My yorkie was diagnosed with liver shunt at the beginning of 2005, and the vet went in for exploratory surgery. He was not able to find the shunt to repair it. He also did not do a biopsy, which SHOULD have been done, so we don't know for sure if he has MVD or intrahepatic liver shunt.
Your furbaby should be put on lactulose and a low, non-animal protein diet. Animal protein is way too hard for their livers to handle. Protein breaks down to ammonia, and in a normal body, the liver filters it. But when there is a shunt, the ammonia bypasses the liver through the shunt and enters their system. Ammonia builds up and causes seizures. Over time, the liver starts shrinking.
The lactulose is intended to push the toxins out of the body quickly, so that the ammonia doesn't just sit around and build up causing seizures. On lactulose, the stool should be formed, but difficult to pick up. Not firm, and not diarrhea. Also, many of us with liver compromised dogs give our babies denosyl (helps improve liver function) and milk thistle (helps to repair damage to liver and helps regenerate liver tissue).
With an extrahepatic liver shunt, which is what most yorkies get, it is operable and surgery needs to be done. They will probably keep your dog on a low, non-animal protein diet, lactulose, and supplements before and after surgery until they can check his bile acid levels again to make sure the surgery was a success.
With an intrahepatic liver shunt or mvd, surgery is not really an option, so the dog's condition has to be managed through diet, lactulose, and supplements.
The specialist will need to do a scintigraphy where they put a dye in the dog's system so they can see exactly where the shunt is. That way, when they go in for surgery, they don't waste any time and go right in and repair the shunt.
If you have any questions, please ask.
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