does any of your dog has liver shunt ?

[dukes]

looks like my duke 2 years old got liver shunt. the fist time he had a seizure was two weeks ago he had 2 in 2 days. i took him to the vet. they run blood work on him. but the test result takes 1 week to come back. so poor duke started again yesterday with seizures,he had one. i was hoping that wouldn't happen again. but this morning in 3 hour he had 3. i called the vet.the blood result came in . his liver looks bad. for now we have to change his food. and he gets some of medication. plus my vet said we have to see a specialist.so if your dog has it how is she or he doing ?

[tdavis]

Hi I am sorry to hear about your guy. My Bobo is now 8 mos old and was diagnosed with a liver shunt at 4 mos of age and had surgery at 5 mos. He is doing well now. They immediately put him on a prescription food and medication and that made a huge difference for him, their body can't process the protien in the regular food. If your vet didn't change his food or suggest Lactolose and antibiotics then call them and ask. Did he have a bile acid test done? There are quite a few people on here whose puppies have this, I am sure they will have more advice, There is a group livershuntandmvdsupport@yahoogroups.com (I think this is correct).The people at that group are very knowledgable.Please keep us updated and if you have any more questions just ask. Tammy

[Patti]

My Cali was diagnosed at 8 months with a mild internal liver shunt. I just keep her protein level lower. Definatley get the Bile Acid test done and find an experienced vet. Good luck

[Yorkieluv]

My yorkie was diagnosed with liver shunt at the beginning of 2005, and the vet went in for exploratory surgery. He was not able to find the shunt to repair it. He also did not do a biopsy, which SHOULD have been done, so we don't know for sure if he has MVD or intrahepatic liver shunt.

Your furbaby should be put on lactulose and a low, non-animal protein diet. Animal protein is way too hard for their livers to handle. Protein breaks down to ammonia, and in a normal body, the liver filters it. But when there is a shunt, the ammonia bypasses the liver through the shunt and enters their system. Ammonia builds up and causes seizures. Over time, the liver starts shrinking.

The lactulose is intended to push the toxins out of the body quickly, so that the ammonia doesn't just sit around and build up causing seizures. On lactulose, the stool should be formed, but difficult to pick up. Not firm, and not diarrhea. Also, many of us with liver compromised dogs give our babies denosyl (helps improve liver function) and milk thistle (helps to repair damage to liver and helps regenerate liver tissue).

With an extrahepatic liver shunt, which is what most yorkies get, it is operable and surgery needs to be done. They will probably keep your dog on a low, non-animal protein diet, lactulose, and supplements before and after surgery until they can check his bile acid levels again to make sure the surgery was a success.

With an intrahepatic liver shunt or mvd, surgery is not really an option, so the dog's condition has to be managed through diet, lactulose, and supplements.

The specialist will need to do a scintigraphy where they put a dye in the dog's system so they can see exactly where the shunt is. That way, when they go in for surgery, they don't waste any time and go right in and repair the shunt.

If you have any questions, please ask.

[dukes]

Originally Posted by tdavis

Hi I am sorry to hear about your guy. My Bobo is now 8 mos old and was diagnosed with a liver shunt at 4 mos of age and had surgery at 5 mos. He is doing well now. They immediately put him on a prescription food and medication and that made a huge difference for him, their body can't process the protien in the regular food. If your vet didn't change his food or suggest Lactolose and antibiotics then call them and ask. Did he have a bile acid test done? There are quite a few people on here whose puppies have this, I am sure they will have more advice, There is a group livershuntandmvdsupport@yahoogroups.com (I think this is correct).The people at that group are very knowledgable.Please keep us updated and if you have any more questions just ask. Tammy

duke as the vet right now ,he has to stay until tonight. because he had to many seizure this morning. duke had the bile acid test done. plus he is going to be on lactulose and diffrent food until we see the specialist. just keep him in your prayer

[tdavis]

How is Duke doing? Please let us know when you get time. Tammy