Chewie don't want to eat

[chewiesnewmom]

His first BAT @ 2 months was 335.5 and 202.8

[zoeybear]

Have you tried to soften his food with a little warm water or chicken stock? Maybe a small sprinkle of Parmeasean cheese. Hope all is well soon.

[TLC]

Originally Posted by chewiesnewmom

I'm so blind sometimes...LOL Pre-Meal was 6.6 and post meal 13.4

YEAH!!!! Those numbers are TERRIFIC!!!!!!

However, given his history of LS if he were mine, I would still be taking precausions.

Look into the NB Veggie Formula or something that has Chicken. I would stay away from beef or exotics and keep in the back of your mind that 'organ' meat is extremely high in purines, thus hard on the liver, so they should be avoided too!

Please keep up with a yearly BAT - as this will guide you and gage his liver function.

Apple pieces are a great treat! Watermelon too!

[TLC]

Any 'human food' needs to be LOW sodium

[chewiesnewmom]

Thank you so much he is definately going to be getting some of the Natural Balance Veggie Diet...and no more red meat My Aust Cattle Dog I had as a child had to be on a low protien diet also so we'll just make new adjustments for Chewie.

Shellee and Chewie

[Lovely05]

Not every strategy works for every dog like children. I stop giving my dog people food all together, because she would try to manipulate me into giving her human food. She had to develop a taste for dog food, because she would never be satisfied with dog food. Before using this strategy, she would go to her food bowl take a pebble and spit it out of her mouth. LOL Now she runs to her food bowl. Dogs will not let themselves starve. Dogs can actually go two days without eating and be perfectly fine even though it best to feed them every day. She just was not hungry enough to eat her food.

[TLC]

Originally Posted by Lovely05

Not every strategy works for every dog like children. I stop giving my dog people food all together, because she would try to manipulate me into giving her human food. She had to develop a taste for dog food, because she would never be satisfied with dog food. Before using this strategy, she would go to her food bowl take a pebble and spit it out of her mouth. LOL Now she runs to her food bowl. Dogs will not let themselves starve. Dogs can actually go two days without eating and be perfectly fine even though it best to feed them every day. She just was not hungry enough to eat her food.

All these techniques are absolutely perfect for a normal, healthy dog, I am not disputing that. However being that this guy was a LS pup ~ One must play by a different set of rules. I think a lot of responses here mean well, but unless one has experience with a liver compromised dog, it truly is hard to give accurate advise. An LS dog should never go without eating and certainly shouldn't allow poop (toxins) to sit backed up for a long period of time. LS dogs are usually on Lactulose throughout the day to bind to toxins in their system and help the body rid of them through waste. LS dogs do best eating 4 to 6 small meals throughout the day, as this is less stressful for the liver. It's a whole new ball game, these LS babies

[dwerten]

Originally Posted by TLC

All these techniques are absolutely perfect for a normal, healthy dog, I am not disputing that. However being that this guy was a LS pup ~ One must play by a different set of rules. I think a lot of responses here mean well, but unless one has experience with a liver compromised dog, it truly is hard to give accurate advise. An LS dog should never go without eating and certainly shouldn't allow poop (toxins) to sit backed up for a long period of time. LS dogs are usually on Lactulose throughout the day to bind to toxins in their system and help the body rid of them through waste. LS dogs do best eating 4 to 6 small meals throughout the day, as this is less stressful for the liver. It's a whole new ball game, these LS babies

i agree liver shunt dogs are different and you should join the two liver shunt groups as very important and they can help get you ideas of how to get food in him as many dogs that have had a shunt also have mvd and they need to be on a low protein diet - fish, vegetarian, etc. I would not do the hamburger meat with a liver shunt dog I have an mvd dog with no symptoms and she is on a low protein diet

[dwerten]

Originally Posted by zoeybear

Have you tried to soften his food with a little warm water or chicken stock? Maybe a small sprinkle of Parmeasean cheese. Hope all is well soon.

make sure low sodium and whole foods has low sodium organic broth

[dwerten]

Originally Posted by chewiesnewmom

AST 27 Alkaline Phosphatase 67 Protieins 5.7 Phosphorus 4.8 Amylase 489 CPK 118 Osmolality 295 WBC 8.7 Nuetrophils 5046 Lyphocytes 2958 Monocytes 435 Eosinophils 261

