Our dog, Lacy, was diagnosed when she was a little older than two, which is still much older than almost all dogs that are diagnosed as young puppies. She had absolutely zero symptoms other than the occasional vomiting, which we were told was caused by acid reflux, and we thought she was completely normal. One day she had some severe diarrhea for whatever reason, and it was fate that the vet on staff that day decided to do an ALT enzyme blood panel. It was also fate that when we came back to get the results, Lacy's vet happened to be the one there with the most experience with liver shunts and walked into the room going "Of course it's a liver shunt! She's a yorkie!" She then sent us on our way to a specialist in Virginia, where they did an ultrasound, where the vet told us there was probably an extrahepatic shunt, but her liver was so small it was hard to see. She advised us to skip the surgery because of Lacy's size and the fact that she seemed outwardly completely fine.
For a bit longer than a year, we waited it out on Denosyl and a homemade vegetable protein diet, and Lacy stayed her same healthy self (with her bile acid values still sky-high). Eventually, we ended up with a very kind new vet who just glanced over her file and asked us why we hadn't considered surgery. We looked back into it and knew the only place to go if we were even thinking about it was Tennessee.
We made an appointment at the front desk for about two months from then, at the end of July. We didn't ask for Dr. Tobias specifically, and ended up with Dr. Bohling, an equally skilled senior surgical member of their staff. We drove a whole day down the Tennessee from Maryland with Lacy in the back seat, and checked into a cute little bed and breakfast in Knoxville. Lacy's surgery went great, they found a single extrahepatic shunt as they were expecting, stitched her right up, and she was up and running around again in a week. Now, almost three months later, her bile acids are 100% normal, Lacy's doing great, and they told us she'll live a full, healthy lifespan!
If you think surgery is the right option, don't go anywhere but to Dr. Tobias's team in Knoxville. They have the highest success rate in the entire world, and their staff are fantastic. If you have any more questions about our experience, please feel free to PM me! |