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Originally Posted by yipyap  Dear FerretGirl-- I forgot to ask you this, but are both of your girls from the same breeder? I just wondered if the girls had problems due to inherited genetic backgrounds. Just a question, because I was not sure when and where you got your two girls. If they are from related backgrounds, it could explain things if the girls inherited similar genetic issues.
P.S.--I was interested to read that Another Owner in this set of answers said that their dog began to have issues with "vomiting" when the dog got to 3-4 years of age. Our Taffy has started doing this too, every once in a while. He was 3 yrs old this past July. About once or twice a week, usually in the mornings, Taffy will suddenly begin to gag and then spits up a small amount of yellowish bile. I had thought perhaps it was happening because his stomach may have gotten empty overnight and by 9:00 a.m. maybe the acid in his stomach was acting like "acid reflux" does with humans, and coming up into his throat-?
He seems fine once he spits out this little bit of stomach acid or bile. He goes trotting off like nothing else bothers him. I make him drink a bit of water after these little incidents, thinking it will make his throat feel better. He shows no signs of diarrehea or any body weakness. Some days he will eat two 1/2 cup meals, and on other days, he may only eat one meal very late. Will ask his vet (when he has his check-up for his heartworm bloodwork done & gets his Heartguard medicine) if there is any reason for his vomiting once or maybe twice a week. Hope there is nothing serious causing this to hapoen to him.
We just thought at first he was perhaps getting some "fuzz" off a toy that would get into his mouth or his throat and cause him to cough--which Has hapoened from his wet ball pickjng-up lint and "fuzz". Now, I am wondering if he has something that is causing this excess bile which makes him have to spit it up. -- Does anyone else notice this issue with their Yorkie? -- Sue & Taffy |
Tibbe began with the same type symptoms, not eating until late in the evening, not acting himself, clingy, some reverse sneezing, spitting up some days 2 or 3 times a day and sleeping all day with little playfulness unless I baited him to play. He had days where his usual friskiness was just gone. He scratched/rubbed his head on furniture from time to time and when I put it all together, it sounded like liver shunt or MVD, thanks to reading alot about it on YT and all the wonderful YT members' input. Trouble was, all his liver studies were normal.
Ellie May, a member here on YT who is in veterinary studies, suggested that even with normal liver studies, he could still have a liver problem with the symptoms he kept having and suggested a Bile Acids test. Neither of his vets had ever suspected he could have a liver problem but YT members who'd been there before did. We did the BAT and his Bile Acids were high so a nuclear scintigraphy/abdominal sonogram were done and ruled out liver shunt with MVD the likely condition that it was suggested Tibbe had - an inherited liver dysfunction making his liver unable to clean proteins from his blood normally.
MVD is only diagnosed with a liver biopsy but the radiologists or vets didn't think he should have to go through a surgical procedure when his condition was relatively mild. Once he went on his special diet, he returned to normal. He's back being frisky, not sleeping all the time, eating breakfast and dinner and no more regular spitting up. Having a compromised liver, he does still have tummy upsets when he gets into something he shouldn't outside or just because but they are rare and he's no longer head-rubbing, lethargic, anorexic some days or having all those symptoms he had before the diet change.
So even if the routine liver blood tests are normal but your dog is still regularly spitting up and not eating normally some days(perhaps due to nausea), I would demand my vet perform a BAT on my dog to see how his bile acids are handling the food he eats. If it's WNL, then you probably don't have anything to worry about, but if they are high, you'll need to consider maybe those spit ups and lack of appetite some days are due to nausea from an inherited liver condition. In Tibbe's case with his MVD, only a low protein diet was necessary to change his life and make him feel good again with only the occasional bad day that I treat with nausea medication.