Novice Yorkie Mom/ Possible Liver Disease..Please Help.

[Yorkieluv]

Ranitidine should not be given to dogs with liver problems...
Why did the vet prescribe this? Does she have indigestion problems?
Can you give us a list of all her symptoms, regardless of minute they might seem?

If she's not doing well, it's important that you give her as much liver support as possible before the surgery. This includes *not* feeding any type of meat proteins which produce high amounts of ammonia that are not properly being filtered, essentially toxic and poisoning her. Again, frequent small meals (4-6 per day)are important, and I cannot emphasize enough how important it is that you know exactly how much protein she's getting at each meal and in an entire day. If you need help calculating this, I will be more than happy to help.
Vegetable, dairy, and egg protein are best... but make sure you know how much you are giving.

Next, supplements....Milk thistle and denosyl are key supplements to give. They help protect the liver. If you need the dosages for milk thistle, I can look them up for you. For the denosyl, the smallest dose it comes in is 90mg, but since she's so tiny, you might consider giving Vetri-DMG which can be found at www.homevet.com...Vetri-DMG does basically the same thing as denosyl, but when you order it from the site that I just provided, you put in all of her information at the end, and the vet will put a label on the bottle with the dosages...

Also, lactulose is *essential* in a dog with liver problems. It has virtually no side effects other than diarrhea. It basically binds ammonia produced as by-product of protein and pushes it through the colon. The goal is for your pet to have 2 soft stools per day. This is vital in keeping the dog from having hepatic encephalopathy and showing symptoms.

When she is ready for surgery, make sure they do bloodwork again and check that her blood is clotting properly. If everything checks out, then I would recommend a liver biopsy while they are in there.