Tell me it can't be Liver shunt PLEASE

[littlelady]

Friday evening our little 12 week old Davey had diarrhea with blood all around it. I saved it and took it and Davey to the vet right away.
They did a wet stain and it was campylo bacter.
He gave him Amoxicillin and science diet and told me to give him Activia twice aday.

Sunday morning he awoke and he was listless and couldn't hardly stand. I put him to water and my husband told me to take him to the emergency vet Hospital at PNC. They admitted him and didbld test his WBC are very high and his liver enzymes are elevated, and his Protein was low. They gave him a plasma protein transfusion. They changed his Amoxicillin to Erythromicin.

The vet said since there is no explaination for the over growth of the bacteria then she is leaning toward a diagnosis of lIver shunt.
I am so nervous . I have to pick him up in the morning before they close and take him to my regular vet, since he is at the emergency hospital they don't the bile acid test. He is NPO today and just getting IV fluids .

I just pray he is just sick and it is not liver shunt.

[marcerella02]

oh you poor thing. This must be heartbreaking and stressful. Well since he is so young, Liver Shunt is NOT the end of the world. Many dogs on here are thriving with a modified diet, but it still must be horribly scary! Please post good news soon!

[Patti]

Hopefully his liver values were off from the infection and not a liver problem. My Cali was sick alot when she was a puppy and she was diagnosed with very mild MVD internal liver shunt, She needs no treatment and has been doing ok and she is going to be 3. I will keep Davey in my prayers for a good outcome.

[TLC]

Please try to relax. Are there any other symptoms b/c this doesn't sound too much like pups with liver shunts. 12 weeks is really young, he may have gotten into something around the house. I say this b/c TJ had mucus poops and blood ALL the time starting from when I got him at 12 weeks. We did blood work and it came back that his folate levels were high, the Vet said that meant and Over Growth of bacteria in his small intestines, IBD - Inflammatory Bowel Disease. We changed his diet to a single source protein (Duck and Potato) and since the Flagyl didn't work for TJ, the Vet tried Tylan Powder, which I had to give him everyday for a handful of months, but this type of episodes eventually stopped.

I don't want you to get freaked out. Bring him to your general Vet and go from there. A start is a Bile Acid test, but I would really, really question the validity of a BAT at 12 weeks, reason being is that vaccines, antib's, heartworm pills, etc..all can have an affect on the #s of a BAT - and from what I have been reading, they say the pup should be over 6 months old to get a more accurate BAT.

Mine are going tomorrow for yet another BAT. Roxy most likely has MVD (mild) and TJ had abnormal #s the first time and they have since gone down to below normal (YAY)

Anyway, try to relax and take one step at a time, also try to read up about all you can, from here and from Univ. of Tenn (Dr. Tobais) and Cornell Univ. (Dr. Center).

Keep us posted

[littlelady]

Originally Posted by TLC

Please try to relax. Are there any other symptoms b/c this doesn't sound too much like pups with liver shunts. 12 weeks is really young, he may have gotten into something around the house. I say this b/c TJ had mucus poops and blood ALL the time starting from when I got him at 12 weeks. We did blood work and it came back that his folate levels were high, the Vet said that meant and Over Growth of bacteria in his small intestines, IBD - Inflammatory Bowel Disease. We changed his diet to a single source protein (Duck and Potato) and since the Flagyl didn't work for TJ, the Vet tried Tylan Powder, which I had to give him everyday for a handful of months, but this type of episodes eventually stopped.

I don't want you to get freaked out. Bring him to your general Vet and go from there. A start is a Bile Acid test, but I would really, really question the validity of a BAT at 12 weeks, reason being is that vaccines, antib's, heartworm pills, etc..all can have an affect on the #s of a BAT - and from what I have been reading, they say the pup should be over 6 months old to get a more accurate BAT.

Mine are going tomorrow for yet another BAT. Roxy most likely has MVD (mild) and TJ had abnormal #s the first time and they have since gone down to below normal (YAY)

Anyway, try to relax and take one step at a time, also try to read up about all you can, from here and from Univ. of Tenn (Dr. Tobais) and Cornell Univ. (Dr. Center).

Keep us posted

I went to the website and I read multiple testimonials where pups 12-16 weeks had undergone surgery. I had given him his first interceptor pill with the past 2 weeks. I also had started his frontline. I have given him some of the high protein stuff I had been giving Angel who has been feeding her 3 week old pups. Maybe it is nothing but it seems if I were to have an illness come up with my dogs then they do get it. Angel has had mastitis, she doesn't want to feed her pups any more, I have to make her stay with them.
Davey has had coccidia actually came home with it from the breeder, along with conjunctivitis.
My daughter just let me now she dropped him WEd. night he wiggled out of her arms and fell on him side onto a big rock.
I did like the website and the information from the University of Tennessee.
I felt it did not give enough information on how early true symptoms are seen.

[Yorkieluv]

Can you get a copy of the bloodwork results and post them for us, please?

[littlelady]

Originally Posted by Yorkieluv

Can you get a copy of the bloodwork results and post them for us, please?

