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ecucurlyq77 · 06-06-2005, 04:02 PM

We wanted to share Max’s liver shunt success story. I hope that this can help other people that are going through a scary time like this….

On Tuesday March 3rd our 4 month old yorkie Max started having seizures. He had 3 seizures within 1 hour then they quit and he started acting normal. We were just going to take him to the vet the next morning. But in the middle of the night he started having the seizures again constantly. We were scared to death and rushed him to the animal emergency clinic. They gave him valium to stop the seizures and did some blood work on him, which showed elevated liver enzymes. They said it was possible he had a liver shunt and wanted us to go to our vet to have a bile acid test run. We went straight to our vet Wednesday morning and they kept him there all day and did the blood draw for the bile acids. He had a few more seizures during that day. We brought him home with us that night and took him back to the vet Thursday morning for the vet to watch over him again. That day, we found out that his bile acid tests came back very high indicating a liver shunt. Our vet set us up with a meeting with a vet surgeon in town that performs this type of surgery.

So the next day we met with the surgeon and he went through all of our options and we decided to go ahead with the surgery and hope and pray that it was one fixable shunt. The vet told us that 85% of the liver shunts in yorkies were just one shunt that needed to be tied off. We went home with antibiotics, lactulose, and low protein food. Thankfully he didn’t have any more seizures after this. So, the next Thursday, May 12th, we took Max in for his surgery. We were a nervous wreck all day and got a call at 5:00 that he made it through surgery and they found only one shunt and put a slowly dilating ring around it to close off the shunt and re-route the blood. They also took a liver biopsy to test for any other liver disease or damage. He had to stay at the vets for 4 nights and we got to bring him home on Monday, May 16th. We were sent home with instructions to keep him inactive for a couple of weeks, but try telling a 4 month old puppy that. You would never know that he just went through a major surgery! He is still taking the lactulose and low protein diet until we know his liver is functioning normally again.

It has now been almost 4 weeks after his surgery and he is doing great! His liver biopsy came back showing no liver disease, damage or shunts inside his liver. He has to get his bile acids tested again in a month to see if everything is working like it should.

We did call the breeder after we finally got him home and she claimed that she had never heard of a liver shunt and had never had a sick puppy. I explained to her that this is thought to be a genetic problem and that she should not breed those 2 dogs anymore and that she should have all of her dogs tested. She had the nerve to tell me that if I would have contacted her before he had the surgery that she would have swapped me out another puppy. I told her that there was no way I would just hand over my sick little puppy that I love knowing that she would have let him suffer (she wouldn’t refund our money or partial money to help pay for the surgery, why would she get him fixed herself)! I really didn’t expect her to give us our money back, but I did tell her I was going to send her some information on liver shunts so she could get educated on a problem that can be common in dogs she breeds.

I hope this liver shunt success story can help other parents that are going through this. My husband and I were heartbroken when we found out our little puppy had this problem, but are so happy now that he is fixed and happy again! It was very expensive but I would do it all over again if I had too! I know that this is not a very common surgery for a lot of vets, but we highly recommend the vet surgeon that we used. He and his staff were some of the most caring individuals and called us everyday with updates on Max. If anyone has any questions or just need some support, please feel free to contact me!

Brooke, Michael & “Max”

06-06-2005, 04:02 PM	#1
ecucurlyq77 Yorkie Yakker Join Date: May 2005 Location: Hampstead, North Carolina Posts: 46	Liver Shunt Success Story We wanted to share Max’s liver shunt success story. I hope that this can help other people that are going through a scary time like this…. On Tuesday March 3rd our 4 month old yorkie Max started having seizures. He had 3 seizures within 1 hour then they quit and he started acting normal. We were just going to take him to the vet the next morning. But in the middle of the night he started having the seizures again constantly. We were scared to death and rushed him to the animal emergency clinic. They gave him valium to stop the seizures and did some blood work on him, which showed elevated liver enzymes. They said it was possible he had a liver shunt and wanted us to go to our vet to have a bile acid test run. We went straight to our vet Wednesday morning and they kept him there all day and did the blood draw for the bile acids. He had a few more seizures during that day. We brought him home with us that night and took him back to the vet Thursday morning for the vet to watch over him again. That day, we found out that his bile acid tests came back very high indicating a liver shunt. Our vet set us up with a meeting with a vet surgeon in town that performs this type of surgery. So the next day we met with the surgeon and he went through all of our options and we decided to go ahead with the surgery and hope and pray that it was one fixable shunt. The vet told us that 85% of the liver shunts in yorkies were just one shunt that needed to be tied off. We went home with antibiotics, lactulose, and low protein food. Thankfully he didn’t have any more seizures after this. So, the next Thursday, May 12th, we took Max in for his surgery. We were a nervous wreck all day and got a call at 5:00 that he made it through surgery and they found only one shunt and put a slowly dilating ring around it to close off the shunt and re-route the blood. They also took a liver biopsy to test for any other liver disease or damage. He had to stay at the vets for 4 nights and we got to bring him home on Monday, May 16th. We were sent home with instructions to keep him inactive for a couple of weeks, but try telling a 4 month old puppy that. You would never know that he just went through a major surgery! He is still taking the lactulose and low protein diet until we know his liver is functioning normally again. It has now been almost 4 weeks after his surgery and he is doing great! His liver biopsy came back showing no liver disease, damage or shunts inside his liver. He has to get his bile acids tested again in a month to see if everything is working like it should. We did call the breeder after we finally got him home and she claimed that she had never heard of a liver shunt and had never had a sick puppy. I explained to her that this is thought to be a genetic problem and that she should not breed those 2 dogs anymore and that she should have all of her dogs tested. She had the nerve to tell me that if I would have contacted her before he had the surgery that she would have swapped me out another puppy. I told her that there was no way I would just hand over my sick little puppy that I love knowing that she would have let him suffer (she wouldn’t refund our money or partial money to help pay for the surgery, why would she get him fixed herself)! I really didn’t expect her to give us our money back, but I did tell her I was going to send her some information on liver shunts so she could get educated on a problem that can be common in dogs she breeds. I hope this liver shunt success story can help other parents that are going through this. My husband and I were heartbroken when we found out our little puppy had this problem, but are so happy now that he is fixed and happy again! It was very expensive but I would do it all over again if I had too! I know that this is not a very common surgery for a lot of vets, but we highly recommend the vet surgeon that we used. He and his staff were some of the most caring individuals and called us everyday with updates on Max. If anyone has any questions or just need some support, please feel free to contact me! Brooke, Michael & “Max”