Not sure this is the right forum, MVD
 

A lady who bought one of my pups, he is an adult now, took him and her female, no relation to my dogs, to the vet for acid bile tests, both came back very high.

My next message from her said that her vet said my pup has MVD. I looked this up but can only find it linked to Cavalier King Charles spaniels. Can anyone tell me where to look to find any information on MVD and Yorkies? Thanks, Sylvia

MVD

I did a search and put mvd and yorkies, a whole lot of sites came up

Unfortunatly, LOTS of Yorkies seem to have MVD - I have one :(

Look up Hepatic Microvascular Dysplasia and you'll probably get more information to come up. It is a very common genetic disease in the Yorkshire Terrier. It's very important to always bile acid test before breeding to minimize risk of passing on liver shunts and MVD.

Yup, write it out...abbreviating with it doesn't turn up as much.

It is most likely congenital, so the parents should not be bred anymore and the pup shouldn't be either...


If you bile acids test your adults though and your lines are clear, I would ask how they came to the conclusion that the dog has MVD. If it was high bile acids alone, more testing needs to be done.

true...high bile acids indicate liver disease...but can not tell you which exactly. With yorkies people like to automatically assume either a liver shunt or hepatic MVD and most of the time, one is the case. However, there are other liver diseases as well. did they check for and rule out a shunt? And did they do anything else after that? Some will just assume MVD if no shunt is found, but MVD can only truly be diagnosed by a liver biopsy.

I thought my yorkie had MVD because her bile acids were high but it turned out to be another liver disease.

I would definitely look into it further, but I wouldn't recommend breeding any yorkie with high bile acids

She has emailed me back and told me that she has been given some conflicting information. I have already advised her to get a 2nd opinion. I sure hope she does it. I know it must cost a lot but she wants to breed him and she needs to know for sure. I need to know for sure. Sylvia

.....

Since the bile acids are high, there is very possibly some form of liver disease present, so unless it can be resolved, the dog shouldn't be bred.

As MyFairLacy said, a liver biopsy has to be done to diagnose MVD. So if one wasn't done, it is just a guess.

This is my male his pre # were normal and post were high41.0 with Hemolysis 1+. All they did was the acid bile test. He ia asymptomatic if he has it. I was only doing the test for pre breeding. The lab tech told my vet he has a mild case of MVD just by the blood work...... I am just really questioning this. I am going to change diet and retest in another 3 months with another vet.
I have another thread going in the breeding section. I wasn't sure where to post.

I was wondering if she was talking about one of your dogs. Retesting is a good idea, and then if they are still high pursue it at that point. If Bile Acids are still high, I would find out why. You don't want to breed if it is MVD

Did the vet tell the tech to tell you this or are the tech and lab trying to diagnose without a vet?

Forty-one post does not automatically mean MVD and if hemolysis occurred, the results are probably skewed.

Laura and I are very worried about this but I can't understand the technical terms and numbers. Can someone explain it a little more for the layperson? Thanks, Sylvia

Sure thing.
Hemolysis is the breaking down of red blood cells and liberation of hemoglobin (dictionary.com). If this happens during the blood draw, the results are probably inaccurate. The test would need to be redone.

High bile acids can "only" tell you if there is a liver functioning problem.
The test cannot tell you exactly what is wrong with the liver.
So even if the bile acids are high, it does not mean that this pup has MVD.

The only way to conclusive diagnose MVD (or microscopic shunting throughout the liver) is by liver biopsy. Because this is so invasive and because MVD is very common in Yorkies, some vets will diagnose on bile acids test results alone or with bile acids testing and an ultrasound to rule out a large shunt (although this is only 60-80% accurate).

MyFairLacy's Lacy has high bile acids and does not have MVD.
Ellie has high bile acids and a biopsy showed no MVD although only one piece of liver was taken, so we can't rule out MVD in another part of her liver.

Usually if the postprandial (blood draw AFTER a meal) bile acids are over 100, people lean toward it being a large shunt and if it is below 100, people lean toward MVD. This is not always the case though. Because MVD can be quite severe in some dogs (symptoms of a large shunt...seizures and the whole thing) and because liver problems in Yorkies are often genetic, dogs with MVD should not be bred. Some require very little treatment though.

Is this making sense?
Do you have specific questions?

Thank you so much. You were very clear but I do have one more question:
What would cause the blood cells to break down during the draw? How could that happen? Thanks again. Sylvia