[christiers]

I typically do not post, but felt compelled to share a few different experiences here today.

This story is a little long-worded, my apologies.

January of 2009, my husband and I was informed that our 10 year old yorkie was terminal with abdominal cancer and there was nothing that could be done to save her. Any surgery performed would only be to stop the internal bleeding when it undoubtly resumed after the fluids has wore off and she was no longer stable. I had been mourning a previous loss of my first yorkie, she passed in July of 2005. Weeks before learning of Sassy's fate, we had finally decided it was time to add a new addition. After humanely ending Sassy's pain Tuesday evening, we went ahead and got a new puppy that week (we have a shih tzu mix that had never been alone).

Coco, a lively little yorkie who annoyed Belle to no end, joined us that Friday. I fell in love with another tiny little yorkie that wasn't quite ready for her forever home and placed a deposit on her as well. We picked up Martini exactly 4 weeks later. There were nights that I sat here wondering why I got 2 puppies so close together. The house-training, the crying at night...but then the kisses, the romping and playing, the snuggling up in my lap to sleep....who cared about a little accident here and there, and the crying at night ended when I put them in our bed.

Little did we know that Martini would only be in our forever home barely 4 months. One night she ate a mushroom outside, because she had an underlying liver shunt....her little body couldn't process the toxins and within 6 hours she was gone. The emergency vet suggested a necropsy, which of course and the shunt was discovered. The NJ broker (who got his puppies from a PA puppy mill, after-the-fact knowledge) blamed me. The vet said mushrooms would typically cause GI issues, even hospitalization in tiny dogs...but around here they weren't fatal.

The next week, I had Coco's bile acids tested. Abnormal, a low abnormal....but abnormal all the same. Began denamarin, and retested in 3 months, no change...had fluctuated 3 points. Continued denamarin and rechecked in 6 months....triple the orginal. Took copies of my labworks and went to University of Penn in Philadelphia. They performed a complete work-up on Coco but didn't retest her BA. Everything else was normal, urine, annomia levels, cholesterol, everything.

The doctor there told me that sometimes a number is just a number is just a number. She advised me that Coco could resume a regular diet and didn't need any meds. SO NOW WHO DO I BELIEVE? Sure she was asymptomatic, but hello....3 abnormal BAs? And a number is just a number is just a number? Who says that to a neurotic, crying pet parent? I phoned my husband before I left the parking lot.....if she had a liver shunt, I was going to the University of Tennessee! (And I am an Alabama Crimson Tide fan! but UT is the best when it comes to liver shunt surgery and that is what I want for my girls, the best). The doctor at U Penn said we could do an ultra-sound but they wanted to keep her overnight, I couldn't leave her there, I didn't know those people. Besides, I knew from everything I had read since June 2009....ultrasounds aren't the most reliable. If she had to go under anesthesia, then go the extra step and do the liver biopsy.

Yes I realize that is extremely much more invasive, but also much more definite as far as answers....why subject them to test after test after test? We had an appointment to have 3 remaining puppy teeth pulled (we had been putting it off because of the BA results and her going under anesthesia again), so my regular vet and I discussed it and came to the conclusion to do the biopsy.

So Saturday I received the call......Coco has microvascular dyplasia. I have so many questions, will it shorten her life? Is it just the denamarin and special diet she stays on? At least with a liver shunt, it can be fixed if you know it is there to fix....but from what I have been reading, this is life long and no cure. It is just managable?

Since all of this began with losing Martini, we have gotten another yorkie...Pickles. Her BA is normal.

Any knowledge to share regarding MVD is greatly appreciated.