[yorkielovs2chat]

I agree with the homecooking. We have had no signs except bladder stones and when we visited cornell, they said that blood flow through his liver was almost normal. My dog has multiple external shunts. We found them during bladder stone surgery. It may have started as one shunt and branched off or there could be a problem with the portal vein or many other reasons Dr. Center herself suggested. I wish I had bile acid tested him right when I got him but because I went to a show breeder, I didn't think I needed to.

We homecook using a diet made for us by cornell: cottage cheese or egg, vegetables, and supplements. Except for bladder, he is doing great. No pickiness whatsoever.

Originally Posted by iwannalollipop2

Well, if you're asking me, like I said Lacy has no symptoms whatsoever.

For people struggling with finding diets for liver-compromised yorkies, I would recommend wholeheartedly making your dog's food yourself. Actually, I would recommend that for any dog of any breed. I'm not being an organic freak or anything, and I don't think that much about the processed food that I eat. But have you ever really thought about dog food--really? It didn't even exist until the 1960s or 1970s in heavily manufactured form. It's made for profits, not health. Even the better brands are made with fillers like ground up chicken by-products and corn. I loveeeee "Dog and Cat Diets" by Donald R. Strombeck, DVM, PhD. We took it out to show the veterinary internist and she got all excited, "Ohhh we love that book--we have photocopies for every patient for diet management!" He includes regular diets for healthy dogs, along with a selection of special diets for hepatic disorders, renal disorders, weight management, heart diseasew, all kinds of stuff. And it's all really wholesome and easy to make: usually some form of protein (beef, chicken, or tofu or eggs for shunt dogs), carbs (white rice, cooked potatoes, pasta), vitamins, etc.

What we do is make a big batch of a recipe and freeze it into little yorkie-sized muffin tins, then take one or two out and thaw them in the microwave for every meal (which are 4 times a day now).

Here's one of the hepatic disorder diets that we give Lacy all the time:
"Cottage cheese, tofu, and rice diet (moderate sodium):
1/2 cup cottage cheese, 1 percent fat
1/3 cup tofu, raw firm
1 1/2 cups rice, long-grain white, cooked
1 tablespoon chicken fat
1/4 teaspoon salt substitute (KCl)
3 bonemeal tablets (10-grain or equivalent)
1 multiple vitamin tablet
Provides 651 calories, 36.9 grams protein, 21.8 grams fat, .28% sodium. Two to 3 ounces or ore can be added to increase bowel movement frequency." Once you get the tricky-to-find ingredients in large quantities, it's really easy to just make up a batch and freeze it to feed your dog for a week or two. No chemicals, no preservatives, and quality sources of protein and carbohydrates for shunt dogs.