I hope thats all the right things, I compared very 1st BAT with Newest and gave the ones that stated high on the original...I have been researching the Natural Balance Veggie diet, and thier Duck & Potato Canned and Fish & Sweet Potato Canned formulas. He's been on the Science Diet Nature's Best, and my big dog eats Diamond Lamb and Rice, I figured he would attempt to try her's but he's made no attempt at all toward Dog food.

natural balance vegetarian - duck too high in protein

[Lovely05]

Originally Posted by TLC

All these techniques are absolutely perfect for a normal, healthy dog, I am not disputing that. However being that this guy was a LS pup ~ One must play by a different set of rules. I think a lot of responses here mean well, but unless one has experience with a liver compromised dog, it truly is hard to give accurate advise. An LS dog should never go without eating and certainly shouldn't allow poop (toxins) to sit backed up for a long period of time. LS dogs are usually on Lactulose throughout the day to bind to toxins in their system and help the body rid of them through waste. LS dogs do best eating 4 to 6 small meals throughout the day, as this is less stressful for the liver. It's a whole new ball game, these LS babies

I agree with you. Not every strategy works with every dog.

[dwerten]

my dee dee is on purina ha soy diet and her posts went from 76, 53 then 26 on the soy diet as soy is low in protein -- she is hypothyroid so I do not recommend soy for this reason as i am trying to see if the soy food caused her to be hypothyroid as soy can affect the thyroid protection in humans so i think it would be the same in dogs so i would recommend staying away from that even though it worked for my girls bats but dd had no symptoms of mvd just blood work showed it

[dwerten]

Originally Posted by TLC

BAT = Bile Acid Test

There are 2 numbers. A pre number and a post number.

This is a blood draw. The dog is usually fasted for 12 hours. Blood is drawn, then they are fed a very high protein food. And they must stay for 2 hours, then blood is drawn again.

The range is as follows:

Pre meal bile number should be less than 10
Post meal bile number should be less than 20

The BAT will show how the liver is functioning. If his Post # is above 20 - there is still an issue going on with his liver function

*******
MEAT is too high in ammonia for the liver to process and it becomes a toxic build up in his system. This is doing more harm than good for LS babies

Honestly, I would try the Vegetarian Formula from Natural Balance. You can add a little low sodium cottage cheese or goat cheese to entice him to eat (if he won't eat it plain) - You could also soak it in water too.

it depends on the lab as normal for the lab dd had done was below 25 for post so each lab is different but general rule is post below 25 is considered normal and due to gall bladder contraction with blood draw sometimes the numbers can show higher for that reason

[dwerten]

Originally Posted by Lovely05

I know nothing about liver shunt except that it is common for Yorkies to be diagnosed with that disorder. He sounds like a finicky eater to me. When he is hungry, then he will eventually eat. My Shih Tzu pulled that stunt too. She skipped meals until I gave her people food. I fell for it a couple of times but not anymore. My dog went two days without eating any food until she decided to eat her dog food. When I gave her human food with the dog food, she picked over it. My dog had to stop eating people food until she developed an appetite for dog food. Good Luck!

many liver shunt dogs are very finicky eaters and this is a sign of liver disease -- luckily dee dee who has mvd is a pig so that is why i feel hers is very mild but this is what is tough with these little ones is they can be very finicky about food as if the liver is not functioning properly the food is not easily digested through the system thus making them not feel good and not want to eat as they associate not feeling good with eating so you have to rotate around alot with them --- egg whites are another thing that is low in protein so you may want to hard boil some eggs and only give the whites but get organic if you can -- costco sells organic cage free and we boil those up weekly for our kids

[dwerten]

Originally Posted by TLC

This dogs should NOT be eating MEAT as a primary source of food. Especially NOT hamburgers, you could be posioning him....

This dog had a Liver Shunt that was repaired, it doesn't mean he should resume to a normal dogs diet and lifestyle. If you want this dog to be happy and healthy and live a long life, you have to make adjustments because of his LS history.

When was his last BAT done and what was the post number?

Hills L/D Canned or Royal Cain Hep. 14 (Dry) is what is recommended for LS dogs. He should also be on supplements to aid his liver and not stress it again.

this is so true - no hamburger --where did you rescue him from after the surgery? Did he have the surgery at university of tennessee by dr tobias?