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Originally Posted by MauiGirl  After a long consult with the vet/surgeon, we have decided to manage Tiki with diet and supplements and NOT do further invasive diagnostics/surgery at this time.
Her bile acids are not terribly high, ultrasound did not find a shunt, she shows no symptoms, so it will likely turn out to be MVD (and hopefully mild). As far as doing spay, and a liver biopsy, the vet says spay is easy, but adding biopsy means larger incision, longer time under anesthesia.... and if he were to do that then he should also be looking for a shunt and trying to fix it which increases mortality risk. That is all just TOOOO much.
So, I'm not even going to get her spayed right now. I'm just going to enjoy her and give her the best diet and supplements to support her compromised liver. I asked if we should repeat bile acid tests at some point, he said he feels there is no need as long as she is eating well and producing 1-2 stools per day. No problem there, she loves her homecooked food and vegetarian kibble. I'll continue to fine tune her diet with the help of the YT members and the yahoo groups, and possibly a dietitian. |
I'm glad you're finally getting some answers.
Since he would be the one to do the shunt repair if she had one, he would need to look for one while he is in there. General vets who do the biopsy with the spay aren't really looking for shunts or trying to repair them... So this is a bit of a different situation.
I know you're probably nervous about anesthesia (as I would be) but pyometra is very common in older unspayed females which would be very unhealthy (that's why Ellie's vet wanted her spayed...she didn't want to have to go in and try to take a pus-filled uterus out later without spilling it...). If she goes through two heats, she will also have a 26% chance of getting mammary cancer. There are definately risks to it but the benefits in mildly liver compromised dogs outweigh the risks.
If she is doing well on the veggie kibble, I think you could avoid a nutritionist altogether unless you want to homecook.
