[107barney]

Hi and welcome to YT. As you've already heard, you're in good company as many of us have an MVD dog.

My Daisy was diagnosed as probable MVD at age 6. Her numbers for her ALT as well as her bile acids were bad. Her postprandial number was 106. She was right at the cusp of MVD vs. liver shunt. Given her age, we opted to try medical management first before putting her through a biopsy or exploratory surgery. Although there is a possibility that shunts are not detected on ultrasound, we went for it anyway since an expert in imaging would be conducting it as opposed to our general vet. In our case, the ultrasound revealed some anatomical features that supported an MVD diagnosis.

To make a long story short, Daisy is going to turn 10 years old this year. She is in the best health of her life, thanks to Dr. Remillard at the MSPCA Angell Memorial Hospital in Boston who formulated a home cooked diet for her that greatly improved the quality of her life. Her liver enzymes and her bile acids are within NORMAL ranges.

We currently only do the home cooked diet using vegetarian sources of protein and carbohydrates and her fats consist of therapeutic dosing of omega-3 fish oils. We plan to add milk thistle back to her regimen but we have to do a follow up with her internist first before we just put her back on.

Dogs with MVD can do fine on chicken, but some cant. If you want to home cook, your best bet is to contact a vet nutritionist for a program tailored to your dog. We love Dr. Remillard so recommend her, but there are others out there too. Our dog Daisy never did good on meat - she also has irritable bowel issues and severe allergies (those issues have resolved on the diet too).

To sum it up, MVD is not a death sentence. Your dog needs to be managed but many of us do it every day with success. Daisy is a miracle dog and she is very active. She runs around the yard, she plays ball for hours, she plays at puppy class when Teddy goes, and all the things dogs do. You'd never know she was sick.

Good luck!