-588-1851

Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine.
Anthony J. Cambridge, B.V.M.S.,M.A.C.V.Sc.,M.R.C.V.S Resident of Small Animal Surgery.
E-mail: tc@vetmed.wsu.edu

Liver Shunt Experts experienced at liver shunt surgery:
Auburn University: (334)484-44690
Florida State University: (352)392-4746

Dr. Michael Petranto, Twin Rivers, NJ: 609-426-9625
Dr. Kazmierczak, West Trenton, NJ: 609-771-0995
Hopewell Vet Group, Hopewell, NJ: 609-466-0131


MORE INFORMATION ON LIVER SHUNT

Terri Shumsky Fanny Mae Liver Shunt's Fund
c/o Lorraine Iervolino
316 Gladstone St.
Corsicana TX 75110-1857
903-872-2807
tsfmls.fund@gmail.com

Jon-An's Yorkshire Terriers Liver Shunt Information
Lacy's Liver Shunt Information
Meet Star, a Liver Shunt Baby
Meet Rayna, another Liver Shunt Baby

UC DAVIS is working in conjunction with AKC Canine Health Reserach to establish the normal DNA for healthy dogs. You can send for the swabs and help by being a part of this data base collection by going to http://www.vgl.ucdavis.edu/Service/Canine/#kit and applying for the swabs for your dogs. Additional information is at UC Davis VGL.

Also Catherine Inverson, Research Vet, is interested in DNA Swabs from the parents of Liver Shunt Victims in an attempt to find the DNA responsible for this problem. She can be reached at healthydog@vetgen.com.

Thank you for your participation.


Alex's Yorkie Care Frequently Asked Questions. Page 3.

[RONLYNN]

I'm sorry to hear about your dog. My dog, Teddi, had a liver shunt that I didn't discover until she was 1 year old. She was perfectly fine until one day when she got sick. I took her to have surgery at University of Tennessee (we live in California) about 3 weeks after her diagnosis and she is now 4 years old and perfectly fine!! You need to join the yahoo liver shunt group to read all about it...they are very knowlegeable. Here is my Teddi's story:
Teddi's Story

[Lizzie07]

I hope Toto is feeling better with the diet change and lactulose. There is a ton of information about it on this forum. Good luck. He is super adorable!