Please Help......Liver schunt
 

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?:(:sickie:

I am so sorry your Buddy is so sick. A liver shunt can be repaired surgically if that is what this is. In the meantime it is important to find out how to treat him. Did your vet put him on a special diet or anything until the testing can be done?

There are many members here who have liver shunt pups....they will be along to share their experiences.

Glad you found Yorkie Talk! :) You will get lots of help and Buddy will have a lot of prayers. :)

No he told me to feed him as normal because he is not one hundred percent sure it is a shunt. although the more i read about it the more i know that is what he has. what food should i give him........ i am so scared

You could ask him about food and see what he says. But, if he wants you to wait, there may be good reason for that.

Sometimes the things we worry the most about are not that at all...you need to try and relax until you have a diagnosis. I do know that is hard.

Can you take him to an ER Vet for a second opinion? I don't think sleeping alot is a symptom of LS, and I would feel very uncomfortable waiting till Monday to find out. In puppies that young, unusual behavior especially after eating would moreso be indicative of LS.

but he gets sick the odd time, he does this thing bringing his paws up over his ears,i have read that these are signs. he is just thrown down all day. this is awful to watch im in bits

Did your vet do any tests at all?

He did a blood test....he told me over the phone the results but i cant remember what he said. he said a few things were high and his protein count was very high

Hopefully the tests he is going to do on Monday will give you a better idea of what is going on.
You should take someone with you...or a pad and pencil and take notes when you go there on Monday.
Ask him plenty of questions until you understand what he is telling you! It is very hard to focus when our pups are ill....but, you need to try to reduce your stress so that you can be an educated owner about what is goiing on with your pup.

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

I have a liver shunt baby that started having problems as soon as we brought her home at 10-12 weeks. I suspected liver shunt but the vet kept telling me I was wrong. She never had seizures or any other HE signs...she was just a picky eater, very small and didn't seem to have as much energy as I thought she should - such as sleeping too much! I kept asking them to bile acid test her and I was told it was not necessary. Finally, at only just over a year old when she was supposed to be spayed, I insisted on the BAT, and her numbers were really high. We had the surgery done to correct the problem and she is now 5 and doing great. If you suspect liver shunt, your baby should be on lactulose and a very low protein diet. I have to be at my daughter in law's birthday dinner in 45 minutes tonight or I would write more. Please go to this website...I think it will be a great help for you concerning diet, etc. There is no harm in changing to a low protein diet right now to see if he improves...

Liver_Shunt_And_MVD_Support : Liver Shunt & MVD/HMD Support

I will check your post later! My thoughts and prayers are with your baby...

I'm sorry your baby is not feeling good. I don't have experience with this, but wanted you to know I'll be praying for your baby. Stay strong, you are there for him and that's what he needs from you. Hugs....

We were told by a vet our little girl also has liver schunts, he also said she would be dead within the week if she did not have surgery, and he did know if she would even survive the surgery so I did a lot of research and also got another opinion, we feed her science diet canned dog food with 5% or less on the protein and make sure all treats are low protein also, she is doing great vet said since shes doing so well there is no reason to risk surgery that was around 4 years ago, hope everything turns out ok with your baby

My vet also thought my little man had liver shunt. He also did the rubbing his head with his paw...(this was back in March) he was acting fine then all of a sudden his back legs went out on him...he yelped and was acting as if he were having a seizure..this happened twice. He was only 3 lbs, very boney and his coat was HORRIBLE! all signs of LS...I was a WRECK to say the least. I rushed him to the vets...they did blood work and (since he peed on the floor) they did a urine culture...turned out he had a really bad UTI...I was never so happy in my life! He has been fine since...no more head rubbing and his coat (although I keep him clipped) is soft and shiny....I hope and pray this is something other than LS....That is a costly surgery.

A prescription diet will be the best for your baby if he does have liver disease. In the meantime, here is a link that will help you with foods to avoid and foods to help until you figure all of this out. This certainly will not hurt him if it is not a shunt.

http://f1.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/4J8vUBp...ecommendations

Please start feeding him 4-6 small, low protein meals per day. Ask your vet about putting him on lactulose to clear the toxins from his little body...that is what is possibly making him feel bad, lethartic and rub his head - he probably has headaches. His food is making him sick and the toxins are poisoning his little body. If the tests come back that he does not have liver disease, then you've done no harm with this diet - if he improves, great. I'll check back later...

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

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

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.

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

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.

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:(

He needs to be seen by a vet

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.

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

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......

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

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

Update on my baby
 

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 :animal36

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

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!