[Ellie May]

To each their own.
I don't think there is a right or wrong answer for all owners.

I do know that Ellie had a couple weird things going on, but nothing close to neuro issues and nothing to indicate to her vet that there was a problem. Her enzymes were normal. There was just no reason to run a BAT. After talking to somebody here, I thought what the heck - that UTI that wouldn't clear up quite right and the lepto reaction could mean something. Not exactly symptoms that a vet would run to BAT for... My vet actually said we can do it if you want, but I don't expect a problem. There was in fact a problem and I'm very happy that we did test. Now we know that there are certain drugs that should be avoided to keep her safe.

There can be a problem while the dog has normal liver enzymes.
LS and MVD dogs can be asymptomatic.
And certain drugs can put the pup at significant risk.

I can definitely understand why some think this isn't a good way to spend money. Just from my experience, I think differently. Anesthesia is relatively safe, it is not perfectly safe and sick livers don't like it much... I hope nobody would skimp on routine care, problems that come up, etc. to do this test. It definitely is way down on the list of things to do. All I'm saying is that if I had a normally appearing Yorkie and some money to spend, I would choose to do it.

Yorkies are more likely to get these problems. Just as boxers are more likely to have heart problems.. If I had a boxer with a normal heart on auscultation, I think I'd still want a little bit more done to clear the dog, esp. before anesthesia. And because the BAT is just a blood draw, I don't think pups are at a major risk getting it done. JMHO.