Bella is sick
 

PLEASE keep her in your thoughts. It has been a really rough week; sorry I didn't come post right away but I've been trying to educate myself.

Bella is my 2+ year old Yorkie. She's a big girl for a Yorkie at 12.3 pounds. We've had her over a year & there was little indication of any liver problems until recently when she's started throwing up bile. We just received her BAT & other bloodwork back day before yesterday indicating she needs further testing done. We live in North Central Florida so we'll be having a second opinion &/or surgery for her suspected shunt done at UF (hopefully this can be done asap; I expect a bit of a wait though). I say
suspected because I'm not convinced she's got a liver shunt at this point. I also didn't know until researching a bit that the "cute" little rubbing she does along the furniture was something other people with shunt babies had noticed theirs do.
Her test results could very well have been skewed by a few factors. When she started getting finicky about eating her kibble a few weeks ago, I added about a teaspoon of Ziwi Peak which is a very high protein raw food that we used to use as her ultimate treat. :( She got her rabies shot the same day she was tested; had eaten; & only one BAT was run. Her numbers under those conditions:
BAT 29.3 with a reference range of 0-6.9
ALT 23 AST 28 Albumin 3.4 BUN 17
Also, her Triglycerides were twice the normal levels

She's on neomycin & lactulose; we've started feeding Iams low residue (which is what our current vet said to give her although I'm not liking the ingredients list much).
Prior to that she ate Blue Buffalo chicken & rice.

I'll keep you posted after we've had our consult with UF.

sending prayers and hugs

Sending prayers for Sweet Bella. I know you are a wreck and so worried, hopefully it is something minor.

Thanks ladies.
Yes, I have been just a mess ever since the vet called to say no, it wasn't pancreatitis but a liver shunt. He's so damn callous & this was the last straw. I found a much better (more modern & up to date) vet just north of us & had set Bella up to be retested but after consulting with the new vet they suggested we'd possibly be better off using the money to get a more definitive answer to what's really wrong with her at UF. I want to stay positive but my heart is really fighting a huge battle with my head right now.

Thinking of you and Bella and sending up prayers:hands: I don't know much about this stuff, but am glad that you are going to take her to UF. Hopefully it's not serious and can be managed with diet, but if surgery is needed, I've seen lots of little ones here do very well post-surgery. Hang in there, Mom:love:

Oh my! I'm so sorry to hear this news... (although those numbers aren't really all that high). Shunts normally come in at over 100 on the BAT.

Great suggestion from your new vet about going to UF. The liver, gall bladder, pancreas, and kidneys are all so closely working together it could be anything.... your other vet said 'shunt' only bc it affects many Yorkies, but those results are not definitive in any way.

Also, LS dogs do not properly process vaccines, it does absolutely nothing to vaccinate them, except make their liver work harder to get rid of the vaccine. So no more vaccines until she's diagnosed.

Keeping you both in my prayers...

U of Tenn recommends Hill's Prescription L/D for LS dogs... they said it's the best thing one can do for them, short of surgery.

Keeping Bella in my prayers.

Sending out healing thoughts.

I have an MVD dog that is now 12. Her initial BAT was over 93 pre and 107 post with ALT in the 300s.

Testing on the day of a vaccine would invalidate the test results
Testing a liver profile after eating and not after a fast would invalidate the results
Testing BAT without following Dr Center protocol is not reliable
IAMS low residue isn't a food that has ever been rec for my dog
Lactulose seems overkill - Daisy has always been given amoxicillin and Marin and denosyl for flares

Feel free to PM me if you need info.

I honestly don't think those numbers look that bad......Of course I am not a vet, but it just does not sound like LS to me.
I would go to another vet for a second opinion for sure.

Sherry, I hope you get to the bottom of what is wrong with Bella. You have a wealth of good information/advice here on YT at your disposal. A good AAHA vet (like your new one is) should be able to get to the bottom of this without draining your wallet :hug:

That's where I would go. If he felt UF was needed after that, then fine. I have a feeling Bella might be ok. I surely hope so.

