The breeder has assured me that he wont do anything for me, but he will not continue to breed the dogs. I am going to call the AKC and every club i can find and make sure they are aware of the situation. The Surgery was quote for us around $1500 like i said, so we are prepared for that and it is a small price to pay for the joy my lil Ty brings to myself and family.

A lot of breeders will only give a pup in return and if you signed his contract then it would be binding. Of course that isn't what you wanted to hear....on a GOOD note though! I think that since he is AKC I know that when you send in his paperwork you can get 60 day pet healthcare plan for free. It could REALLY help you out with the costs!!

I agree, it is a small price to pay, when I found out one of mine had a shunt, I also did everything for her. Course she was a little older, and never had the sypmptoms yours showed, but instead had stones and a bladder infections. Still, we never regret the money it cost for the surgeries, you just can't put a price on unconditional love.

I hope that the breeder does quit breeding the dogs, of course how many have already been sold from the dogs. It can carry into generations of the dogs. A lot of breeders are now doing the Bile Acid test before breeding, and also on puppies before they sell them. If anyone asks me about what to do when looking for a puppy, the one thing I recommend is that before they even get the pup to insist on a bile acid test, even if they have to pay for it. That test which runs from 30 to 120 is much cheaper than the surgery. Once you have a puppy, no one wants to let it go, you just love them too much.

Most pet healthcare companies will not cover things that are prone to the breed, and Livershunt is known to be in yorkies.

Thanks, i am just considering taking another puppy and either selling him pretty cheap and use that to defer some of the cost or if we get it all worked out with the money situation, ill donate him to a family looking for a puppy.

I cant imagine to many insurance companys are going to pay for anything now that it has been discovered, maybe if we had gotten it before hand.


Sean

liver shunt success story
 

my little yorkie "max" was diagnosed with liver shunt when he was 4 months old. we went straight for the surgery after his bile acids came back elevated. it has now been almost 5 months since surgery and you would never know anything was wrong with him!! he is still on a low protein diet and lactulose medicine. it was very scary to go through but i would do it all over again if i had to. my breeder sounds just like yours! let me know if you have any specific questions about liver shunt. here are some good websites with liver shunt info:
www.livershunt.com
www.tsfannymaelivershunt.com
please keep us updated on the surgery!!!

Which route did you have done? The contracting ring? Or did they just go in and close it up all at once?? Thank you very much for the sites and info.

Ty gets to come home tomorrow for a week, a local Small Animal Surgeon we were refered to said to wait a week before surgery so his body cleans out and it will make it easier for him to come out of a sleep. Any input?

Sean

I am sorry to hear about your puppy. That is so hard, I was taking care of a yorkie with liver shunts, he was such a sweet little guy. We found someone that was able to get the surgery done, he hasn't got it yet but I think it is soon. My prayers are with you. I know how hard it is.

max had an ameroid contrictor ring so they only had to open him up once. from what i understand this type of ring slowly closes the shunt off over a few months. luckily when they openned him up, he only had one big shunt they were able to put the ring on easily. max had to wait almost a week to have his surgery as well. they wanted to make sure he wasn't having anymore seizures and wanted him to take some antibiotics first. do you have a date for the surgery yet? where are you located?

Thoughts and Prayers go out to you and TY in hopes everything will be ok. When we got our little girl from Hooksett, 4 hrs home with us she began to throw thru the nose and mouth, could hardly breath. I called the breeder and she said to bring her back. Well, with her in that condition which turned out to be hypoglycemia, hypothermia, and an upper respitory infection that did not just happen in the short 4 hrs. at our home, We rushed her to the emergency hosp. where she had antibiotics for a wk. We told the breeder she sold us a sick pup, only 8 oz at the time of 12 wks old, with a health certificate. Well , she didn't hesitate to rip up the checks we paid her, I think she knew something was wrong with the pup from the beginning. We did have to pay $950 to the hosp. to get her home. I had to feed her every 3 hrs a Teaspoon of Gerber Turkey baby food, which was her main food for weeks . Today, almost 6 yrs later she's still very healthy but does not have a bark. I think it was from putting meds into her juggler vein from being so small her other veins were too small to use. She's all of 5 lbs now and seems healthy, so please have HIGH HOPES for TY, we'll be praying here that all turns out well there. I'm over the MA line not far from you. Yorkietalk has a lot of nice people here and a lot of information. Nice to see you aboard ! Please keep us posted as to how TY is doing.

Yeah, we are leaning towards the Ring also. I can not see opening a dog up anymore then nessacary, espically at his age. We have a meeting with the Doc to day to discuss the date and everything, im guessing it will be sometime mid week next week. I m just concerned that they were unable to find the shunt with a Ultrasound, so it will mean they have to find it when they open him up, creating a longer surgery time and potential for more complications. I am located up in Nashua, NH.

Its nice that there are atleast some nice breeders out there that will take responsibility for what they do. The breeder stated that he has never dealt with this before and that no other owners from my litter have reported any problems. He sells the pups at a very resonable price, we got Ty for $850 shipped. So i dont know if he was selling them that low cause he was actually aware of a problem, but he is using the low cost as a excuse to why he cant take the money from his pocket and give it back to us.

Thanks to everyone for thier continued support.

Sean & "Ty"

also when they openned max up for his surgery, the went ahead and did a biopsy of his liver to check for damage. good luck and keep us updated!!

