How common is liver shunt?

[JuanRamos]

I'm really paranoid about my puppy developing LS later on life, since I've heard that it can show up at all ages in Yorkies.

How common is this? Is it only commonly found in dogs from puppy mills that are inbreed and never properly looked after? The grandparents of my pup are still alive and kicking with no issues other than one of them developing a cataract on the right eye, and her parents are pretty healthy as well. The breeder follows up on her yorkie litters and so far only one of them has died, though it was in a tragic car accident alongisde his owners.

I really wish I hadn't spent a good chunk of time researching about all those dog diseases. I feel like it's taking away the joy of raising my puppy because I'm always looking for any possible signs of illness.

[107barney]

Unfortunately, it's pretty common. You could have your puppy Bile Acids tested to see if the numbers are normal. Many have a more mild form of shunts commonly called "MVD" but now really officially renamed PVH. If you go over to the health and diet forum, I just posted a brochure from the univ of Tn on this subject that you may find informative. Enjoy your puppy! While the breed does have so many issues, there are healthy ones too!

[JuanRamos]

How much does the surgery usually cost? I don't have any issues saving up money (I'm currently being paid on dollars) and travelling to where the best vet to treat LS currently is located, but I've zero experiences with how medics (I do have an international insurance, but thankfully I've never made use of it while being in the states) and vets operate in the U.S.

I know people who travelled to cities such as L.A and NY to get medical treatment and get checked by experts, and likewise americans who have come to mexico to get their chemotherapy after they had issues with Obamacare, so I'd like to think that taking a dog abroad for medical treatment shouldn't be very complicated as long as they are up to date with their vaccines.

United States Pet Passport - Dog and Cat Import Information Required

I'm just worried about the 21 days thing for vaccines. Wouldn't a dog with LS have issues taking vaccines? Obviously I'd not risk travelling with my dog unless she was in top shape after going through whatever diet and medication she'd need to control her symptoms. And she'd be travelling with me and not as cargo.

[matese]

Don't stress over what could be. Enjoy that lil baby of yours. I have had 4 yorkies, 3 lived to be 13 y/o, my last girl had to be put down this Oct. age 16 y/o. No LS in any of thim, all purchased from pet shops over the last 30 years. That's not saying buying from a pet shop is a good thing, since joining YT I have learned much. Enjoy that lil baby, take him / her to the vet for reg. shots, check ups and when you see they are not acting their usual self. Be happy in finding YT, making you "aware" of what can happen, not what WILL happen. Relax and enjoy your new lil clown that will give you much love and deep belly laughs.

[JuanRamos]

Originally Posted by matese

Don't stress over what could be. Enjoy that lil baby of yours. I have had 4 yorkies, 3 lived to be 13 y/o, my last girl had to be put down this Oct. age 16 y/o. No LS in any of thim, all purchased from pet shops over the last 30 years. That's not saying buying from a pet shop is a good thing, since joining YT I have learned much. Enjoy that lil baby, take him / her to the vet for reg. shots, check ups and when you see they are not acting their usual self. Be happy in finding YT, making you "aware" of what can happen, not what WILL happen. Relax and enjoy your new lil clown that will give you much love and deep belly laughs.

Thanks for your kind words.

Just the other day I was getting worried about her biting her feet and scratching her sides, but then I realized that she was just hunting little black ants, which thankfully don't have stings capable of causing any harm to anything bigger than them, but some must have crawled into her fur and causing her to feel itchy. Having little black ants crawl over your body is one of the most annoying feelings ever.

I guess I'm just a little bit more overprotective with her because of how small she is compared to my other dogs. With my labs and golden the most we had to watch out was for them to not swallow anything that they shouldn't, so I was also pretty shocked when I found out that their respective breeds also had a bunch of health issues that could take their lives before reaching their senior years. I'm so glad that the only major issue we have right now with my seniors is that they sometimes develop hot spots that I've to treat before they could get infected.

[JuanRamos]

It also just hit me that yorkies are way too popular at the moment, so there are probably tons of pups out there who never had any serious health issues and led healthy long lives. I guess the same applies to goldens and labradors.

