[MyFairLacy]

Originally Posted by DAB

Oh dear!

I have been dealing with this same issue since the holidays. My yorkie girl will be two in March. She became sick with vomiting bile and loose bloody stools. Long story short, she was tested and her bile acid count was off the charts----576 the first time. She has had the test repeated 6 times including before and after eating. From one lab, the tests are very high. However, I took my girl to Tufts University for an ultrasound and more blood work. The ultrasound showed no evidence of a liver shunt. The blood work was normal. Follow up blood work by my vet was again in the 5 hundreds!

My yorkie has not shown any symptoms since being put on metronidazole. She is peppy, runs, plays, and eats well. We return to Tufts on Wednesday, 2/18th. She will have another blood test done as the doctor there can't believe the high number my vet's lab ( IDEXX) is getting. We are also thinking about the scintigraphy test but the doctor at Tufts is not too keen on having her "radiated." Right now, she weighs about 5 lbs and he thinks the test might be too much for her. She would have to remain in the hospital for 3 days to be certain all the radiation was flushed out of system. Hopefully, the blood test at Tufts will prove to be normal. He does not think she has a shunt! This whole ordeal is very worrisome.

Should your puppy need sedation as mine did for the ultrasound, beware! Sedation does not allow the eyes to blink. A lubricant was applied to the eyes but somehow my poor baby developed an eye ulcer. It took about month to clear and I had to be vigilant with the antibiotic eye drops and another eye medication. I would caution the doctor to be certain your baby's eyes are completely closed.

Good luck. Your little puppy will be in my prayers. I will keep you posted about my girl's blood test results.

DAB

Wow..I don't think I've ever heard of bile acid results being that high! I'm so sorry...I know that has to really be worrying you. But the bile acid test the university did came back within normal range?? We did a blood ammonia test at Texas A&M too (Lacy's came back normal) but blood ammonia will be high with a shunt. So far as ultrasound, it's only as accurate as the person doing it, and sometimes shunts can be missed. I was confident in the ability of the person doing Lacy's as she is very good with ultrasound, and with her bile acids not being higher and normal bloodpanel and blood ammonia, it made sense that she didn't have a shunt. I think I'd probably consider a scintigraphy if bile acids were as high as your baby's...it's very accurate in finding a shunt.