I'm so sorry to hear about your puppy. :( My yorkie, Miko, also has a liver shunt. His bile acid tests came back at 300. They weren't able to pinpoint the location of the shunt with the ultrasound, but we REALLY trust our vet (he loves Miko so much and he's a good friend) so he went ahead and opened him up to look for the shunt to repair it. Unfortunately it was nowhere to be found (probably an intrahepatic shunt or MVD), so it wasn't repaired, but the vet let us know that liver looks good and that all his other organs look healthy also. He is now on medicine and special diet for life (denosyl which is a liver supplement and lactulose and royal canin hepatic diet). The vet says that he should live a very happy, normal life with the medicine. Fortunately the medicine helps him so much that he has his life back and you would never know that he has a liver shunt. He's more hyper and more loving than ever. It's been almost 6 months and he's happier and healthier than I've ever seen him. We are so lucky to have him. :)

Wow that sounds so much like my situation, except Ty's Bile Acid count was like 59 or 60. If you dont mind me asking, what does the medicine cost you a month roughly??

for max a big bag of Hill K/D dry dog food is close to $20, but it takes him months to go through that. his lactulose is only ~$10/month.

The denosyl (liver supplement) is $90 a month, lactulose is about $10 a month, and the royal canin hepatic diet dry food is about $35 but it lasts three months

Well lets hope its treatable, No way can i afford $100 a month for this dog on top of the payments ill already be making for the surgery.

With a successful surgery he probably won't need the liver supplement, just the lactulose and hepatic diet if the surgery goes well...I'm sure your baby will get through this! We'll be praying for him! :)

When is he suppose to be having surgery? Good Luck and please continue to keep us posted.

The date will be decided today sometime. We are supposed to meet with the doctor.

update?
 

is there a new update on little ty yet?

I read the first 4-5 posts and I was just about to say to have them check if it is a shunt and if it can be repaired. There are shunts that can be repaired and your puppy can live a healthy life. I am going through this right now and my yorkie is 20 months old. I am totally attached to him. When they do the surgery they will look for a shunt. If no shunt is found ,they will get a biopsy of the liver. It might also be Microvascular Dysplasia (they will put him on a special diet) This will get his acid levels down. I will find out in about 2 weeks if my little guy has a shunt or Microvascular Dysplasia. The cost is expensive around $1,500-$2000.
Your furbaby is just adorable. Ask your vet if you can start him on a low protein dog food. Hills science diet has a can food that is very low Protein called Hills LD canned food. Please keep us updated on your little guy.
Also check if your state has Pet Lemon Laws. If they do ,it wont matter if it's not on your sales contract .With Pet Lemon Laws you have up to 1 yr after your purchase.

Genie

I just found out that my 3 1/2 year old yorkie has a liver shunt. Her liver is TINY. The doctor said that surgery may not solve her problem, that she was born with it and surgery may even make it worse, but all my research shows that surgery is the only way for her to live a long healthy life. She said that her life expectancy will be shorter, but didn't give me any details. Any experience with this? Is surgery the best option? Also, any diet tips? She won't eat the cans the doctor sent home with us. She's my baby!

Same situation... they were unable to find the shunt with an ultrasound, but they said they were sure that's her problem. Did you get him the surgery? How was it?

Ultrasounds can be inconclusive, especially if it's not being done by someone who specializes in ultrasounds...If they cannot find an actual shunt, your baby may have MVD, microvascular dysplasia. There's something called a Protein C Assay which can help determine if your baby has a repairable shunt or MVD which has to be maintained with special food, medications and supplements.
With special diet, lactulose, and supplements, your baby should be able to live a normal life depending on the severity. Also, since I posted on this thread, I have found denosyl MUCH cheaper than $90.
How did you find out that your baby has a liver shunt? Was she having seizures or something?
As far as foods go, you can feed her Hill's l/d or Royal Canin Hepatic LS 14...Also, if your baby is symptom free, you can feed her other vegetarian diets like Solid Gold Holistique Blendz(Petco), Natural Balance Vegetarian (Petco), or Avoderm Vegetarian (www.petfooddirect.com)...They are all vegetarian diets.
It's very important that you not give your baby ANY animal protein, as this is extremely hard on their livers. When they eat protein, it turns to ammonia...In a healthy body, the ammonia is filtered through the liver, but when there is a shunt, the ammonia is bypassing the liver, therefore not being filtered. Then it goes into your baby's system and the toxins reach the brain causing symptoms...
Vegetable protein and dairy protein are the safest. So if you want to give snacks, give natural snacks like apples(cut into small pieces and peeled), watermelon, cheerios, carrots, stuff like that.

As far as the lactulose is concerned...In my opinion, this is the most important thing you can do for your baby. Lactulose helps push the toxins out of the body and should therefore be given directly after meals. The amount of lactulose should depend on stool consistency. On lactulose, your baby's stool should be soft (difficult to pick up), not firm, and not diarrhea. Your vet should be able to help you determine how much to start out at, and then increase or decrease as needed.
Supplements...Denosyl(Sam-E) and Milk thistle help with liver function. They have antioxidants which help protect the liver from further damage. Also those two supplements help repair the already damaged parts of the liver. Denosyl should be given on an empty stomach, and the pill should not be crushed or broken because if it is, it loses its effectiveness and it's as good as not giving it at all.

With my baby, he did not have an operable shunt, they went in for exploratory surgery and were not able to find it...So they treat him as if he has MVD. He's doing really well. We cook a special homemade diet for him and give him lactulose and several supplements. I'm really happy to see him doing so well. He was diagnosed when he was around 9 months, I think, and he just had his 3rd birthday :)