Happy reading, fill us in if you find something new. I cant feed chicken to Manolo. He does react, somtimes seisure or just acts real slow and confused. They LOVE Sweet Potato.

Hi and welcome to YT. As you've already heard, you're in good company as many of us have an MVD dog.

My Daisy was diagnosed as probable MVD at age 6. Her numbers for her ALT as well as her bile acids were bad. Her postprandial number was 106. She was right at the cusp of MVD vs. liver shunt. Given her age, we opted to try medical management first before putting her through a biopsy or exploratory surgery. Although there is a possibility that shunts are not detected on ultrasound, we went for it anyway since an expert in imaging would be conducting it as opposed to our general vet. In our case, the ultrasound revealed some anatomical features that supported an MVD diagnosis.

To make a long story short, Daisy is going to turn 10 years old this year. She is in the best health of her life, thanks to Dr. Remillard at the MSPCA Angell Memorial Hospital in Boston who formulated a home cooked diet for her that greatly improved the quality of her life. Her liver enzymes and her bile acids are within NORMAL ranges.

We currently only do the home cooked diet using vegetarian sources of protein and carbohydrates and her fats consist of therapeutic dosing of omega-3 fish oils. We plan to add milk thistle back to her regimen but we have to do a follow up with her internist first before we just put her back on.

Dogs with MVD can do fine on chicken, but some cant. If you want to home cook, your best bet is to contact a vet nutritionist for a program tailored to your dog. We love Dr. Remillard so recommend her, but there are others out there too. Our dog Daisy never did good on meat - she also has irritable bowel issues and severe allergies (those issues have resolved on the diet too).

To sum it up, MVD is not a death sentence. Your dog needs to be managed but many of us do it every day with success. Daisy is a miracle dog and she is very active. She runs around the yard, she plays ball for hours, she plays at puppy class when Teddy goes, and all the things dogs do. You'd never know she was sick.

Good luck!

Is Coco actually showing any signs of MVD or do you just know because of the BATs and biopsy?

Sounds great!


I found this from Dick Van Pattons NB. INGREDIENT LISTING
Brown Rice, Oatmeal, Cracked Pearled Barley, Peas, Potato Protein, Canola Oil, Potatoes, Tomato Pomace, Vegetable Flavoring, Calcium Carbonate, Dicalcium Phosphate, Flaxseed, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Taurine, Natural Mixed Tocopherols, Spinach, Parsley Flakes, Cranberries, L-Lysine, L-Carnitine, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Kelp, Vitamin E Supplement, Iron Proteinate, Zinc Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Potassium Iodide, Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B-1), Manganese Proteinate, Manganous Oxide, Ascorbic Acid, Vitamin A Supplement, Biotin, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Manganese Sulfate, Sodium Selenite, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B-6), Vitamin B-12 Supplement, Riboflavin (Vitamin B-2), Vitamin D-2 Supplement, Folic Acid.

GUARANTEED ANALYSIS
Crude Protein 18.0% minimum
Crude Fat 8.0% minimum
Crude Fiber 4.0% maximum
Moisture 10.0% maximum
Omega-3 Fatty Acids 0.3% minimum
Omega-6 Fatty Acids 2.0% minimum

For comparison purposes, Daisy's home cooked diet is formulated, on a dry matter basis, to be
Protein 15%
Fat 5%
Fiber 16%

Glad your baby is doing well. Last Question - I promise. Is the RC Hepatic LS by prescription only? If so, my vet absolutely will not give it to me. He said again tonight that a prescription food for her is not necessary; her numbers are too low to warrant that.

my answers in red above.

Ellie has...something wrong with her liver. Biopsy ruled out widespread MVD, but not a more localized form. Her bile acids have been as high as 106 post, so it is theoretically possible that a shunt is present. She has no neurological symptoms and her u/s didn't show a shunt, so we aren't doing anymore testing right now. Because the bile acids have been so high, so is still treated as if she has MVD. This is most important for her when talking about anesthesia and pain meds used. I do give SAMe (Denosyl) because it can't hurt and I want to do something. She is on low to moderate protein. I don't like giving red meat or exotics to liver compromised dogs. Vegetarian protein, eggs, and whitefish seems to work best for the majority. Some do very well on poultry and some don't. Depends on the dog. When treating a severely affected dog, vegetarian proteins or fish or generally used...

In Ellie's case, her bile acids went from 47 to 15 to 106 post, so they got better and then worse. I'd be very surprised to see bile acids normalize for life in an MVD dog. Even if they do, the disease is not cured (but managed very well!).

Royal Canin 14 is rx only.

Sorry about my run-on paragraph. :)

She had loose stools occasionally, after being told we could go back to a regular diet and vomited once, all of which may or may not be related.

But she hasn't had a bundle of clinical symptoms that prompted me to believe she is sick. If not for the second loss last year, she wouldn't have been tested until clinical symptoms appeared.

Wow yes it is Prescript. What are her Bat nums. I think Manolos were, 30 pre 60 post. He does seisure but has not in a long time. He did have a biopsy.

Her last BAT was <5 pre and 35 post. So . . pretty low. Because she is not yet a year old; he didn't want to restrict her protein too much. He thought the 20% Wellness was a low as we should go.

I wouldn't have tested morgan either if i wasn't a crazy momma. LOL She never has loose stools or vomits, and she's pretty healthy all around. The only thing i ever noticed was the two times i tried to put her on Innova Evo (at least a year apart) she would vomit after 2-3 days of eating it. I'd start to mix it in with her current food and for the first day or so she would be fine. But then by day 3 she starts to vomit. Since Evo is so high in protein, that was my only clue.

I also worked for a vet er and referral hosp at the time so i had all the tests and specialists at hand. i did BATs and an ultrasound. BATs were high (65 post) the two times i did them there. Ultra sound showed normal liver and some sludge in the gall bladder. Internal med vet said since she isn't showing signs and her BATs/US didn't show anything too bad i didn't need to alter her diet or do anything different.

My vet did wait until after her first birthday to change her over to a restricted diet. Coco's first BAT was 25.1 in July 09, second was 22.9 in Oct 09, and last was 69.8 in Apr this year.

Denamarin was added in July, the diet change in October...because of these changes and the even higher BAT in April, my vet had actually suspected a portosystemic shunt.

Personally I am still annoyed that I went to U Penn and the "specialist" there told me that nothing was wrong with her because the annomia, cholesterol, and u/a came back normal. I probably shouldn't be but, that doctor is a teaching doctor, educating future vets. I feel like that because Coco is asymptomatic they were just dismissive, even with copies of the labwork in hand. Actually I am more disappointed, in myself...I knew something wasn't right. That feeling is what prompted us, after weeks of back and forth struggling, to say "go ahead, let's do the biopsy". I felt that if a number is just a number is just a number applied to the BATs, then perhaps it applied to the normal results as well.

Anywho....so here we are. And look at this fabulous forumI joined back in October and had never utilized!!! The responses, people taking the time to share their experiences, what they have learned....it is absolutely amazing.

Many thanks to all of you. There is a comfort in knowing that this is not uncommon, although I wish all of our baby were completely healthy without restrictive diets...but healthy with assistance, well that is why there is veterinary medicine, right?
:ghug::yorkietal