Please Help......Liver schunt

[avemike]

Originally Posted by dee1987

Can anyone please tell me what a liver schunt is. My baby has been extremely sleepy for the past three days but eating, drinking, and going to the toilet as normal. today he was sick so i went to the vet. we did blood tests and the vet has just called me saying that Buddy might have a schunt. he wants to do more tests on monday to find out as he is not sure if this is it but knows its somethin to do with his liver. Please help me im inconsolable at the moment and so scared. Buddy is 4 months old and although iv only had him for two months he is my world. What can i do to make him better all he is doing is sleeping. Is he going to die? has anyone experienced this before?

Hi..I'm so sorry to hear your baby is sick. Mine has been sick as well and came out of the vet hospital today. her blood glucose kept dropping last week. I only got her last week Mon at 8wks. She kept having sugar lows and I had to give her honey water and let her lick it off a teaspoon.
The vet explained she may have a portal caval shunt (sp)which means her major vessels bypass the liver and therefore she doesn't process her glucose properly..something like that. if this is the case its serious..I hate to tell you that, but I have been told the same. Fortunately she came home today full of bounce and has eaten 4 meals since and drank water. Its so important to keep there blood sugar up.. Is this the first time you are seeing this and he is 4mths?
I would have thought you would have seen it before now if it was a shunt?..My heart goes out to you and so hope liver shunt is not the case.
I will still have to watch my baby..she is not out of the woods yet.

Love Ave

[Charlies Mamma]

Originally Posted by avemike

Hi..I'm so sorry to hear your baby is sick. Mine has been sick as well and came out of the vet hospital today. her blood glucose kept dropping last week. I only got her last week Mon at 8wks. She kept having sugar lows and I had to give her honey water and let her lick it off a teaspoon.
The vet explained she may have a portal caval shunt (sp)which means her major vessels bypass the liver and therefore she doesn't process her glucose properly..something like that. if this is the case its serious..I hate to tell you that, but I have been told the same. Fortunately she came home today full of bounce and has eaten 4 meals since and drank water. Its so important to keep there blood sugar up.. Is this the first time you are seeing this and he is 4mths?
I would have thought you would have seen it before now if it was a shunt?..My heart goes out to you and so hope liver shunt is not the case.
I will still have to watch my baby..she is not out of the woods yet.

Love Ave

First, I am not a professional not a vet, but I have read here that 8 weeks is really to soon to have taken a baby from its mommy maybe she is simply lacking in nutrition that she would have needed from mommy, also if your baby actually does have a shunt in the portal caval vein she will need surgery to fix it the portal vein processes the proteins and if hers is blocked then the toxins are not being cleaned from her system, it isnt the glucose. Has your vet gone over this information with you and did they do testing to confirm a shunt? Did they talk with you about diet? these are all very important things to discuss with your vet if she does have the shunt. Please keep us informed.

[dee1987]

Originally Posted by avemike

Hi..I'm so sorry to hear your baby is sick. Mine has been sick as well and came out of the vet hospital today. her blood glucose kept dropping last week. I only got her last week Mon at 8wks. She kept having sugar lows and I had to give her honey water and let her lick it off a teaspoon.
The vet explained she may have a portal caval shunt (sp)which means her major vessels bypass the liver and therefore she doesn't process her glucose properly..something like that. if this is the case its serious..I hate to tell you that, but I have been told the same. Fortunately she came home today full of bounce and has eaten 4 meals since and drank water. Its so important to keep there blood sugar up.. Is this the first time you are seeing this and he is 4mths?
I would have thought you would have seen it before now if it was a shunt?..My heart goes out to you and so hope liver shunt is not the case.
I will still have to watch my baby..she is not out of the woods yet.

Love Ave

Hi there, Buddy has probably had a shunt with quite a while.. at the start i wouldnt have noticed these as much but as he got sicker i began to look up symptoms and my vet suggested a shunt. I would have loved to catch it earlier but i have only had him since he was nearly three months. i hope i have caught it in time.... Have u done a blood test with ur little girl? in order to confirm that it was a shunt my vet did a blood test then sent buddy to get an ultrasound to confirm position of shunt. Hope ur little one is going to be ok

[dee1987]

Hi guys, buddy's operation is Monday 5th November. the vet is ringing me closer to the date to talk me through it. buddys shunt is outside his liver so i am hoping this is completely successful.
Please please keep my baby in your prayers

[kjc]

Originally Posted by dee1987

Hi guys, buddy's operation is Monday 5th November. the vet is ringing me closer to the date to talk me through it. buddys shunt is outside his liver so i am hoping this is completely successful.
Please please keep my baby in your prayers

Prayers for your little one...

There's really no time limit on fixing a shunt, as many dogs are not diagnosed until they are older... just the sooner the better as other complications can arise...

