[MyFairLacy]

Originally Posted by kalina82

i honestly have no idea about which ultrasound machine to use but i suspect my hospital has the best one LOL and that's what they used on morgan. She probably has MVD which can't be confirmed with an ultrasound. so the U/S is to check all her organs.

With morgan i first did a CBC/Chem, then a bile acid test. when i received her elevated results we did an ultrasound. Nothing crazy to report with the ultrasound so we left it at that since she isn't showing signs.

Morgan was eating Raw at the time of her first bile acid test. after the results i freaked for a little bit and decided to put her on a low protein diet because that's what one of the internal medicine docs said most people do. So i went out and bought Canidae Senior, which was the best i could find with low protein. after a week or two of this i rehashed what was going on. talked to the other internal med doctor, a holistic vet, and the owner of a holistic pet store. The 2nd internal med vet said i didn't have to change her diet since she was asymmtomatic so they low protein diet wasn't necessary right now. the holistic vet and the pet store owner said to put her back on raw.

the hoslic vet and the pet store owner said that raw was best because dogs are carnivores and digest simple meat proteins better then processed dog food. a lot of people here who have dogs with MVD say not to do this and have their dogs on special homemade diets or vegetarian diets. i personally don't believe that is the right diet.

Anyway, morgan is eatting NV raw, wellness core, and wellness small bred right now. She can basically eat whatever i want to feed her (besides Innova Evo because that is the only high protein food that makes her vomit)


YOU, need to do your own research, and not just on YT. Read as much as you can, and not just from dr centers or whoever it is that is recommended here. you go to a great school and i'm sure you can find lots of great information there about liver issues. form your own opinion on what is best for your dog. you know her best.

I also posted on a great Yahoo MVD/livershunt group that I had joined over a month ago just to learn....I'm just not 100% confident in the vet we're seeing so far as this issue goes I guess and so I wanted some advice from some of you who have gone through this with your dogs to see what you all have done. The vet I saw did mention someone at the vet school that was great with ultrasound so we may just do that next after a urinalysis. I just haven't had enough classes yet to know indepthly about liver diseases yet...and I do know that some info is great online and some not.

The diet thing is a difficult one. I will not put her on prescription diets....I would want to go to homecooked if we no longer could do the raw. On the Yahoo liver group they have a receipe from Dr. Dodd that is homecooked with cod fish as a protein source so I'd probably try that. I just want to do what's best for her to keep her healthy, as I want to with all my pets. Low protein diets are so opposite of what I feed now so it would be a big change....especially with figuring out treats because ever treat I have in my pantry is a grain-free, meat treat...

Originally Posted by Ellie May

I would keep the appt. and do the urinalysis.
I wouldn't be in a hurry to do an xray.
If you are doing to do a u/s anyway, xray just seems like a waste of money.

U/S is great to see the size of the liver, etc. and the other organs but don't expect them to find a shunt. You may get away with just doing a Protein C test.

Diet is so hard because opinions are so varied. I honestly don't care too much about what vets or nutritionists say about it because they aren't the ones who own the dogs and they aren't with them all the time. I do agree with the findings that vegetarian, fish or egg protein is best because there is an explanation for why this is. It is the toxins (most notably ammnonia) in meat that the liver has a hard time processing. Because liver compromised dogs are more prone to a compromised immune system, I would not do raw at all. At the same time I don't think a dog that is mostly asymptomatic needs to go on a 16% prescription diet kibble. I think there is a happy medium somewhere.

You may be able to stop the NV for a month, go to a lower protein food with a better protein source for liver issues then retest but because the pre was hgih, I wouldn't be too happy waiting that long. With her having a couple symptoms, I would consider not waiting and going ahead with testing or at least SAMe.

Were any drugs given within a week before the BAT?

the high pre value really confuses me....any info on that?? Especially since she was fasted almost 12 hours just doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

So what tests are you suggesting? Doing the urinalysis and then an ultrasound?

I know a liver biopsy is the only way to 100% diagnose MVD...but would you just jump to that or would you only do that with major symptoms?