LIVER SHUNT! Help!!

[Elliegirl1]

Ellie is 7 almost 8 months now and the vet told us she has a liver shunt ans she wouldn't live to see her first birthday!! it is $1500 which is a lot but Of course we are going to do it!!! She is only 2.6lbs. I am afraid of loosing her in surgery because she is so small, how long do they take to recover and after surgery will she have no more problems? Anyone with any experience please help me. She has been throwing up a lot and hasn't gained weight so it makes sense. He bile or whatever should be at 10 the vet said and it's at 236... Any chance that everything will be ok??!! I don't want to loose my Ellie.

[kjc]

Sorry to hear of this, but many pups have had this surgery and do just fine. They must be keep quiet for the most part for 6-8 weeks after the surgery to allow healing and closure of the shunt, but then can live perfectly normal lives.

Is your vet a surgeon? I would suggest a second opinion from an internal medicine specialist. $1500. sounds too cheap! Normally this type of surgery runs from $2500. to $4500.

[gemy]

Univ of Tennessee - Dr Tobias is the leading expert in this field. If there is anyway to get you and your pup there, please go. If not, at least call them, to secure a referral from them of the closest to you surgeon they would recommend.

There are many threads on here about Liver Shunt, if you do a search you can review a lot of these threads.

I'm so sorry your pup is sick, and hope that she has a successful surgery.

[Susan78]

I pray your little baby will be ok . Susan

[Elliegirl1]

Thanks everyone.. I will call him thank you for the recommendation! And thanks for your prayers Susan!

[Elliegirl1]

Originally Posted by kjc

Sorry to hear of this, but many pups have had this surgery and do just fine. They must be keep quiet for the most part for 6-8 weeks after the surgery to allow healing and closure of the shunt, but then can live perfectly normal lives.

Is your vet a surgeon? I would suggest a second opinion from an internal medicine specialist. $1500. sounds too cheap! Normally this type of surgery runs from $2500. to $4500.

Thank you, my vet isn't but is sending me to one about 10 miles away and he quoted them for me. However I have been doing a lot of research and find that is cheap compared to other people, so I am going to have to do research as well on the specialist. Thank you for your help!

[LunasMomma]

Sending prayers for your little girl

[ladyjane]

Make sure that you are seeing a board certified surgeon! You can find one at:

American College of Veterinary Surgeons

Prayers for Ellie.

[TxVicki]

Prayers going out for Ellie.

[Julia Howard]

I have a close friend whose 8 week old puppy had the surgery. First few months he was fragile but he lived a normal life until 8 yrs. old.

[Elliegirl1]

Originally Posted by ladyjane

Make sure that you are seeing a board certified surgeon! You can find one at:

American College of Veterinary Surgeons

Prayers for Ellie.

Great!! Thank you for this helpful link!

[4Scrappy]

I'm still have not uploaded pictures of Ziggy, but he is our Liver Shunt baby. He was diagnosed when he was 9 months old and had the surgery when he was 10 or 11 months old. He too would not gain weight. That was our first sign. His urine was always very dark yellow too. Looking back, that should have been a warning sign. I would feed him a scrambled egg every morning, we had my husband's brother stopping in the afternoon to feed him, we were so frantic. Our vet suggested liver shunt and we refused to accept it. When he finally got toxic and started walking like he was drunk, drooling, fighting with me, just not normal, we rushed to the emergency vet who confirmed our worse fears. It was liver shunt. Our vet sent us to a vet specialty place in the northern suburbs of Chicago. They were wonderful. Ziggy's LS was repairable. The tech told me "you will have a brand new dog." And she was right! Ziggy is now a robust 7 pounds and is very happy, active, and playful. He's has the cutest Yorkie face I've ever seen too (pictures soon, long story). There is hope and no reason your doggie can't do as well as Ziggy after surgery. I agree the $1,500 sounds a little low. We paid around $3,000 and that was in 2006. The surgeon told us to feed a low protein diet for life but other than that, he's fine. A recent blood test showed his liver was functioning great. Our vet was impressed with his "numbers" what with him having the liver shunt. We feed all our dogs K/D (I know it's not the best, but we feel we should follow the surgeon's advice) and no rawhides. We found these wonderful dried sweet potato chewies and Ziggy loves them. Follow up with your vet, do some research, and get your baby on medicine. There is medicine that helps the symptoms. We had to get it filled at the Walgreen's. Ziggy stayed on that for 6 months following surgery. After we brought him home from the surgery, we wondered what have we done. He was stitched from his "junk" up to his chest. He was whiney for that first day and by the next day, it was as if nothing had happened to him. Good luck. I know how you feel, so helpless and scared. Stay strong and keep us posted!

[Elliegirl1]

Originally Posted by 4Scrappy

I'm still have not uploaded pictures of Ziggy, but he is our Liver Shunt baby. He was diagnosed when he was 9 months old and had the surgery when he was 10 or 11 months old. He too would not gain weight. That was our first sign. His urine was always very dark yellow too. Looking back, that should have been a warning sign. I would feed him a scrambled egg every morning, we had my husband's brother stopping in the afternoon to feed him, we were so frantic. Our vet suggested liver shunt and we refused to accept it. When he finally got toxic and started walking like he was drunk, drooling, fighting with me, just not normal, we rushed to the emergency vet who confirmed our worse fears. It was liver shunt. Our vet sent us to a vet specialty place in the northern suburbs of Chicago. They were wonderful. Ziggy's LS was repairable. The tech told me "you will have a brand new dog." And she was right! Ziggy is now a robust 7 pounds and is very happy, active, and playful. He's has the cutest Yorkie face I've ever seen too (pictures soon, long story). There is hope and no reason your doggie can't do as well as Ziggy after surgery. I agree the $1,500 sounds a little low. We paid around $3,000 and that was in 2006. The surgeon told us to feed a low protein diet for life but other than that, he's fine. A recent blood test showed his liver was functioning great. Our vet was impressed with his "numbers" what with him having the liver shunt. We feed all our dogs K/D (I know it's not the best, but we feel we should follow the surgeon's advice) and no rawhides. We found these wonderful dried sweet potato chewies and Ziggy loves them. Follow up with your vet, do some research, and get your baby on medicine. There is medicine that helps the symptoms. We had to get it filled at the Walgreen's. Ziggy stayed on that for 6 months following surgery. After we brought him home from the surgery, we wondered what have we done. He was stitched from his "junk" up to his chest. He was whiney for that first day and by the next day, it was as if nothing had happened to him. Good luck. I know how you feel, so helpless and scared. Stay strong and keep us posted!

Is scrambled eggs not good for them? That's her favorite treat! Thank you so much for your story! Makes me more relaxed that I know other pups were okay after surgery gives me hope!

[Patti]

Keeping Ellie in my prayers.

[jeane]

healing prayers for ellie