For now I'll just focus on training her and do whatever I can for her to grow into a healthy adult. At the moment my biggest worry is getting her spayed. She's not tiny, but I really worry about anything going wrong even if her bloodwork results turn out to be fine.

[JuanRamos]

Here's a pic of her btw

imgur: the simple image sharer

This was a week ago and she keeps getting bigger with each day.

[lisaly]

The incidence of liver shunt and portal vein hypoplasia is quite high in Yorkiess, but I have had five Yorkies and have never had any liver issues. Katie's breeder tests all of her puppies and dogs she breeds. I am reminded of what my vet kept telling me about my Yorkie who passed alway almost four years ago close to her seventeenth birthday. I was always so worried about Ashley, and my vet told me I should just enjoy her.

I think it's very important to be aware of the diseases that are prevalent in Yorkies, however, just so you can be proactive. It is also so important to enjoy each moment with these precious babies.

http://www.vet.utk.edu/clinical/sacs...2013-09-26.pdf

[matese]

she is beautiful,she reminds me of my Matese that I just had to put down at age 16 y/o. How much does she weigh. Mine was 17 lbs of sheer loving bliss, and a great mighty hunter. Yorkies have been a popular breed for quite a few years, the first one I got was 1982,and I have been in love with the breed ever since . Spaying her is a wise health choice. Being nervous is natural, we all were, but it's for the sake of her health. She will be fine, when she has to go for the spaying be as relaxed as you can, they can pick up your anxiety and will get stressed out. She is just beautiful. Enjoy her.

[JuanRamos]

She's not actually mine, but I'm doing research for my sister since she will probably want to keep raising yorkies after falling in love with this pup. I'd also help her out in case she ever needed her dogs to undergo major medical treatments.


What I truly enjoy doing is helping stray dogs. My first rescue was a wolfhound whose owner died and no one came to claim him (I think he had no family or wasn't in touch with them any more since he spent his christmas in the porch of his house alone with his dog). I barely knew that man, but it broke my heart to watch how his dog kept waiting in front of his house for his owner after the ambulance took him away. Thankfully it didn't took long for a loving family to accept him in their home, and he has been showered with love by 2 girls ever since a year ago.

What I love the most about dogs is that they live for the moment. No matter what they have went through, all of them enjoy getting love and giving it back, even if it were only for a short time before they passed away, so I believe that from now on I should stop getting worried so much about health issues and just do the best I can to return the love they have given me so far.

I think that I've just been projecting my fear of losing my mom due to breast cancer on my dogs. It's been a harsh couple of years for us, but thankfully she has come across a treatment that has kept her from being in a bad shape, to the point where most people don't even suspect her of having cancer. It was really horrible to go with her to her chemos because some of the poor women there were so young and already losing their battle to cancer, so unlike my mom they will probably never get to see their children grow up.

[JuanRamos]

Originally Posted by matese

she is beautiful,she reminds me of my Matese that I just had to put down at age 16 y/o. How much does she weigh. Mine was 17 lbs of sheer loving bliss, and a great mighty hunter. Yorkies have been a popular breed for quite a few years, the first one I got was 1982,and I have been in love with the breed ever since . Spaying her is a wise health choice. Being nervous is natural, we all were, but it's for the sake of her health. She will be fine, when she has to go for the spaying be as relaxed as you can, they can pick up your anxiety and will get stressed out. She is just beautiful. Enjoy her.

Last time we weighed her she was close to 3lb. She has gotten heavier lately, so I'd say she's gonna have a couple more of growth spurt before reaching her adult size, though from what I've been reading most yorkies don't stop growing until reaching the 2 years of age.

I never bothered to ask her breeder how much her parents and grandparents weigh. I foolishly assumed that yorkies were just in either "teacup" or standard size. Most people have told us that she's too big for a yorkie, so at least we know that she's not what people consider a teacup-sized one.

[JuanRamos]

Actually she weighed 2.2 kilos. That would be almost 5 lb.

We honestly don't care about her being "too big" or "too small". She was a gift from one of my father's friends and so far my sister loves her because she reminds her of her pomeranian poochy that she spent almost 20 years with.