I dont test for liver shunt unless something is in question with the puppy. But for those who do, I think its a wonderful commendable practice without a doubt!
The puppies who have been tested have never had it. I wouldnt even bother with a blood chemistry if your just testing to be safe and they arent having problems. Go right with a liver function test. Blood chemistry has gave me false readings more then once.
I had a tiny lil guy die at 8 weeks. He died before a bile acid test was performed but he had a complete blood work up and it all pointed to liver shunt. The vet pretty much told me he had it. I thought so too. He had an autopsy and no external shunt was found, his whole liver, heart and lungs were sent to Purdue university for studies. They could find nothing wrong with any of the tissues and they gave a report of No Liver Shunting without question. He died of some bacterial or viral infection that I have no clue what it was. His brother and sister were just fine. No fecal exam was performed. Ive been told maybe hookworms, coccidosis, parvo?? All those possiblilities baffle me, since I take care to worm, vaccines up to date and no other puppy had coccidiosis at well checks. Ill never know. |