Update on Tinkerbell... Here is her surgery thread from 2/2011: http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/sic...g-results.html Tink did well up until November 2012. At that time she refused to eat the Hill's Prescription L/D, and her belly was becoming painful and swelled from the Lactulose. I stopped the Lactulose as her surgeon had suggested, and within a few days, her appetite returned. Then in January 2013, she stopped eating the L/D, and preferred to eat the Life's Abundance that my other pups are on. I couldn't let her starve, so I decided to watch for any signs of Hepatic Encephalopathy (too many toxins in her blood). I was adding some veggies and rice and noodles to her food to try to cut the %protein for her. Doing good so far. She seems perfectly fine. Being nervous, I decided to get her tested. I intended to have a BAT done, but my new vet wanted just to run a complete panel, so we went with that. She also had xrays done. Waited all day for the phone call. Shock and awe! Her BUN is slightly low, liver enzymes are all WNL good! and only shows very slight liver insufficiency! We discussed switching her to Hill's Prescription K/D, supposed to be more palatable, so we'll see. And she weighed in at 17.1 lbs! |
Great news!! Love this update on your little teapot :) Way to go Tink!! |
:) so happy to hear this!! |
That's great news Kathy:D |
Great news! I am very happy to hear Tinkerbell is doing so well. |
Kathy, hepatic encephalopathy is not easy to pick up in dogs until it is severe. I just recently had this discussion with the specialist who sees Teddy Bear. As he said, it is easy to pick up in a human because they can answer questions...in dogs you don't see it until it is severe....and they are symptomatic OR develop stones. As I said in the thread about him, I was stunned..they told me they see this a lot. Pups come in as adults with LS that had NO symptoms and no abnormal labs. As for not doing BATs, I would ask why since often the liver enzymes can be perfectly normal and this can be very misleading. When they follow up on Teddy Bear they do both... I hope she can stay on that food because she is at high risk with too much protein as I know you are aware. If she continues to dislike food, I would consider getting a home cooked diet for her. Good luck. |
Great news, Kathy!!!! I was reading Lj's post - do you think you still have to do the BATs? I had no idea liver enzymes could be normal! |
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Tink's Liver enzymes have never been normal. I do want to have a BAT done, and as I'll be at the vet's tomorrow evening, I will schedule it then. Why it wasn't done the other day, IDK as I had requested it. Maybe the vet was looking for a more overall health assessment due to the changes in her meds and diet. I thought the BAT was being done, but by the time I found out it hadn't been done, it was too late to do it that day. The surgeon did not find a Portosystemic shunt. Her diagnosis after her surgery was MVD, Bile Stasis, and bladder stones with an E coli infection. Hopefully, her now normal Liver enzymes are telling us that her organs are functioning better than they were before her surgery, QUOTE=Wylie's Mom;4177252]Great news, Kathy!!!! I was reading Lj's post - do you think you still have to do the BATs? I had no idea liver enzymes could be normal![/QUOTE] I will discuss doing the BAT with the vet. I am more curious than anything... whether it's actually needed IDK, but I will find out. |
Daisy has had ALt and ALK through the roof and BATs normal and vice versa. For $80 worth testing. Good luck. |
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I thought she had multiple inoperable shunts...I am lost in space. Anyway...that would be nice if all is good. |
just reading this I am in awe on how much you guys know. Anyway, just stopped by to see how Tink is and what was decided on the BAT test. Fingers crossed that all is good. |
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From the Surgery thread: Urinalysis: a mild form of E-coli bacteria Stone analysis: ammonium urate crystals Liver Biopsy: Arteriolar Hyperplasia (mild), bile stasis Acquired Extrahepatic Shunting caused by high blood pressure in the liver, probably due to the Arteriolar Hyperplasia. No cirrhosis. Plan: ABs for Ecoli x 3 weeks, then ursodiol to thin out the bile. Continue Lactulose and Denamarin, and L/D diet. And: the gall bladder can get backed up to the point where it blocks the duct that feed bile to it from the liver. This is what can cause the pressure in the liver to build up, causing the liver to 'throw' new shunts (acquired shunting). [prevents the liver from rupturing] Acquired shunts are usually always smaller and branched (like a tree) than congenital shunts (being born with one) which are bigger and usually singular. Just to clarify: There are different kinds of shunts. Portosystemic shunts start at the intestines and carry blood containing nutrients and waste products (intended for the liver) around the liver bypassing it and rejoin the system at some point on the the duct that carries the cleansed blood from the liver to the heart. All puppies have this type of shunt but it is normally absorbed by the body (disappears) a week before or after birth. In puppies in the womb, the liver is bypassed and their blood is sent on to the mother's liver for processing. Acquired shunting is a failsafe manuever by the liver to save itself from rupture when conditions cause a build up of pressure in the liver. These shunts are small and start at the liver and go out to other parts of the liver and/or other organs and attach with the intent to relieve the pressure in the liver, by creating other pathways for the blood to go. Conditions that can cause a pressure buildup in the liver are tumors, cancer, blocked ducts, partially blocked ducts, bile stasis and maybe others. The liver makes bile, stores it, and sends it to the Gall Bladder as needed. Dogs can develope sludge (slow to non- moving, thick bile) which can eventually block the Bile Duct creating pressure in the liver. Then there's the issue of liver enzymes. Dogs that test good have higher functioning livers, smaller or no PSShunt, no GB issues, MVD, etc. Ammonium Urate stones develope bc of too much ammonia in the blood, which is a product of protein digestion, and is normally removed by the liver. Liver enzymes have to reach a certain level before they accumulate enough to show up in bloodwork, so a dog over time can be having problems, but not bad enough to show on the bloodwork. I hope this helps explain it better.... Note to Mods: the quotes are messing up at least in this post (I fixed it before posting) |
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