[avemike]

Originally Posted by dee1987

Hi guys, buddy's operation is Monday 5th November. the vet is ringing me closer to the date to talk me through it. buddys shunt is outside his liver so i am hoping this is completely successful.
Please please keep my baby in your prayers

Hi Dee
I'm so sorry to hear your news and so hope and pray Buddy will recover very quickly once he has had surgery.
To answer your question, no Hollee hasn't had any blood tests yet. My vet said she was just to small to find a vein and we had time to watch her rather. She was 8wks when we were talking and even at 9wks he said the same. I must admit I'm not sure where I am with her as she seems to be so much better and more stable now. But just when I think this she has a very quite day. But on the whole she seems to be very much better. There are a few things that are of concern which are..her eating pattern, which has improved. Sugar lows which don't happen very much anymore. She is not putting on weight steadily. She put on a 100gms in her second week with me and since then, which is another week, nothing. Even though she is eating well now. And her fontanel hasn't closed. My vet said in very small breed dogs they often do take longer to close but when you put it together with other symptoms then it is a reason for concern.
Its awful having these issues hanging over my head..not really knowing. She will be due for more shots soon so I will see if she has put on any weight and what he thinks now.
Good luck with Buddy and he is in my prayers..

[avemike]

Originally Posted by dee1987

Hi there, Buddy has probably had a shunt with quite a while.. at the start i wouldnt have noticed these as much but as he got sicker i began to look up symptoms and my vet suggested a shunt. I would have loved to catch it earlier but i have only had him since he was nearly three months. i hope i have caught it in time.... Have u done a blood test with ur little girl? in order to confirm that it was a shunt my vet did a blood test then sent buddy to get an ultrasound to confirm position of shunt. Hope ur little one is going to be ok

Hi Dee..just wanted to ask you did Buddy suffer from Hypoglycemia? What symptoms did you first start to see. Sorry to ask you this but still trying to fathom out my baby Tks Ave

[jnsdrexler02]

Saying lots of prayers for Buddy. I know how scary it is when they are sick. Please keep up posted after the surgery.

[gemy]

Originally Posted by avemike

Hi Dee
I'm so sorry to hear your news and so hope and pray Buddy will recover very quickly once he has had surgery.
To answer your question, no Hollee hasn't had any blood tests yet. My vet said she was just to small to find a vein and we had time to watch her rather. She was 8wks when we were talking and even at 9wks he said the same. I must admit I'm not sure where I am with her as she seems to be so much better and more stable now. But just when I think this she has a very quite day. But on the whole she seems to be very much better. There are a few things that are of concern which are..her eating pattern, which has improved. Sugar lows which don't happen very much anymore. She is not putting on weight steadily. She put on a 100gms in her second week with me and since then, which is another week, nothing. Even though she is eating well now. And her fontanel hasn't closed. My vet said in very small breed dogs they often do take longer to close but when you put it together with other symptoms then it is a reason for concern.
Its awful having these issues hanging over my head..not really knowing. She will be due for more shots soon so I will see if she has put on any weight and what he thinks now.
Good luck with Buddy and he is in my prayers..

I did notice you are not in Canada or the USA, so I am not familiar with the veterinary expertise in your country.

Failure to "thrive" and one charateristic is to gain weight is unfortunately a symptom of liver shunt. Here we have specialists world renowned in liver shunt surgery. Please do NOT proceed with immunizations in a liver compromised dog! A BATS test needs to be done. Here we recommend 16 wks and then 6mths.

And unless your dog is very very tiney, my vet can take blood sample from a 15wk old3 lb dog.

[Charlies Mamma]

Dee, I will be praying for Buddy please keep us informed

[dee1987]

Originally Posted by avemike

Hi Dee..just wanted to ask you did Buddy suffer from Hypoglycemia? What symptoms did you first start to see. Sorry to ask you this but still trying to fathom out my baby Tks Ave

I am so sorry, i have only just seen this message. Im a little unsure what hypoglycemia is.....all these terms and new words are so much to take in. I have looked it up and is it relating to seizures? if so buddy never had a seizure.....well not that i saw anyway. Visual signs were swaying of body, weakness in legs, head pressing, moving from place to place every 30/40 seconds trying to get comfortable, vomiting, not playing with any of his toys, no energy, rubbing of ears and sides of face...
If i can be of any more help please let me know. I pray for your little one

[msyorktown]

Originally Posted by dee1987

I am so sorry, i have only just seen this message. Im a little unsure what hypoglycemia is.....all these terms and new words are so much to take in. I have looked it up and is it relating to seizures? if so buddy never had a seizure.....well not that i saw anyway. Visual signs were swaying of body, weakness in legs, head pressing, moving from place to place every 30/40 seconds trying to get comfortable, vomiting, not playing with any of his toys, no energy, rubbing of ears and sides of face...
If i can be of any more help please let me know. I pray for your little one

Hypoglycemia is low blood sugar, which can be fatal if not caught in time..Karo syrup and NutriCal will combat this...I dont believe honey is a good idea for pups...it has toxins in it that can hurt the pup.
ps not sure if toxins is the right word...someone with more experience pls jump in and correct me.