06/15/2008 at 10:05 am CHEMISTRY
ALB 1.7, ALKP 719, ALT 641, AMYL 278, BUN 8. , CA 9.5, CHOL 37, CREA 0.2 GLOB 2.4, GLU 292, PHOS 3.8, TBIL 0.1, TP 4.1,
Na 144, K 3.5, CL 111. ,
HEMATOLOGY 6/15/2008 9:54
WBC 22.62, LYM 1.88, MONO 3.44, NEU 16.93, EOS 0.29, BASO 0.08, %LYM 8.3, %MONO 15.2, %NEU 74.8, %EOS 1.3, %BASO 0.4, HCT 38.0, RBC 5.86, HGB 12.1, RETIC 44.4, %RETIC 0.8, MCV 64.8, RDW 18.3, MCHC 31.8, MCH 20.63, PLT 241, MPV 7.40, PCT 0.2, PDW 15.7

They gave him Baytril 9mg every 12 hours. and the plasma protein 20ml IV .

The above is yesterday's blood work and my vet is repeating some of this today.

[littlelady]

mY VET JUST CALLED ME AND TOLD ME THE ALBUMIN IS STILL LOW AND THEY ARE GIVING LITTLE DAVEY MORE PLASMA PROTEIN.hIS WBC HAVE COME DOWN TO 20.0 AND IS AMMONIA TEST IS NORMAL. HE DID DRAW THE BILE ACID TEST AND HE IS AWAITING THOSE RESULTS FOR TOMORROW. HE IS GOING TO SEND HIM HOME LATER TODAY AFTER GETTING THE PLASMA AND HE IS GETTING FLAGYL AND BAYTRIL IV TODAY.
HE IS NOT RULING OUT LIVER SHUNT OR THE POSSIBLITY OF HMD-MVD BUT HE IS EATING AND VERY ENERGETIC.
MAYBE SOMEHOW HE GOT INTO SOMETHING WE JUST HAVE MISSED.

WE WILL HAVE TO WAIT FOR THE BILE ACID TEST RESULTS.

THANK YOU FOR EVERYONES PRAYERS.

[YorkieRose]

I would not be thinking LS right now...your puppy has been under a lot stress..a new home, COCCIDIA, frontline, heart worm..he was dropped..you are quite fortunate he still alive. Coccidia meds and the other meds for his numerous problems will effect the test results...BUT he is eating and has energy, and is under the vets care, so he certainly has a very good chance of coming around from his very bad start in life...what is the breeder doing to correct this situation for you..paying vet bills, ???? etc...

Many vets are too quick to think liver shunt..I would be very surprised if your boy had normal numbers with all he is going through...medication and stress can and will cause his test results to be inaccurate regarding a shunt...best wishes

PS..Bile acid at 12 weeks from a sick puppy on medication are just about useless...so do not freak if they are high...get him well, and settled in your home and repeat in a few months..

[winstonw]

oh I am so sorry to hear about little Davey. We will be sending good thoughts your way, and please keep us posted of what you find out.

[TLC]

Originally Posted by YorkieRose

I would not be thinking LS right now...your puppy has been under a lot stress..a new home, COCCIDIA, frontline, heart worm..he was dropped..you are quite fortunate he still alive. Coccidia meds and the other meds for his numerous problems will effect the test results...BUT he is eating and has energy, and is under the vets care, so he certainly has a very good chance of coming around from his very bad start in life...what is the breeder doing to correct this situation for you..paying vet bills, ???? etc...

Many vets are too quick to think liver shunt..I would be very surprised if your boy had normal numbers with all he is going through...medication and stress can and will cause his test results to be inaccurate regarding a shunt...best wishes

PS..Bile acid at 12 weeks from a sick puppy on medication are just about useless...so do not freak if they are high...get him well, and settled in your home and repeat in a few months..

Great Post - I totally agree

[Yorkieluv]

Prayers for your baby. Thanks for posting those results... Many of those values are most definitely very off...I am praying that your baby gets better soon.

[Patti]

I am so glad Davey is coming home, but with the recent stress the Bile Acid test may me off from that so definately retest if it is. Praying it's normal

[littlelady]

Originally Posted by YorkieRose

I would not be thinking LS right now...your puppy has been under a lot stress..a new home, COCCIDIA, frontline, heart worm..he was dropped..you are quite fortunate he still alive. Coccidia meds and the other meds for his numerous problems will effect the test results...BUT he is eating and has energy, and is under the vets care, so he certainly has a very good chance of coming around from his very bad start in life...what is the breeder doing to correct this situation for you..paying vet bills, ???? etc...

Many vets are too quick to think liver shunt..I would be very surprised if your boy had normal numbers with all he is going through...medication and stress can and will cause his test results to be inaccurate regarding a shunt...best wishes

PS..Bile acid at 12 weeks from a sick puppy on medication are just about useless...so do not freak if they are high...get him well, and settled in your home and repeat in a few months..

The vet thought being dropped was not a contributing factor he saw how tall Racheal is and she only dropped him aobut 1 foot in all, but he was hurt. He wiggles so much sometimes it is hard to hold him. He also did not think the intercepter was contributing. He is puzzled. He is glad Davey is responding to antibiotics and fluids, but his albumin was 1.6 today , and his NH3 was 38, WBC 20.85 today. He is eating and drinking and happy. He has to go back tomorrow to the vet and get another blood test and further IV fluids and maybe more Plasma protein.
PLease keep him in your prayers.

[TLC]

He is in my prayers. Regarding intercepter, my general Vet (whom I love) tells me that NOTHING can interfere with the #s - but I really have to disagree, with all the info I have read here and at the Yahoo group, it must. So when I do a BAT, as a matter of fact both Roxy and TJ had one today, I made sure it was the most ideal time. Meaning: The last time frontline was applied was 4/23 and the last time they got intercepter was 5/18 - I try to do a BAT when nothing else can interfere