Kim,
I'm sorry to hear that she is sick. This may help you a great deal. I have no experience with it, but I've read most of the articles on this site, because they seem to be very good. Good luck. Don't give up yet. It may not be as bad as you are thinking.
The symptoms of portacaval liver shunt can start to appear at almost any age. Dogs with a liver shunt are usually very thin dogs who pick at food. They not only have a poor appetite but they can become lethargic, dizzy, and stagger. They may try to climb out of their pen, climb higher on you and cry and throw their head far back after eating, and they may go into convulsions.
This is not a new disease but one which is coming to the attention of all Yorkshire Terrier breeders and other toy breeders in the 80's and 90's and many breeders feel that it is an inherited disease and that the only way to eliminate that disease is to cull those dogs who are affected and producing this disease from their breeding program.
This disease usually goes hand in hand with a kidney disorder and it seems that a special diet can sometimes keep it under control with some dogs for a time. Surgery sometimes works depending on where the "shunt" is. What happens is that the blood by-passes the liver and goes directly to the heart and therefore the liver shrivels up, becomes filled with infection and the dog convulses.
These dogs so affected are unable to cope with barbiturates. We accidentally found this out in '86 when I dosed my dogs with Ace Promazine for travel sickness and one "sickly" girl puppy slept as though she died. She did come around the next day. Later we associated this with her condition when she convulsed and died at 12 weeks. An autopsy revealed an infected and shriveled up liver, the result of a liver shunt.
The Yorkshire Terrier Foundation is in the process of trying to clinically prove that this is an inherited disease, but I have proven to myself that it is because of my own test breeding and eliminating those dogs involved which thereby ended my problems now for many years.
There's always the possibility that this is the first time it happened to a breeder. Hey, there was a first time for me too!! It's not SHAME ON YOU for having the problem, but it is SHAME ON YOU if you, as a breeder, don't take steps to see that it doesn't happen again.
If your dog shows any of these symptoms, the blood tests alone and the bile acid tests are INCONCLUSIVE. If the dog dies, have your veterinarian do a simple autopsy to examine the liver.
Do not just put the dog to sleep because the blood test has an elevated white count and the veterinarian THINKS it may be the liver disease. Unless the dog is extremely debilitated, it may not be the liver disease and you will have put him/her down for no reason.
There are various specialists who *know* how to recognize the disease so that you are certain that you are getting an accurate prognosis. We will add more connections for information on liver shunt as it becomes available.
In the Dallas Ft Worth, Texas area:
Dallas Veterinary Surgical Center. Dr. Robert D. Barstad
Phone: 972-235-2096
Fax: 972-680-0859
He is one of only two in the state of Texas that does this surgery and is reported to have a 95% success rate.
Cornell University - Ithaca, New York
Phone: 607-255-2000
Dr. Susan Center at Cornell has been quite helpful with liver shunt pups. She has at times done surgery free and spayed/neutered, and rehoused donated pups. Her email address is
sac6@cornell.edu. She is quite knowledgeable, has kept some in her home, and is currently studying diet along with surgical repairs.
http://www.shooterdog.com/alexfaq3.htm#LS