Please Help......Liver schunt

[dee1987]

Thank you all so much for your kind words and suggestions. Buddy is in good form today, went for three walks and is playing and eating all day. I have just taken him to the groomers as he was a little smelly from getting sick and his hair is gone quite long.
He seems happier but i am the opposite. I just want to get this sorted. I rang the vet and asked him could i start him on a low protein diet right now and he said no wait until monday as he wants to test him before and after eating to determine if it is a shunt.
I just dont want to be giving him somethin that is causing him any pain......
I really hope he is not in pain.
Please keep Buddy in your prayers
xxxxx

[kjc]

Glad to hear he's doing better. Could he have gotten into anything toxic? LS doesn't improve by itself.

[Charlies Mamma]

Originally Posted by dee1987

I am very uncomfortable...its just the worst news ever. the vet asked me to feed him as normal and bring him in fasting on monday so they could do tests before and after eating.....All Buddy does now is eat, sleep, get up, find a new place, sleep, toilet, sleep. no play time, nothing

They are going to do a Bile Acid test. This will help them in determining if he may have liver shunt. they have him fast and when he gets there they will draw blood, they will then feed him a fatty meal wait a bit and draw blood again for comparison it took a couple days to get back the results when they did Charlies. His were slightly elevated. We then took him to a specialist as our vet did not specialize in liver shunts. After an ultrasound with doppler and more labs work he was diagnosed with MVD it is a shunting of small veins in the liver not the large portal vein. it is not surgically fixable but we now have him on Royal Canine hepatic formula. I can say, that before knowing what was wrong and changing his food, Charlie was very sleepy going into the afternoon everyday, since the new diet he is very perky and has allot more energy, I feel like it is because his body is not having to fight the toxins from the proteins everyday.

[dee1987]

Buddy not doin so great this mornin. he hasnt eaten since 5 yesterday. and all he's doing is sleeping. he was walking around with me in kitchen this morning and he is very wobbly. when he went to drink his water he toppled over and fell. Whatever test the vet is doing tomorrow he wont have the results for a couple of days.........i cant watch this for much longer.....im sick with worry

[cindersellie]

he hasnt eaten since 5 yesterday. and he is very wobbly.

My poor baby did that after she threw up. We ended up at emergancy with low blood sugar. (she skipped 3 meals) Try to give him some karo syrup to keep his sugar lvls up. My baby gets .5ml every 4 hrs till shes 2 lbs. she's a little over 1 lb at the moment. He also needs to drink. Water helps remove toxins. Use a dropper if you have to. When you go to the vet, write down what they say, or ask them to write it for you. That's a big help. I hope everything works out. You're in my prayers.

[Charlies Mamma]

Originally Posted by dee1987

Buddy not doin so great this mornin. he hasnt eaten since 5 yesterday. and all he's doing is sleeping. he was walking around with me in kitchen this morning and he is very wobbly. when he went to drink his water he toppled over and fell. Whatever test the vet is doing tomorrow he wont have the results for a couple of days.........i cant watch this for much longer.....im sick with worry

I know it can get expensive because I just went through this with Charlie but if you have an ER vet close to you I would take him. His being off balance enoughthat he is falling over could be neurological and something that needs addressing right away. There are allot of symptoms that go along with a liver shunt, many of them Charlie does not have but disorientation is one of the symptoms I am not telling you that is what your baby has, Im not a vet, but like I said I just went through this with Charlie and did allot of research, talked with specialist out of state and everything. I really feel your baby should be seen today if at all possible

[chachi]

Originally Posted by dee1987

Buddy not doin so great this mornin. he hasnt eaten since 5 yesterday. and all he's doing is sleeping. he was walking around with me in kitchen this morning and he is very wobbly. when he went to drink his water he toppled over and fell. Whatever test the vet is doing tomorrow he wont have the results for a couple of days.........i cant watch this for much longer.....im sick with worry

He needs to be seen by a vet

[liza]

I had a little girl who was 6 months, about 2 1/2 lbs when diagnosed with a liver shunt.She was having seizures. Our vet told us if she did not have the surgery she would die. We rushed her to Mississippi State and those folks were incredible. She did have surgery and had a wonderful, life. We lost her this Jan. She was 15. She was loved so very much.
There are different types of liver shunts. One is easy to repair. Good Luck.

