Just wanted to say that Lucy is in my thoughts and prayers.

Thanks to everyone for their replies. Lucy loved the cheerios!

To address some of the questions - Lucy has been fine up until this week-end when she started having spastic type movements and could not get comfortable. Then began with lethargy and hiding under furniture. She was taken twice to her Vet who could find nothing wrong. We determined gas and tummy issues because I had put some Alpo on top of her kibble - which I had never done. (And will never do again)

Because her littermate (different mother/same father) ended up having a LS, our vet decided to go ahead and to the bile acid testing. Had she not had that episode - we would not have done it because she was eating, playing, and growing normally AND her liver enzymes were tested when I first brought her home and they were fine.

I think I will obtain a copy of the test results and schedule telephone consult just to be sure that I am doing all the right things between now and next month - when we have scheduled another bile acid test. Her results were only midly elevated and she only had the one incident - so we really don't know. She will be 6 months old for that test - so I think we have a good plan and on target. My vet won't spay her until we have alittle more information and I think he is wise for that.

Everyone here has great advice. I will try the different treats for her - no point in fueling the fire with chicken and pupparoni.

I will let you know what I learn in my consult.

i would definitely stick to low protein or a highly digestible protein like fish - you could treat with cod and you can get it from sam's club in freezer section and cook it up and keep in baggy and give small pieces like you were doing the chicken

My Cali had a bile acid test with results the first time 92/0 or close to that and on repeat was like 49/0. An ultrasound showed no external shunt so when she was spayed they did a liver biopsy which showed a very mild MVD (internal shunt) which required no tretament. I do keep her on a lower protein diet and have had no problems 4 years later. The specialist that was treating her said in her experience BA results under 100 were usually indicative of MVD and higher than 100 an external shunt. I hope Lucy's next test will be normal.

Thank you for sharing that. I love to hear positive outcomes or whenever a problem can be managed with diet. Did your regular vet do the spay?

I love my Vet but I'm getting the impression he is not anxious to do the spay.

So I might end up going to Ohio State for that and maybe they'll do the same thing that Cali had.

Gosh. These little ones are a BIG responsibility! We also have a Westie and, other than skin issues, he is very independent compared to Lucy. But I'm probably a little more attached to Lucy and my son to Ringo.

the mvd just to be clear is not an internal shunt that is usually found in big dogs - the mvd is tiny shunts in liver

Hi. Preprandial (before meal) test results will be high if the dog releases bile in the middle of the night. Many dogs do this. The postprandial (after meal) results if >100 indicate shunting, <100 indicate HMD (MVD) Vegetable proteins better than meat, can give egg white (no Yolks), pasta, low sodium, low fat cottage cheese, Plain low fat yogurt.
Seizures can happen within 30 minutes of a meal, watch during that time. If that happens, get back to the vet for medications, or if walking as if drunk, lethargic, UTI, drinking more water, staring/blank look...
Good Luck,
Kathy

yeah my girl is on soy diet as soy is a low protein - her diet is 18% protein

This is a page from my most favorite site:

Portosystemic Shunts FAQ

Best place for info on liver disorders on the web!

Thank you for that! Right now my vet is not recommending a change in diet but I think I'm going to do the telephone consult once I get a copy of her test results. Hopefully, that will not offend my Vet. After all, he has hundreds of pets to worry about and I have only 2!

But I am not going to feed her the high protein diet (yikes) that I feed my Westie due to his allergies.

And I am going to offer her treats that are low in protein and maybe give her a little plain, low-fat yogurt.

And maybe then her next test will be normal! I know. I won't get my hopes TOO high.

Gosh. It's amazing how much time I have spent in this forum. I've been spending time on YT for a while - but I never thought I would be in the sick and injured forum!

I'm glad it's here. And I feel so bad that there seem to be so many of us in here . . . . . why is that I wonder?

good post

some dogs are lactose intolerant so be careful with yogurt as it can give them diarhea and it has to be lowfat and stoneyfield is what many use if you want to try it