newbie
 

Hi all fellow yorkie lovers. My name is Amanda. I live in western N.Y. I am a 25 year old student, studying speech-language pathology. I have a brilliant husband, George. Our 1st anniversary is coming up Oct. 21st. My precious yorkie, Ruby is 4 years old and is a mere 3 lbs. I absolutely love Ruby to pieces. I rock her to sleep, in my arms every night. She is a special little girl. Shortly after I bought Ruby, approx. 4 years ago, I noticed she was having these scary "episodes". She would lie down on the floor, stiff, and unresponsive. At first, I had no idea what was wrong. I rushed her to the vet, where she was administered a shot of dextrose. Bile acid tests revealed that Ruby's bile acid levels were extremely elevated. The vet suspected liver shunt. My family unded up taking Ruby to Cornell Animal Hospital in Ithaca, NY. The staff and facilities were excellant. A liver biopsy revealed the presence of a extrahepatic portosystemic shunt. The shunt is an extra blood vessel that was bypassing the majority of Ruby's blood completely aroung the liver, instead of thru it. Thus, her blood was't being purified by the liver. To make a long story short, we had life-saving surgery performed on Ruby. That was over 3 years ago. Today, she is healthy, happy, and EXTREMELY full of energy and love. She maintains a low protein diet, and has to take 2 doses of lactulose everyday. Like many yorkies, she thinks she should be the center of attention. She is often naughty- a little rascal, in other words! The only thing that really concerns me is that she has EXTREME seperation anxiety. Whenever anybody leaves, she gets VERY upset- yapping, whining, growling, trying to get out the door. I just don't know what to do to calm her down and soothe her anxiety. I've heard that seperation anxiety is common among yorkies. I've always thought that it could possibly be from what she went thru when she was younger. Perhaps she was somewhat "traumatized" when she was left at the hospital for her surgery. Does anyone else have this problem with their little sweethearts? If so, how do you handle it? Please help!Thanks. I look forward to "meeting" fellow yokie lovers and posting pics of me and Ruby.:animal36

Welcome!!!
 

Hi! Welcome to YT! I have the same problem with my Gracie she just goes crazy when i leave or when people leave crying yapping etc. i dont know what to do to stop it so i also need help with this! Glad your baby is healthy and everything worked out! Cant wait to see some pics soon!

:yorkietal :yorkiesar :yorkietal




:happyboun :welcome4: :happyboun

Welcome to YT! I'm so happy that your baby is still with you and overcame her ordeal with the livershunt. As far as the separation anxiety - there are techniques that you can try - do a search for "separation anxiety" and it will take you to a bunch of threads posted by other people with this same problem and you can find some solutions there I'm sure!

Good luck! :)

(you could always get another puppy to keep her company ;) )

:welcome4: to YT :cheersm8: :we're #1:

Gracie is absolutely adorable! What a cute name, also!

thanks for the advice!

welcome Amanda and Ruby to YT!!!! YAY!! so glad you found us!! This is such a cool place to hang out and brag about your little girl and in the mean time you can learn so much wonderful info and get to kow some awesome people!!!

I just love how you say you rock Ruby to sleep at night! You sound like a truly wonderful Yorkie mommy! Ruby sounds like she is one very special little girl!

I cant wait to see her picture!!!

Hello Amanda, and welcome to Yorkie Talk:) (It's gonna get confusing with two Amandas from New York!) My Snickers had serious separation anxiety when he was younger. The only thing that cured him was getting him a little brother. Now he has Baxter with him when he's alone, and his anxiety disappeared!:aimeeyork Look forward to seeing pics of your little Ruby.

Hello, and welcome aboard!

Welcome. How wonderful your little one came through the surgery so well! I think a lot of them experience separation anxiety. They just don't like being alone. There are some training techniques to help alleviate the problem, such as picking up your keys, or whatever you usually do just before you leave and then proceed out the door and then come back in after a few minutes and just increase the time as you go along, to prove to her that she is not being left for good. Some recommend using treats when they've been good and not cried or barked. Too bad you can't take her with you as small as she is. Hardly anyone would know she was there.:D

Hi and Welcome to YT so glad your here!!! I glad your little one is doing better and so full of life bless her little heart.:D

Welcome to YT...funny you mentioned Ruby was a little rascal..I named my Darla (yorkie/bichon) because she was such a little rascal the night we brought her home and Darla is of course the most popular girl from the TV series and Darla has beautiful black hair like her namesake...

You are going to have a BLAST here and will probably be getting yorkie number 2 before the year is over hehehehehe...I NEEDED another one after looking at all the cute baby pics!! Now I have 10 week old Reece..

Dawn