[CrosbyLove]

I own a six month, 3.8lb male. At 10 weeks old, the breeder performed a Bile Acid Test (BAT) and everything came back normal. Pre- was 1.9 where recommended is under 13 and Post- was 20.2 where recommended is under 25. He is a happy puppy and shows no clinical symptoms. He eats Royal Canin Yorkshire Puppy food and it is available all day at his leisure. This week, I took him into the vet to perform his neutering, teeth pulling and microchip.

During the pre-op bloodwork they found that his ALT records were high (196 and recommended is below 140) and recommended to do a BAT which also came back high. Pre- was 16 where recommended is below 6.9 and Post- was 38.7 where recommended is below 14.9. I'm not sure why the recommended ranges is different than the first test he received from the breeder's vet.

An abdominal ultrasound today showed that there were no obvious extrahepatic shunts, which the vet said could mean that he has MVD. The vet recommends doing a liver biopsy during his neutering this week to prove the diagnosis since he will already be under anesthesia. Thus far, she has not recommended any dietary changes because is not clinically showing signs and is still a growing puppy.

Question: Should I take him to a specialist instead of a general vet? Colorado State University is a possibility. Also, should I also consider a stintigrophy instead of the liver biopsy? This sounds more conclusive of a test and both require anesthesia. I feel like I only have one shot at anesthesia (hopefully he doesn't have to go through more). Since he isn't clinically showing any signs, it seems silly to do more but I'd like to know so I can monitor his diet/meds/etc. accordingly and be confident of how to keep him healthy.

Thanks so much for your advice!!

Mallory & Crosby