[avemike]

Originally Posted by dee1987

I am so sorry, i have only just seen this message. Im a little unsure what hypoglycemia is.....all these terms and new words are so much to take in. I have looked it up and is it relating to seizures? if so buddy never had a seizure.....well not that i saw anyway. Visual signs were swaying of body, weakness in legs, head pressing, moving from place to place every 30/40 seconds trying to get comfortable, vomiting, not playing with any of his toys, no energy, rubbing of ears and sides of face...
If i can be of any more help please let me know. I pray for your little one

Hi Dee
I feel so sad for you and your baby Buddy.. But technogy today is so advanced that he should do well once he has had his surgery. I also feel your vet wouldn't suggest surgery unless he thought your little boy would do well having it. So have faith and you should soon have a very healthy little boy.

My little girl had hypoglycemia which is a drop in her blood sugar. Once the blood sugar drops the appetite go's. This is what I was seeing mainly in my pup. As she was so small & young my vet was very reluctant to take bloods to do any kind of testing. I gave her honey on his advice as it is very quickly assimilated. It took about 5/10mins for her to pick up and then I would feed her and she ate well. If she still refused to eat I syringed the food into her and I would see her pick up very quickly. I fed her every two hours and a lot of that was syringed in the beginning. I didn't find the nutri cal here & our vet said give honey which worked so well. The symptoms I was seeing were mainly, weakness, tiredness, lack of appetite. If a little dog is left with these symptoms and not treated they go on to have seizures followed by a coma. That's the worse case scenario. When a vet see's these symptoms together with failure to thrive he has to keep in mind liver shunt .. So I was told this was maybe the case. He delayed her shots as a result. Once we saw she was eating and gaining weight she had some of her shots but he left some out as he didn't want to over load her system.
I am very fortunet that she seems to have come right with a lot of care from my vet and is full of bounce and cheek and eats very well. She is gaining weight slowly but is at least gaining. She has also grown in size and is starting to look a little 'leggy' and has grown out of her first little jacket.

I will keep Buddy in my prayers and am sure he is going to be just fine..please keep us all updated with how he is doing.. Luv Ave

[avemike]

Originally Posted by gemy

I did notice you are not in Canada or the USA, so I am not familiar with the veterinary expertise in your country.

Failure to "thrive" and one charateristic is to gain weight is unfortunately a symptom of liver shunt. Here we have specialists world renowned in liver shunt surgery. Please do NOT proceed with immunizations in a liver compromised dog! A BATS test needs to be done. Here we recommend 16 wks and then 6mths.

And unless your dog is very very tiney, my vet can take blood sample from a 15wk old3 lb dog.

Hi..Thanks for your words of wisdom. I do agree with you as well.
My little dog was very young 8wks old (which is the age we get them here) and weighed 19.40 ozs. So I think you will appreciate my vets reluctance to go in and take blood from a little dog who virtually' doesn't have any veins' to take blood from let alone much blood in her tiny body.

I live in South Africa & am a Professional Nurse by profession. Our vets & Dr's are also world renowned. Many in my experience have been snapped up by the US and UK. My own Obstetrician back when I had my first baby went over to the US on a course and never came back.
The vet I see is the senior/owner vet in the practice and goes to various parts of Africa teaching and running courses to help train & treat those less fortunate in those parts. He is originally from Scotland.
My older yorkie that has passed on now ruptured her Cruciate ligament. She was three yrs old & a small dog. My vet (the same one as I have now) who is renowned for small bone surgery created an artificial ligament and operated to remove the old and replace it with the new. My little dog healed so quickly and never even limped for the next 8yrs of her life. Under his care I now have my little girl 13wks, who has not only bounced back but is gaining weight..as she is still young & small I hope she goes on to grow and thrive well. But right now I can't complain. If my girl needed surgery for a shunt I would have been referred to a specialist near by.

I feel for Dee & Buddy and as he is older they have been able to diagnose his condition more conclusively. We hope and pray for him Ax

[dee1987]

Ye are all just so kind. i dont think i could have gotten through the last few months without this site. friends and family think i am crazy for spending this money on buddy and i am sick to death of people saying i should put him down. but i know that surgery is the right way to go and id spend all my money just to make him better. my boyfriend feels the same and is paying for half. we are both teachers and both have this week off for halloween holidays so buddy will be spoilt rotten and we wont be leaving his side for the week