I have had two liver shunt yorkies. One during the early 80's and one a few years back.
The first one lived 14 years and never diganosed because no one knew much about it....other than she had periodic seizures...from the amonium buildup and a "small liver" on x ray.
The other one is inoperable and you would never know she had liver shunt. It is about 30 percent. She is fed a low protein food. Her quality of life is good and just going to take care of this girl as long as she is here.
What happens in these dogs is that the liver is shunting blood away from the liver and the blood never is "cleansed" of toxins and they build up causing seizures.
I think it is possible that there are many Yorkies who never show true symptoms of liver shunt maybe until later in life and why it is important to test, and never breed one until it is tested for LS. It is thought to be genetic in origin and it is one of those things.....just the way genes line up when the egg is fertilized. Just happens. The reason I say that is research has told us that you can breed two LS dogs and not have a LS dog. It is supposedly polygenic. All breeds of dogs have their problems and this is one found in Yorkies and other breeds. |