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LittleLily · 01-15-2011, 05:09 PM

Hi Everyone,

Looking for assistance with my situation with our precious Lily. A few months ago Lily started having blood in her urine, our Vet thought it was a UTI and treated her twice with antibiotics however it kept returning and we found a connection between giving her chicken or meat mixed in with her dog food and this bleeding. Last week our vet decided to do an ultrasound to look at her kidneys and discovered they were both filled with stones. She could not determine what type of stones. An x-ray was done showing nothing. A urine test was done and it did not show any crystals. She then decided to a Bile Acid Test and we were alarmed today to find out the results. Her pre was 166and post was 209. Way off the charts. I was told this was indicative of a possible liver shunt. Lily is 4 and other than the bleeding in the urine, no other obvious signs, other than occassionally staring into space. She eats well and has quite a bit of energy.
My vet said that there office does not handle any further tests to determine the extent and a specialist needs to be involved but could not really provide me with anyone in particular in our area, other than Tufts In Boston, which I do not see alot about on here. I have read that the best places are Cornell and Univ Of Tenn but that would be very difficult for us to do. Has anyone heard anything about Tufts recently.
The type of shunt needs to be determined and whether or not another ultrasound is the way to go or a scintigraph.
It is all so overwhelming and we are devasted by this news.
Thank you for any help.

01-15-2011, 05:09 PM	#1
LittleLily Yorkie Yakker Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: maine Posts: 45	High BAT, Kidney Stones, Liver Shunt Hi Everyone, Looking for assistance with my situation with our precious Lily. A few months ago Lily started having blood in her urine, our Vet thought it was a UTI and treated her twice with antibiotics however it kept returning and we found a connection between giving her chicken or meat mixed in with her dog food and this bleeding. Last week our vet decided to do an ultrasound to look at her kidneys and discovered they were both filled with stones. She could not determine what type of stones. An x-ray was done showing nothing. A urine test was done and it did not show any crystals. She then decided to a Bile Acid Test and we were alarmed today to find out the results. Her pre was 166and post was 209. Way off the charts. I was told this was indicative of a possible liver shunt. Lily is 4 and other than the bleeding in the urine, no other obvious signs, other than occassionally staring into space. She eats well and has quite a bit of energy. My vet said that there office does not handle any further tests to determine the extent and a specialist needs to be involved but could not really provide me with anyone in particular in our area, other than Tufts In Boston, which I do not see alot about on here. I have read that the best places are Cornell and Univ Of Tenn but that would be very difficult for us to do. Has anyone heard anything about Tufts recently. The type of shunt needs to be determined and whether or not another ultrasound is the way to go or a scintigraph. It is all so overwhelming and we are devasted by this news. Thank you for any help.