[enchilila]

I'll be praying for Buddy. I hope he can get the help he needs today.

[Lolasmom1211]

I think your sweet baby can be put on a low protein diet and still be Bile Acid tested. You do not have to continue to poison him, if he does have a shunt, in order to test him for this disease. Simply by putting him on a low protein diet, it will not "cure" the problem of a shunt, nor will it prevent your vet from getting accurate results from the test. If he has a liver shunt, his numbers will still show after fasting and feeding him the high fat diet during the test. My Lola had her shunt surgically repaired and was on a low fat diet and her numbers were still high because she had many micro shunts. There is just no way that by taking him off proteins today that it will change the results of the test and it just might help him feel better...I would have to start him on a low protein diet to see if it made a difference. Please seek the advice of another vet if you can. If your little one is showing neurological signs, which he is if he is wobbly and lethargic, there is no reason to wait to treat this little one. It will take a full day to do the BAT and then 2-3 days to get it back - something should be done before then. I know what it is like to worry about these little babies. No one wil fault you for seeking the advice of another vet - you are the only voice your little one has. We are all thinking about you and here to help....thoughts and prayers going out to you......

[ladyjane]

Originally Posted by Lolasmom1211

I think your sweet baby can be put on a low protein diet and still be Bile Acid tested. You do not have to continue to poison him, if he does have a shunt, in order to test him for this disease. Simply by putting him on a low protein diet, it will not "cure" the problem of a shunt, nor will it prevent your vet from getting accurate results from the test. If he has a liver shunt, his numbers will still show after fasting and feeding him the high fat diet during the test. My Lola had her shunt surgically repaired and was on a low fat diet and her numbers were still high because she had many micro shunts. There is just no way that by taking him off proteins today that it will change the results of the test and it just might help him feel better...I would have to start him on a low protein diet to see if it made a difference. Please seek the advice of another vet if you can. If your little one is showing neurological signs, which he is if he is wobbly and lethargic, there is no reason to wait to treat this little one. It will take a full day to do the BAT and then 2-3 days to get it back - something should be done before then. I know what it is like to worry about these little babies. No one wil fault you for seeking the advice of another vet - you are the only voice your little one has. We are all thinking about you and here to help....thoughts and prayers going out to you......

[Perrella]

Checking back to see how Buddy is doing today. Continuing prayers for this little one.

[dee1987]

Had buddy at vet this morning and he had his bile acid test. he fasted from four the evening before as he was sleeping the whole time and had no interest in food. at 3 am this morning he woke and was in the best form iv seen in a long time. My dad reckons this was because most of food was gone from his system that was makin him ill.
Buddy was in great form again this morning before i took him to the vets. after we fed him his normal food he slept again and was very drowsy. This evening i started him on his new food plan- royal canin heptatic food (wet food in a can and dry nuts). He is a completely different dog.......hes hardly slept, he has been chasing people around the house, barking, hiding and then jumping out on people....
I hope this is the beginning of a recovery but I doubt it will work this fast. Vet has told me i should have results by friday as blood is being sent from Ireland to UK.
Thank you for all your kind messages. I hope my furbaby will be ok
xxx

[rubymoon2072]

keeping buddy in my thougths for good test results...and that the food works for him!

[Lolasmom1211]

Originally Posted by dee1987

Had buddy at vet this morning and he had his bile acid test. he fasted from four the evening before as he was sleeping the whole time and had no interest in food. at 3 am this morning he woke and was in the best form iv seen in a long time. My dad reckons this was because most of food was gone from his system that was makin him ill.
Buddy was in great form again this morning before i took him to the vets. after we fed him his normal food he slept again and was very drowsy. This evening i started him on his new food plan- royal canin heptatic food (wet food in a can and dry nuts). He is a completely different dog.......hes hardly slept, he has been chasing people around the house, barking, hiding and then jumping out on people....
I hope this is the beginning of a recovery but I doubt it will work this fast. Vet has told me i should have results by friday as blood is being sent from Ireland to UK.
Thank you for all your kind messages. I hope my furbaby will be ok
xxx

So glad to hear he is feeling better! Did your vet say anything about putting him on lactulose? It is a syrup that will help keep the toxins out of his system. In the United States you must have a prescription, I'm not sure about where you live. The vets routinely put the pups on it over here when they are diagnosed with liver shunts. Keep us posted!