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Originally Posted by Princessgrace  Hi everybody! Just thought I'd chime in here. It's been quite a long time since I posted last. I know from experience about the University of Tennessee. I took my little girl Grace down there when she was about 3-4 months old. Grace had what my vet and Dr Tobias at UT thought was a shunt, but when Dr Tobias opened her up, she was surprised that Grace had no portal vein. Her shunt was her lifeline! Dr Tobias described the portal system like a tree and she said that Grace's looked like it was just snapped off. She said that she only sees that in 1-2% of the dogs that she does surgery on. Dr Tobias spayed her and sewed her back up. She gave her 1 to 5 years to live.
I was devastated. I was by myself and Grace wanted to be held all the way home (5.5 hours). She came home on Science Diet L/D and lactalose. There was also another drug that I can't remember the name of (Marin?). Anyway, she didn't do well on that drug, so she just gets lactalose and Sciene Diet L/D. Grace loves apples and pears and handles those well. She likes dry cereal (plain Cheerios). Every night before bed, she gets Activia Plain Yogurt which she LOVES. We are very careful that she gets nothing that is over 18% protein. Grace has had no repeat episodes since the day she was first diagnosed by my local vet. She will be two years old in January and is a very active, loving little girl. She weighs 6 pounds and my vet just scratches her head. I will send Dr Tobias an e-mail on Grace's birthday and thank her again for everything. Dr Tobias is great to help my vet when she has questions.
University of Tennessee is the best place to go for this type surgery. The surgery is only about $1400-$1500. Grace didn't have the ultrasound before her surgery because it was down. I don't know what the charge for that is. If I can offer any information to anyone, I will be happy to do so.
I wouldn't trade Grace for a million dollars! She is a joy and we are blessed to have her. I learned a valuable lesson and will only buy from a breeder that offers a health guarantee in the future. We paid $550 for Grace, 1700.00 in Tennessee for surgery and my expenses for 4 days plus all the vet bills Grace had before she was diagnosed. Oh, but look at this little face and tell me that it wasn't worth every penny!
Debbie |
Your Grace is beautiful. I hope you have many, many years with her!