My baby has a Liver shunt
 

Does anyone here have a yorkie with a liver shunt and is managing it through diet and medicine. My little sadie was just diagnosed with a shunt and im not sure if i want to put her through a surgery.
She will be 5 years old this week.

I'm sorry to hear that she has a liver shunt. I have no experience with them. Have you done a search of the sick and injured forum to find others who have posted on liver shunts? I'm sure you'll find lots of information through those past threads as well. I hope someone can help you with information soon.

I manage Lucy with diet and protein monitoring ~ but she does not have an actual shunt; she has mild MVD (small internal shunting).

If your dog has a large, external shunt; those are usually managed by surgery and are quite successful in the right hands.

How was the actual shunt diagnosed? What are the current symptoms that your dog is showing?

While scarey, if feasible, surgery may be the best option to offer your dog a long, healthy life.

Here's a link with more info...
Portosystemic Shunts FAQ

Sadie had an ultrasound last week. The vet said the next step would be exploratory surgery because the shunt is internal and possibly inoperable. Right now i have her on a low protein diet and she's taking lactulose.

The only symptom she has shown for years was vomiting and recently she had a seizure.

My dog Daisy was diagnosed at around the same age as your dog. We also had an ultrasound but she did not undergo exploratory surgery given her age and the results of her bile acids testing since they were slightly over the cut off for a single portosystemic shunt vs. microscopic shunting or "MVD". We opted instead to first try medical management at the suggestion of our vet. She is now 10 1/2 years old and has done very well. Her bile acids were pretty high to begin with, and went down with the Hill's L/D diet and Marin, and have gone to completely normal on a home cooked diet (she did not do well on L/D when it was her exclusive diet).

In our dog's case, given her symptoms that were mild and waxed and waned over the years and consisted of diarrhea and vomiting, exploratory surgery did not seem like a good first step in our almost 6-year old dog. But she also never had neurological symptoms, leaning toward MVD rather than single shunt as a "probable" diagnosis.

What were your dog's bile acids test results?
Was your vet able to pick up a single shunt on the ultrasound? What were the findings of the ultrasound?
Is she on Hill's L/D?
Did your vet suggest Marin or Denosyl (or the combined product Denamarin)?

I will keep your dog in my thoughts.

Thank you for your response. I hope sadie will be as lucky as daisy :)

Sadie's bile acids were 345 and 137 post prandial.
He has not prescribed a diet . I had recently switched her to Wellness Simple Solutions because we thought her daily vomiting was possibly an allergy. He thought it would be a good idea since it is also low protein.

Why don't you ask your vet about the Hill's L/D diet and the use of Marin and Denosyl for Sadie? She is high but at her age, I can't help but wonder if she has a situation like my Daisy since she is around the same age. Only your vet can make the diagnosis but I do want to share more with you about Daisy. We put Daisy on the Hill's L/D and marin and retested her and her postprandial # went from 107 to 33. I'm not sure about wellness but dogs with shunting need certain types of protein, not just low protein. The amino acid profiles of the proteins matter and Hill's L/D is usually the best option for most liver shunt dogs.

I also think you should consider a consultation with a board certified internist to discuss Sadie's case rather than your general vet but at the very least ask about Hill's L/D diet and Marin. I would not use denamarin (combines marin and denosyl) but some do. I prefer the separate products.

I hope this helps and feel free to share my Daisy's case with your vet if needed as not all vets are really well versed in liver shunt. I know my general vet was not, and I had to move on to a specialist to get the right answers I was seeking for Daisy.

I have to recommend that you take your dog to a specialist at this point.

Internal shunts are most often found in large breed dogs, it's highly unlikely to find an internal shunt in a Yorkie... as Liver Shunt dogs have difficulty with anesthesia, I would only approve surgery for shunt repair... and an experienced vet that specializes in shunt repair would be the best option.

Liver Shunts are very hard to find on ultrasound, only experienced vets are able to do this ... a vet with less experience with Liver Shunts will most likely miss finding the shunt.

Your dog's BAT results are quite high. I don't think medical/dietary management would be a good choice for her... 5 years old is not that old. I know of a 7 year old that had the surgery and is doing fine.

If you can go to the University of Tennessee, they are the best in shunt surgery:

Contact

They will also discuss your dog's case with your vet if you ask him to call them for recommendations on a course of treatment for her.

I have a year old yorkie who went to UT to have shunt surgery only to find that it wasn't a shunt, but a very rare case. I did A LOT of research on shunts and joined the yahoo group called Liver_Shunt_And_MVD_Support. There are a lot of people on there who have dogs with MVD and liver shunts. From what I have gathered from the info. that I've read, it is not a good idea to have a dog over the age of about 2 yrs to have surgery because at that point the liver damage is too high and the survival rate is low. BUT there is a chance that your baby will make it through just fine. Like I said, my yorkie has a very rare case of a liver problem so there was nothing the surgeon could do. I currently have her on L/D Hills Diet with lactulose and amoxicillin because that is what Dr. Tobias (the main Liver Shunt/ MVD surgeon in Tennessee, maybe the best in the U.S.) recommends because there aren't many side effects. My yorkie has been doing great for the most part. She very rarely has LS symptoms (she used to have them all the time) so I know it's working. Good luck with whatever decision you decide to make!!

Hello, my baby Brodie also has a Liver Shunt. You should really read my LONG post on Brodies liver shunt story. My original vet adamantly refused to believe Brodie had an external shunt and said if he had one it was internal... it sounds like you are going through a lot of the same. At 5wks yorkies aren't large enough to see a shunt on an ultrasound for the most part. If not treated you are going to end up with lots and lots of vet bills. Take my word for it - it is better to bring your dog to a specialist now and pay one vet bill then deal with blockages and cutting open their bladder to remove stones... etc. These surgeries are quite pricey (I paid $4000 to remove stones!?!) which is more than I paid at the specialist to have his shunt checked out and "repaired". I'm not sure where you are located but I went to Dr Center's at Cornell University. They were very helpful, nice and not that expensive. If you need any information please feel free to message me. I promise you will be glad you brought him to a specialist. You don't want to see your baby sick all the time, or throw your money away!!!

Karen, I hope everything with Sadie gets better. Everytime I see you, my heart weeps at work! I know she is strong and she will make it :)

I would like to thank everyone for their kind words and advice during this difficult time. I have since started her on the L/d diet and the supplements Marin and Denosyl. Looking into a
Specialist soon. Closest would be in Pittsburgh, PA.

You should also join this yahoo group:

Liver_Shunt_And_MVD_Support : Liver Shunt & MVD/HMD Support

They are wonderful and have LOTS of answers!! My Teddi was diagnosed with a liver shunt at 1 year and we went to Tennessee to have surgery. It was wonderful and she is now 4 1/2 years old and doing great!!! I don't think you can NOT do surgery and expect your dog to live a a long and full life. If it is operable you should really have surgery and as soon as possible.

Maybe you could take her to a specialist to see just exactly how she's doing. I think surgery is going to be the only option. Sending prayers out for your baby. Let us know how she's doing.

Liver Shunt Research