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kbartolomei · 03-24-2005, 10:37 AM

Hi,

It sounds like you have a quirky, cute little yorkie and you are worrying about a few things that you shouldn't...the sleeping on the floor, not moving when you get up and taking a long time to wake up concern me a great deal, but some of the other stuff sounds completely normal and my Stormy does them all the time...but you are a great owner for being concerned and going to the vet to make sure her bile acid tests are normal...being proactive will ensure that you catch any problems before it is too late. I know that if you catch liver shunt in time it is fixable...the surgery is between $2,500 and $3,000...totally worth it, if you ask me! But, if you find that it is something you cannot afford, rather than putting your dog into a shelter or euthenizing her, post her for adoption on www.yorkierescue.com - they have a great liver shunt foundation that takes in dogs who's owners cannot afford the surgery, pays for the surgery, raises donations and finds them a wonderful home afterward.

The jerking/nightmare movements I think are totally normal (she is just dreaming, Stormy actually runs in his sleep and makes sucking sounds with his mouth! When he first did it 4 years ago, I woke him up because I was so concerned) If she is does this while she is awake, you should be concerned, but if you can wake her up from it easily, then she is probably having a great dream about running in the grass and chasing squeeky toys!

After she eats she runs across the couch, back and forth...Stormy and Teddy do this...mostly when I wash their feet after they go outside or if I give them a bath or if they drink water...even if I only wash their bums if poop gets stuck, they still slam their dry faces into the couch or bed pillows and run back and forth for a few minutes to dry off...it is a cleaning/drying off thing and totally normal. She is probably just trying to wipe/clean her mouth off, and having a great time doing it!

I don't want to discount her water guzzling or dark pee, because I am not an expert, but I am also an overly concerned yorkie parent, these are my children and I treat them as I would a human child. I have had 2 tiny, delicate, quirky yorkies with strange health issues and have spent thousands taking them to the vet for checkups and testing of bile acids, dental cleanings and teeth pullings, skin rashes, and many other things, and my experience has been that when my little guys eat things with more sodium, or have a milk bone or chew a greenie or play harder, they get more thirsty, they are distracted and forget to drink their water, and then all of a sudden when play time is over they realize they are so thirsty so they guzzle the water for a good minute. When they are not physically exerting themselves or when they are being finicky about eating, they tend to drink less...so they pee less, but their pee is more concentrated...also, when she had the accident on the rug it was probably because she was holding it for a while which made the pee more concentrated and therefore darker.

The throwing up/diarrhea - not good...yorkies have such delicate stomachs and digestive systems because they are so small. It is probably something in her diet that caused this...and it is very scary to have this happen to a little dog because they dehydrate quickly and their blood sugar can drop fast. 2 years ago, before I figured out a healthy dog food that Stormy would eat on a regular basis, I would feed him anything just to get him to eat (because he would go for days eating practically nothing...these dogs are so finicky and they know they get more attention if they don't eat because you try to coax them and they love it!) and at one point he threw up food and water, anything he put in his mouth for 3 days, I was so frightened, I brought him to the emergency room and they put him on a fluid IV overnight...that's all it took. He was so dehydrated that he was nauseous and everytime he drank it made him more nauseous - it spiraled downward quickly, but as soon as they put fluids back in he was back to normal. He has never thrown up since, and it has been 2 years.

Please see my other posting if you are interested in finding a food for your finicky little girl that is SO healthy and easy on her stomach, but also so tasty, so she will eat it will little or no coaxing...I spent 2 years trying every dog food on the market before I found this and Stormy has eaten it 2 times a day, every day, for 2 years now...he even jumps up and down and barks in excitement while I cut it up. Here is the link:
http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/sho...2&goto=newpost

One last thing...when your little Maddie goes in on April 5th, please make sure that your vet has a lot of experience with putting yorkies and small animals under anesthesia! Make sure also that they have a tiny dog respirator tent next to the table while they perform the surgery, because my Stormy went under anesthesia for the first time to be neutered he was fine, but the second time, when they had to remove 6 baby teeth that WOULD NOT come out, he stopped breathing, and though all of his tests were normal, this happened because they doctor who did his teeth was a different doctor than the one who performed the neutering and he was not used to working on small dogs so he gave him too much anesthesia all at once. Needless to say, I yelled at the doctor and never again did Stormy go under without the experienced doctor and a respirator present during the surgery. It cost more, but it was worth it. Even though Maddie is a dog, she is your child, she is under your care and you have every right to be assertive and ask as many questions as you want, get references, and get every detail about your vet and their experience before you chose to approve any medical attention for Maddie!

I hope my similar past experiences will help to ease your mind a bit before your doctor's appointments, and of course if and when her tests come back normal, you will be able to breath easy knowing that her behavior quirks are cute, not scary!

