SO much going on with my Drexler...
 

My 2 and 3 month old male Yorkie, Drexler had a seizure last Saturday night. It was his second major seizure in the last 6 months. He spent the night in the hospital and responded very well to epilepsy medication while there. The doctor in the emergency said she really thinks he may suffer from it (epilepsy). The next day at the vet they told me the next step is an acid/bile test. His results came back (very) abnormal (I don't remember exactly what the doctor said...I was at the beach and it was very windy when I got the call...) and I think he said the next step was to check out his liver (by x-ray?). I am confused on why he'd need another x-ray because he has had two in the last six months that came back normal. His liver does look a tad large, but the doctor had ruled out liver shunts twice. I was supposed to go in tomorrow to check out what steps to take next and tonight he had dark, liquidy stool. The stool is MOSTLY blood. Do you think these problems correlate with one another or could it possibly two different problems? I will be honest and say my dog has a poor diet. He refuses to eat and sometimes goes days without eating so someone in the household will feed him people food. I kept a sample of his stool and will bring it to the vet tomorrow, but it says the stool sample should not be older than 12 hours. I won't be at the vet until the 14th or 15th hour... Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I am so worried about him...

Also, if you know any way to get discounted service or help with payments... I have a care credit card that gives me 6 months no interest on his bills over $300. He's at about $1,000 right now. I am a 21 year old part-time working college student with no other help...

It sounds like your vet(s) are on the right track. His liver is a major concern. The next step would be ultrasound and/or scintography to look for a shunt. It really couldn't have been ruled out yet.

Liver problems could cause a diarrhea issue as could so many other things. Will he eat canned food? Pickiness can be a symptom of liver problems. He may just not feel well after eating.

When the liver isn't functioning properly (and it isn't if the bile acids were elevated), toxins can build up in the body because they aren't being filtered properly. This causes hepatic encephalopathy (seizures, shaking, circling, head pressing, walking into walls, etc.).

You definitely have some legitimate concerns. I have a dog with liver disease (MVD) and my dog has had a lot of digestive problems also. He was diagnosed with clostridium overgrowth last summer. Our specialist said that his digestive problems were exacerbated because he has MVD. It is an ongoing battle to keep all his health problems under control and monitor him for symptoms and changes. We have spent a lot of time and money at the vet in the past year.
Diet will be very important for your pup if he does have liver problems. I would really suggest you check out the yahoo group for liver shunts and MVD here. They have a lot of information there that will be helpful. The UT website here has some good information.

What were the bile acid number at? If they are high and your dog is showing these symptoms, I would just go ahead and get a referral to a specialist and not waste more money at my regular vet. If it is a shunt, they will only be able to diagnose it for sure with scintigraphy. If a shunt is found, surgery to repair the shunt will be very possibly needed.

Does your breeder have a health guarantee? This is a genetic condition in the breed and they should help with costs.

I'm so sorry to hear about Drexler, there is an article in the YT library, I thought I'd link here :
Information on Help for Vet Bills maybe this will be usefull for you.

If you've only been working with regular vets; then I think it is time to go to the specialists.
The liver group posted with have tons on information for you, including good vet hospitals.

Keep us posted:) and good luck with your boy. Also for sure contact the breeder, they need to know about is ongoing condition.

One other thing look up the Puppy Lemon laws in your state.

I'm sorry that you have had to see your dog suffer from severe seizures. I have a dog with epilepsy and have seen it, and it is very upsetting to watch. I think the other posters are correct that you need a specialist, an internal medicine specialist, for your dog at this point so you can quickly get to the right diagnosis. I also have a dog with a liver problem and as a young puppy of only 8 weeks she had stools of entire blood and that was very scary so again I can identify with your experience. As Ellie May said, diarrhea and bloody diarrhea can be tied to liver problems.

I hope you are able to pursue the specialist soon. I know what you mean about big vet bills and I'm glad you have care credit to help out.
Best wishes.

Thank you all so much for the information and support! The vet did not tell me the exact results of Drexler's bile tests, but they explained to me it did not match with shunts at all. Today at the vet his bowel test came back normal and that he has small ulcers in his belly. They gave me medication to close them up so he won't have bloody stools. As far as his seizures... The doctor put it this way: "If Drex was my dog, I'd start him on epilepsy medicine. If that doesn't cure his severe seizures, we start the testing." He said Drexler would be on the medicine for life, but if we had to we could ween him off. He's so playful and happy today! I am so glad I found this forum and met all you other yorkie lovers :D

I agree if the doctor suggests starting meds for the seizures, I would. However, personally I would not be comfortable continuing the meds without knowing if there is a root cause for the seizures. I recently experienced this, and while I understand not everyone has the funds to cover further diagnostic testing, I just would not rest easy not knowing for sure that there isn't some other issue going on with my pup.

I personally would not medicate my dog unless I had at the very least talked to a neurologist. A consult with a board certified neurologist in the city of Boston cost me $250 and that is about average for most cities. Many newer drugs used for epilepsy show a lot of promise and success without the serious side effects of some older drugs. Epilepsy is a progressive disorder, so I do not think it is a good idea to wean your dog "off" of the medications.

I agree with Crystal here...I would be quite concerned about the liver and there is most likely a correlation there with the seizures. I personally wouldn't start epilepsy rx until I know exactly what was going on in the liver. Can you take him somewhere that they can do an ultrasound of his liver? Aside from the bile acid test that has been done, an ultrasound (preferably by a specialist) will give a much better look than an x-ray. What method did they use to diagnose the stomach ulcers?