Cody went into the vet today because he just hasn't picked up after his vaccines last week. She ran some blood tests on him and his liver levels were high. She didn't do a bile acid test or anything so she couldn't say for sure that he had a shunt, but is a very real possibility right now. He took a bad fall two days before the vaccines, so she said the trauma may have caused his levels to be higher so she sent us home with lactulose because he's been getting wobbly and disoriented, an antibiotic just to rule out infection, an anti-vomiting medication, and i/d canned food. We're also supposed to keep up on the nutrical (we thought he was hypoglycemic) On Friday she wants to do another blood test and a bile acid test to see if it is a shunt.
So, I have some questions- If it is a shunt, what then? Is it something that he will need medication for the rest of his life? Can it be managed with a special diet? (he won't touch the food the vet gave us) Do yorkies usually need surgery for a portosystemic shunt?
My parents are talking about putting him back up for rescue if it turns out to be a shunt- more so because if he's going to be high maintenance and sickly they're not ready to deal with that emotionally... We all felt sick when the vet was explaining all the medications and restrictions she was sending us home with and with talk of hospitalizing him for an IV and observation and possibly having to go in all day when he goes for his next vaccinations so they can give him a steroid first and then observe him for a reaction and hearing hims scream in the other room as they were injecting who knows what into him after drawing his blood...
We just can't bear to see him this way
We're shoving medications down his throat, he doesn't want to be by us, he's just sleeping and won't touch his food...
Any info you can give me on the liver shunt and its management would be very helpful to me right now. We have to be ready to make the decision about keeping him by Friday when we see if he's doing better or not...