03-24-2005, 10:37 AM	#6
kbartolomei Yorkie Talker Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 18	Hi, It sounds like you have a quirky, cute little yorkie and you are worrying about a few things that you shouldn't...the sleeping on the floor, not moving when you get up and taking a long time to wake up concern me a great deal, but some of the other stuff sounds completely normal and my Stormy does them all the time...but you are a great owner for being concerned and going to the vet to make sure her bile acid tests are normal...being proactive will ensure that you catch any problems before it is too late. I know that if you catch liver shunt in time it is fixable...the surgery is between $2,500 and $3,000...totally worth it, if you ask me! But, if you find that it is something you cannot afford, rather than putting your dog into a shelter or euthenizing her, post her for adoption on www.yorkierescue.com - they have a great liver shunt foundation that takes in dogs who's owners cannot afford the surgery, pays for the surgery, raises donations and finds them a wonderful home afterward. The jerking/nightmare movements I think are totally normal (she is just dreaming, Stormy actually runs in his sleep and makes sucking sounds with his mouth! When he first did it 4 years ago, I woke him up because I was so concerned) If she is does this while she is awake, you should be concerned, but if you can wake her up from it easily, then she is probably having a great dream about running in the grass and chasing squeeky toys! After she eats she runs across the couch, back and forth...Stormy and Teddy do this...mostly when I wash their feet after they go outside or if I give them a bath or if they drink water...even if I only wash their bums if poop gets stuck, they still slam their dry faces into the couch or bed pillows and run back and forth for a few minutes to dry off...it is a cleaning/drying off thing and totally normal. She is probably just trying to wipe/clean her mouth off, and having a great time doing it! I don't want to discount her water guzzling or dark pee, because I am not an expert, but I am also an overly concerned yorkie parent, these are my children and I treat them as I would a human child. I have had 2 tiny, delicate, quirky yorkies with strange health issues and have spent thousands taking them to the vet for checkups and testing of bile acids, dental cleanings and teeth pullings, skin rashes, and many other things, and my experience has been that when my little guys eat things with more sodium, or have a milk bone or chew a greenie or play harder, they get more thirsty, they are distracted and forget to drink their water, and then all of a sudden when play time is over they realize they are so thirsty so they guzzle the water for a good minute. When they are not physically exerting themselves or when they are being finicky about eating, they tend to drink less...so they pee less, but their pee is more concentrated...also, when she had the accident on the rug it was probably because she was holding it for a while which made the pee more concentrated and therefore darker. The throwing up/diarrhea - not good...yorkies have such delicate stomachs and digestive systems because they are so small. It is probably something in her diet that caused this...and it is very scary to have this happen to a little dog because they dehydrate quickly and their blood sugar can drop fast. 2 years ago, before I figured out a healthy dog food that Stormy would eat on a regular basis, I would feed him anything just to get him to eat (because he would go for days eating practically nothing...these dogs are so finicky and they know they get more attention if they don't eat because you try to coax them and they love it!) and at one point he threw up food and water, anything he put in his mouth for 3 days, I was so frightened, I brought him to the emergency room and they put him on a fluid IV overnight...that's all it took. He was so dehydrated that he was nauseous and everytime he drank it made him more nauseous - it spiraled downward quickly, but as soon as they put fluids back in he was back to normal. He has never thrown up since, and it has been 2 years. Please see my other posting if you are interested in finding a food for your finicky little girl that is SO healthy and easy on her stomach, but also so tasty, so she will eat it will little or no coaxing...I spent 2 years trying every dog food on the market before I found this and Stormy has eaten it 2 times a day, every day, for 2 years now...he even jumps up and down and barks in excitement while I cut it up. Here is the link: http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/sho...2&goto=newpost One last thing...when your little Maddie goes in on April 5th, please make sure that your vet has a lot of experience with putting yorkies and small animals under anesthesia! Make sure also that they have a tiny dog respirator tent next to the table while they perform the surgery, because my Stormy went under anesthesia for the first time to be neutered he was fine, but the second time, when they had to remove 6 baby teeth that WOULD NOT come out, he stopped breathing, and though all of his tests were normal, this happened because they doctor who did his teeth was a different doctor than the one who performed the neutering and he was not used to working on small dogs so he gave him too much anesthesia all at once. Needless to say, I yelled at the doctor and never again did Stormy go under without the experienced doctor and a respirator present during the surgery. It cost more, but it was worth it. Even though Maddie is a dog, she is your child, she is under your care and you have every right to be assertive and ask as many questions as you want, get references, and get every detail about your vet and their experience before you chose to approve any medical attention for Maddie! I hope my similar past experiences will help to ease your mind a bit before your doctor's appointments, and of course if and when her tests come back normal, you will be able to breath easy knowing that her behavior quirks are cute, not scary!