YorkieTalk.com Forums - Yorkshire Terrier Community - View Single Post

newyorkiepup · 08-03-2008, 05:49 PM

Cruiser is not doing well at all. I'll start from the beginning. I haven't posted a lot on here but as you may recall, we got Cruiser on June 5. He was my 30th birthday present. The next day we took him to the vet and he had 3 vaccines (distemper, bordatella, and lyme) and later that afternoon he started throwing up. It was after hours so we had to take him to the emergency vet. They said he had low blood sugar and put him on an iv for 4 hours. After that our vet gave one vaccine at a time and premedicated with benedryl. He also got neutered. He had no further problems. He has not gained much weight though and doesen't have much of an appetite. He's a very picky eater. He had been eating better the last couple of weeks. He did throw up a few times over the last few weeks but the vet said not to worry about that because puppies get into stuff and throw up sometimes.

Now to the most recent stuff... This weekend we went to my parents for a family reunion in Iowa. Saturday morning he was doing great. Running around, giving people kisses, etc. We had to shuck sweet corn for the family reunion and he was outside with us. He started nibbling on some corn and nobody seemed to think that was a problem so I didn't really either. A few hours later, he threw up multiple times. It had corn in it. Then he was just throwing up water. I called a vet and spoke with him and they said to make sure he wasn't hypoglycemic and keep karo syrup on his gums because he wouldn't eat anything. He just didn't snap out of it and got worse. I couldn't find an emergency vet around to help so we drove 3 hours back in the middle of the night and went directly to the University of Minnesota vet hospital. He is slightly anemic and has low urea. That along with his lack of weight gain and his lean appearance and poor appetite leads the vet to believe he may have a liver shunt. They gave him a subcutaneous fluid and sent him home. We are taking him tomorrow morning to our regular vet for full blood tests.

He has not been good today at all. He has not eaten much. I did get the vet to prescribe some a/d and he ate a little of that and some nutrical. That's it. He's very lethargic, has a hard time walking, and has had some seizures tonight.

I have spoken with the breeder. She says she knows the mom's blood line and she does not have any liver shunts in her background. She says the dad has been tested and doesn't have one either but she's not 100% sure about his background. I've read up on liver shunts today and I suspect the emergency vet is right. It seems that the surgery is quite successful and that most dogs live a totally normal life afterwards. But the emergency vet also told me that the surgery will be thousands of dollars. I just don't know what to do if he does have this. I Love him more than anything! I want to do everything to help him. But my husband was already mad that we went to the emergency vet again last night. This puppy has cost us a TON of money in vet bills and I'm sure he won't want to incur more. I am exhausted physically from about 4 hours of sleep in the last 36 hours and emotionally from crying thinking about losing my little man. I can't believe this is happening. I have wanted a dog my whole life and I couldn't love him more and now this happened. All I wanted was a healthy puppy and now we have all these problems. I thought I would have this dog at least 15 years and we 've only had him 2 months!

Anyway, I'm just sharing my concerns and hoping for reassurances and prayers for the best. Thanks for listening.

08-03-2008, 05:49 PM	#1
newyorkiepup Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: May 2008 Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA Posts: 77	Say a prayer for my little man Cruiser is not doing well at all. I'll start from the beginning. I haven't posted a lot on here but as you may recall, we got Cruiser on June 5. He was my 30th birthday present. The next day we took him to the vet and he had 3 vaccines (distemper, bordatella, and lyme) and later that afternoon he started throwing up. It was after hours so we had to take him to the emergency vet. They said he had low blood sugar and put him on an iv for 4 hours. After that our vet gave one vaccine at a time and premedicated with benedryl. He also got neutered. He had no further problems. He has not gained much weight though and doesen't have much of an appetite. He's a very picky eater. He had been eating better the last couple of weeks. He did throw up a few times over the last few weeks but the vet said not to worry about that because puppies get into stuff and throw up sometimes. Now to the most recent stuff... This weekend we went to my parents for a family reunion in Iowa. Saturday morning he was doing great. Running around, giving people kisses, etc. We had to shuck sweet corn for the family reunion and he was outside with us. He started nibbling on some corn and nobody seemed to think that was a problem so I didn't really either. A few hours later, he threw up multiple times. It had corn in it. Then he was just throwing up water. I called a vet and spoke with him and they said to make sure he wasn't hypoglycemic and keep karo syrup on his gums because he wouldn't eat anything. He just didn't snap out of it and got worse. I couldn't find an emergency vet around to help so we drove 3 hours back in the middle of the night and went directly to the University of Minnesota vet hospital. He is slightly anemic and has low urea. That along with his lack of weight gain and his lean appearance and poor appetite leads the vet to believe he may have a liver shunt. They gave him a subcutaneous fluid and sent him home. We are taking him tomorrow morning to our regular vet for full blood tests. He has not been good today at all. He has not eaten much. I did get the vet to prescribe some a/d and he ate a little of that and some nutrical. That's it. He's very lethargic, has a hard time walking, and has had some seizures tonight. I have spoken with the breeder. She says she knows the mom's blood line and she does not have any liver shunts in her background. She says the dad has been tested and doesn't have one either but she's not 100% sure about his background. I've read up on liver shunts today and I suspect the emergency vet is right. It seems that the surgery is quite successful and that most dogs live a totally normal life afterwards. But the emergency vet also told me that the surgery will be thousands of dollars. I just don't know what to do if he does have this. I Love him more than anything! I want to do everything to help him. But my husband was already mad that we went to the emergency vet again last night. This puppy has cost us a TON of money in vet bills and I'm sure he won't want to incur more. I am exhausted physically from about 4 hours of sleep in the last 36 hours and emotionally from crying thinking about losing my little man. I can't believe this is happening. I have wanted a dog my whole life and I couldn't love him more and now this happened. All I wanted was a healthy puppy and now we have all these problems. I thought I would have this dog at least 15 years and we 've only had him 2 months! Anyway, I'm just sharing my concerns and hoping for reassurances and prayers for the best. Thanks for listening.