|
Welcome to the YorkieTalk.com Forums Community - the community for Yorkshire Terriers. You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. You will be able to chat with over 35,000 YorkieTalk members, read over 2,000,000 posted discussions, and view more than 15,000 Yorkie photos in the YorkieTalk Photo Gallery after you register. We would love to have you as a member! Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community today! If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please click here to contact us. |
|
| LinkBack | Thread Tools |
10-20-2006, 05:00 PM | #1 |
Yorkie Talker Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: MA
Posts: 15
| I am considering adopting a rescue yorkie who had a liver shunt... Hi everyone, I recently came across a website for a placement service for yorkies in MA, which is where I am from. I have thought about getting another yorkie puppy for my baby to have a friend to play with and grow up with. Then, I saw a placement ad for an 18 week yorkie...here is the link: http://search.petfinder.com/petnote/...?petid=6906827. He is such a cutie and I know my home environment would be perfect for him. My baby won't grow to be more than 3 1/2 pounds and she has never been alone for more than two hours and that is only once or twice per week. Other than that I have a great family who takes turns supervising when I need to go to class, work, etc. but I am not sure what kind of responsibility this would be. Not only the physical responsibility of supervising, etc. but the financial responsibility as well. Does anyone have a yorkie that had a liver shunt and went through similar procedures?? I am going to do research on liver shunts but does this mean that the surgery fixed the problem? Could he have another liver shunt in the future?? Any advice would be helpful and appreciated! |
Welcome Guest! | |
10-20-2006, 05:17 PM | #2 |
My furkids Donating Member | I don't know much about liver shunt...there's alot of very nice people here with alot of good information and advice..I think you are smart to research this as I BELIEVE if they have it...they have it...I could be wrong..I think it's great you are going to rescue...as you can see I am from mass too! where is the rescue? And good luck to you.
__________________ |
10-20-2006, 05:21 PM | #3 |
Yorkie Talker Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: MA
Posts: 15
| Hi! It's always nice to meet other yorkie owners from MA! The rescue is in Taunton, MA and I am from Billerica so it is probably a good hour away from me. Thanks for the reply! I am doing as much research as I can as we speak so I'll see what I can find out and what others have to say too! |
10-22-2006, 06:52 AM | #4 |
Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: PA
Posts: 188
| I haven't been on for a couple days so I missed your post. I have a yorkie that just had his 2nd liver shunt surgery in a year. He was diagnosed with his first one when he was 6 months old. His liver was a little compromised, it was small but still in the normal range. He did not have any kidney or bladder stones. The shunt was an extrahepatic shunt which is when the shunt is outside the liver and has the best chance of being fixed. I read about Henry and it sounds like this is what he had. Indy did fine after the surgery. It took about 6 months for his bile acids to return to normal, but at every test they kept coming down. I had one done at just about a year and to my surprise they were high again. We put him back on the prescription diet and tested in 6 weeks and they had almost doubled. New ultrasound showed another extrahepatic shunt. Odd thing was, his liver had almost doubled in size and the veins going into it were big and healthy. The surgeon was puzzled why another shunt had formed. I was told that a second shunt in a dog with a normal size liver was rare, 1 in 200 dogs. Indy had a second surgery in Sept and everything went well. He is fully recovered and back to his normal lifestyle, but this time he will remain on the Hills L/D prescription food. His first post op bile acid test is in a week. I think my situation was not a normal situation for liver shunts, and also, my Yorkie is 14lbs so he was not as fragile as a puppy the size of Henry. My advice to you would be READ, READ, READ!! There are many good websites out there. Dr. Karen Tobias is the leading researcher on liver shunts in Yorkies. She is a vet at the University of Tennessee and I highly recommend you read her findings. I don't know her site off hand, but if you google her name I am sure it will come up. Also understand, a liver shunt dog will always need a little bit more in the way of care. Probably a special diet and they should have the bile acid test done more frequently to monitor the liver and that is an expense. Also, with the small size of Henry, as the website said, you will have to monitor him closely and take him to the vet for anything out of the ordinary. This can get expensive quite quickly. Indy is 1 yr 7mos old and I have over $4000 in him (this includes the 2 surgeries, bile acid tests, ultrasounds, special food). I am not saying you shouldn't adopt Henry, just go into it with open eyes. Read about the condition and consider the medical expenses that could go along with him. It sounds like your home would be the perfect place for him as far as the environment goes. If you would like to IM me with any questions, please do. I got alot of help and support from this website while I was going through everything with Indy. Good luck. Kim |
10-22-2006, 09:52 AM | #5 |
Donating Yorkie Yakker Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 778
| I hope your research and the posts here didn't scare you too much. It takes a really good person to do it.
__________________ Barb & Piccolo If your dog barks and doesn't fit in a bread roll, don't eat it. |
10-22-2006, 10:15 AM | #6 |
Its all about the yorkies Donating Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: South Jersey
Posts: 1,451
| The person who is fostering this dog belongs to a livershunt yahoo group that I belong to (no I dont have any liver comprimised dogs) http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/L...d_MVD_Support/ Maybe you should consider joining and asking the group their opinion. Little Henry seems like a dollbaby
__________________ CHRISSY Nikki Precious Lizzy Mimi , Lena Taboo |
10-22-2006, 01:33 PM | #7 |
YT Addict Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Texas
Posts: 364
| All I can say is he is such a little doll!!!! I hope he will be healthy! |
Bookmarks |
|
|
Thread Tools | |
| |
|
|
SHOP NOW: Amazon :: eBay :: Buy.com :: Newegg :: PetStore :: Petco :: PetSmart