HELP! Sick Lopsided Walking Yorkie......

[dwerten]

Originally Posted by twilson28

Hi Peggy -- please push for liver shunt testing if you haven't done so already. The Bile Acid Test usually only costs about $100 bucks and it is very informative in determining whether the liver may be the issue.

Liver shunt is VERY had to diagnose, because some dogs have very severe symptoms and some have virtually none. My lhasapoo just had his liver shunt surgery at AMC in NYC (11/10/09) and thankfully, he's doing great post-op with no complications! But he didn't get dignosed until 2 1/2 and he had virtually NO SYMPTOMS -- Not just "some" of the symptoms listed...he had NONE!! I had to fight and push and demand my Vet to do more testing, because she said I was over-reacting about him being too tired. That's why I brought him in...his pee was too dark and he was always sleepy. Since he had no severe, clear-cut liver shunt symptoms, they refused to believe that was the problem.

Well, a couple blood tests, bile acid tests and ultrasounds later, voila! Liver shunt was clear as day and we instantly started prepping our little man with the food and supplements needed to get his liver strong and ready to endure surgery.

Vets know VERY little about liver issue (scary, but I've learned very true) and sometimes, you just have to demand to have things done to get answers.

Best of luck with this! It's not easy....but my little man is now healthy and happy and while we have used TONS of Care Credit credit cards to pay for all our testing and everything else, he's our baby and we realize now we would've paid 10 times as much, and eaten Campbell's soup for the next 5 years if we had to, in order to afford his Vet bills....

Tania, Chewy (lhasapoo) and Sparky (crazy Yorkie)

this is 100% correct