Prayers for you and Bella. I read what Cathy and Linda said and that makes me feel better about this. I will keep checking back. Please update us when you can.

I sure hope it isn't a liver shunt. I am so sorry you and Bella are going through this. Hopefully you will find out more information very soon. Prayers and hugs to you and Bella.

Here's Tink's story... it's a long read but you have some time to kill...

http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/sic...g-results.html

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

Oh Sherry I am so sad that your going through this right now, please remember to take care of YOU and Bella.

Make sure to read info. from reputable sites and remember every pup is different, please.

I will keep you both in my thoughts and YT prayers.

No real answers yet but we did see UF for the consult. We still don't know what's causing the bile vomiting episodes. Right now they're treating her with Cerena & pepcid to control that. They did xrays, ammonia & redo of her bloodwork. The xray showed no obstructions (which could've been a possibility...heard a story of a patient they had that'd eaten a cork!; it bobbed around inside causing all kinds of troubles). Her bloodwork doesn't show any issues. They don't feel she has LS but will rerun the BAT after we've gotten her more steady. We did find out both her knees have luxating patellas.
I fed her a bit of rice this morning after her meds so I'm hoping she keeps it down. Poor thing has either thrown up or had diarrhea for five days now(dehydration is a concern so we're watching for signs of that).

Thanks for your concerns & well wishes; we appreciate them.

Glad to hear Bella only has a minor digestive upset and a couple of bad knees. I bet the BB and treats are the culprit. Hope all goes well from here on out.

Sherry I am just reading this for the first time and my heart goes out to you and poor Bella. I am glad you had the consult and it's good to hear they do not think it is LS. I will be thinking and praying for a good outcome for Bella.

I have been feeding BB the one with the rice and fish, Lola will be two in Dec. do you think that could cause her problems, so far they keep telling me her bloodwork is normal. But like with Sherry it seems like these problems come out of the blue which has me just waiting for the shoe to drop.

Just seeing this. Bella is in my prayers.

I doubt UF would have had me return Bella to Blue Buffalo if they thought there was a problem with it in any way.

Again, so far their diagnosis did not rule out LS. They're treating her "conservatively" at this point since the BAT results done by my previous vet were mild. Right now they're treating her for the vomiting/diarrhea. Once that's under control we'll be able to move forward in her treatment. The Cerernia is an antiemetic used in this case to stop her vomiting. The pepcid is used to reduce gastrointestinal acid production.

You'll drive yourself crazy if you wait for shoes to drop. If your dog seems healthy, then don't worry about "what ifs".....as for BB, I wouldn't feed it to any of my dogs. Have seen lots of threads on Yt over the years with dogs getting vomiting/diarrhea from BB. I wouldn't choose it for my yorkies.

Just seeing this and hoping Bella is okay. Saying lots of prayers......please update when you can.

They have not ruled out LS and feel Blue Buffalo is ok? I think I would question that one.....if they even think for one minute she has LS, I cannot imagine they would not advise a prescription food. Maybe you should call them and ask to be sure, Sherry. Maybe they misunderstood what you planned to feed her.

I guess at this point I'd have to say this was a huge false alarm (thankfully!!). Her bloodwork all came back within normal ranges, her urinalysis was good & no parasites were found either. I don't think UF would have allowed Bella to return to Blue Buffalo if they thought this was liver shunt (BB is 18% min Protein & 8% min Fat; normally LS pups get very little protein from non meat sources.

Bella had her last dose of Cerena yesterday. I\'m really hoping she\'s just had some bug & can continue to not vomit the bile. I\'ve made changes to the way I feed her by splitting her 1/2 cup a day into 3 meals instead of two & ordered a new bowl for her that will help her slow down when she eats. We will continue to give her the pepcid unless we\'re told to stop it.

I want to thank each of you for your concern; it really meant a lot.

That\'s great news that Bella is ok! It is indeed scary when they are ill.

Great news! So glad all her results were good! Praying that she continues to improve...