Just got back from the EMERG. VET - Might have Liver Shunt
 

I just got back from the emergency pet hospital. BJ, my youngest baby, is staying there overnight because he had a massive seizure. His blood sugar was extremely low (in the 30s) and he was in a comatose state. He just turned two on November 25 and the vet says that he might have liver shunt.

He's had only one seizure in the past and that was last May. It lasted only a minute and he went limp. I took him to the vet immediately after. They said that it was common for yorkies to have seizures and asked me if he had seizures in the past, I told them no because when I got BJ, he was about 8 months old and he was given to the breeder I got him from by another breeder. So his history is a bit shaky.

I feel so horrible right now. I am barely making it by with the money I make and now I just gave the vet my whole pay check and then some. $781 dollars for the overnight stay alone. He will barely be there 12 hours! I have to pick him up in the morning unless otherwise.

I love my baby so much and I will do anything to make sure that he is healthy and safe, but I feel like a horrible parent because the estimates for actual tests to find out what he has and the cost of the surgery is over 3500 dollars and they only accept cash up at the time of services.

I don't know what to do.

Before you spend this much money at a vets office take him to UT where there are specialest to treat him

I just had one there last week for test & back again this week for surgery
both visits cost less than 2k

sorry about your baby hope he gets better soon

So sorry to hear about BJ. Great advise above, also there is a sticky here with a lot of helpful info on financial options, you could look into them.

http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/sic...vet-bills.html


Sending big hugs!

join this group asap and shame on that first vet for not running the bile acids after the first seizures that was a sign of liver shunt and NO yorkies do not just have seizures as pups i is usually liver shunt if they do so I would steer clear of that vet for sure as this could have been caught back then and your dog would have had the care earlier :(

Join this group tonight they will help you Liver_Shunt_And_MVD_Support@yahoogroups.com

was the ALT high is that why they think liver shunt along with seizure?

If you can get to university of tennessee the liver shunt surgery is much cheaper and dr tobias is excellent but join that group as my dog has mvd and they helped me alot as you need to educate yourself quickly about this and i know all too well about high vet bills i am in over 20k myself so the more you educate yourself quickly the less costly it will be and you can make better decisions.

What is the protein percentage on the food you were feeding? Have vet put your dog on L/D asap and you will probably need to get your dog on denomarin which is sam e and milk thistle. Ask them if they ran bile acids yet or if they are running them tomorrow after 12 hr fast and what are the numbers so we can help you - if over 100 most likely a shunt :(

go to carecredit.com and call the facility to see if they even take care credit as many do not :(

1000000% agree i would get to dr tobias at university of tennessee if there is anyway you can get there she is THE BEST

They do take care credit i saw a poster ad on the desk there for it

It's been a long time. BJ has stabilized, but the costs are just the beginning. They would not release him to us because they said that if he goes off of the IVs then he probably won't be able to support his own blood sugar levels and he might have another seizure.

Without our authorization, they took him to get an ultrasound which cost 320 dollars and then they told us to go home. When we got home, they called us and told us that he does in fact have a liver shunt, but they aren't going to operate on him and they want to help him medically meaning that we have to give him a low protein diet and medicine which is fine. Though we have to pay an extra 250 dollars for blood tests that they have already done!

At this point, my parents want me to return my Christmas gifts that I bought them and my mom is even considering selling her wedding ring.

I tried Care Credit, but they denied me because I don't have much credit and they denied my parents because they both have credit blocks on their credit scores.

For Christmas all I want is for my baby to be healthy and safe. It's amazing how life changes so quickly in a few seconds. Instead of Christmas presents, I want to enjoy the holidays with my family.

Thank you for all of your replies.

perfect get it as it only takes a few minutes online as i have it and use it for all my vet care to spread the time out