Advice needed! Microvascular Dysplasia

[Lucky Yorkie]

Hi,

This is my first time posting. I just found out my 1 year old yorkie Lucky has microvascular dysplasia. So far, all I have done is put him on a low protein diet (Prescription's Diet k/d). I know the basics of his condition, but I would greatly appreciate any advice from anyone who may have experience with this condition on what I should be doing to ensure a relatively long & healthy life for him. I am aware of medications and supplements to his diet such as Lactulose, but the vet just told me to keep him on a low protein diet for now. She said if he begins to show more severe clinical signs, then she will provide us with medication and treatment.

Is there anything more I can or should be doing for Lucky? Should I ask the vet to begin giving him medication now or wait until his symptoms get worse? Also, Lucky is use to eating high protein snacks and some table scraps...Does anyone have any suggestions as to what treats/snacks he can be given now, taking into consideration his condition and special diet needs? Currently, his diet is limited to Prescription's Diet k/d, nutri cal, carrots, bananas, and white rice. Any advice at all will be greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance.

-Lucky's concerned mom

[aimee]

I am so sorry that I have no experience with this to share. I hope that Lucky gets better Welcome to Yorkie Talk. I am sure one of our members will have more information for you.

[Connie]

I found something on the internet and here it is:
When dogs have microvascular dysplasia without clinical signs, their prognosis is very good. In many instances there is not a need for therapy. In dogs that are diagnosed because they have clinical signs, it is often possible to manage the signs through the use of dietary therapy and medications. The dietary therapy is aimed at reducing excess protein in the diet and the medications, including lactulose and antibiotics such as neomycin or metronidazole, which are used to lower ammonia levels in the digestive tract and thus in the body. The prognosis is variable for patients who have clinical signs from hepatoportal microvascular dysplasia. Some dogs do well with therapy and live normal, or nearly normal, life spans. Others have worsening of the clinical signs over time. I do not know of a method for predicting how well an individual patient will do.

There are a number of reduced protein diets that might be helpful, including Hills k/d (tm) and l/d (tm) diets, Purina's NF diet and others. Lactulose dosage is adjusted to individual patient's needs by using it to obtain a soft but formed stool. Neomycin is usually given at a dosage of 22mg/kg of body weight twice a day and metronidazole at 7.5mg/kg twice a day. This is a lower metronidazole dosage than is used for many other conditions. I have seen recommendations for the use of other antibiotics but these two are the most commonly mentioned ones.

You probably already knew most of that. I hope your Lucky does great on his new diet! Best wishes to you and Lucky!

[Marie]

I dont know about this condition, so im not very helpful. I just wanted to welcome you and Lucky to YT. I will have your little one in my prayers for everything to work out for him. Im looking forward to see some pics of ur little one.

[fourdez]

I hope you baby will be fine. My best wishes to both of you.

[Lucky Yorkie]

Connie: Yeah I came up with some of the same info when I did research too, but thank you so much for taking the time to look it up for me!

And thank you to everyone for your prayers and well wishes. I truly hope Lucky feels well too!

Is there anyone out there with their little Yorkie who is facing or faced the same situation? First hand experience would be so helpful to me right now, because I am so worried about my little man!

I want to give a VERY BIG THANK YOU to everyone again for making me feel so welcome on the forum!~

[Connie]

Hi! Just checking back to see if there's any updates on Lucky. How's he doing? Thinking of you and saying prayers for your little guy!

[SoCalyorkiLvr]

Welocme to YorkieTalk! Sorry to hear about Lucky's health condition. What are the symptoms of this as I have neve rheard of it?

[Yorkieluv]

Hello,
My yorkie is actually going through similar problems right now...He actually has a liver shunt, but the vet believes that it is intrahepatic because he wasn't able to find the actual shunt when he went in for the surgery. The symptoms and medications are very similar. My dog is on a special hepatic diet by Royal Canine, it's a veterinary prescription diet which he actually loves even though he's a picky eater. Protein is bad for him because it causes ammonia levels to increase, so with his hepatic diet, he actually gets his protein from vegetables and soy I believe. It probably wouldn't be a good idea to give him table scraps like chicken or anything like that. He's also on denosyl which is a liver supplement, and he's also on lactulose. I know how hard this must be for you b/c I'm going through the same thing.
My yorkie is only 1 yr. old but I feel like he's been with me forever. I love him like a son. He also has bladder stones I believe that are a symptom of the liver shunt, and this is basically when I found out he had the problem. He tried to urinate for a couple of hours just going from one pee pee pad to the next, but nothing came out, I took him to vet and they did urinary tests and bloodwork and a bile acid test, and his liver enzyme tests came back at over 300 which is extremely high. They're supposed to be below 25. The bladder stones are the only real symptoms that he has, thank God, because he still plays and jumps and runs like a super healthy dog. He's not depressed at all. If you have any other questions, let me know. I have a lot more info but it will take up too much space.

[moonvalley]

Folks:

You might want to read and try these things.

https://vmacs.vmth.ucdavis.edu/userp...liver.doc?html

http://www.canine-epilepsy.com/MilkThistle.html

http://www.dachshund.org/health_milk_thistle.html

http://members.aol.com/stars4kk/miraclediet.html

(I would add that I would also do dandelion!!!!)

Best,

Deborah