Liver Shunt or Yorkie Encephalitis?
 

My yorkie is only 2 years old. And over the weekend, we noticed that she was going in circles alot, bumping into things, and not directly looking at us. These are definite things that she doesn't ever do.

So Monday comes, and I made an appointment to see the doctor. The vet believes that there are only two things that she could have, Liver Shunt or Yorkie Encephalitis...but without bloodwork or going to see a neurologist, we wouldn't know. She has almost if not, completely lost all of her vision. But she doesn't seem to be in pain, just a bit confused...So I brought her home before doing anything, so I can discussed our options with my husband. I decided to monitor her even closer now, and maybe in a day or so, I'll decide if we need to do anything. The vet says that Liver Shunting is treatable, but if it's Yorkie Encephalitis, then there's not much we can do, except for keeping her comfortable, and making the surrounding safe for her.

My husband is soooo distraught over this. More than I, I believe.

Does anyone know of a good site to research Yorkie Encephalitis? Or if anyone has gone through something similar, share your experience....

Very sorry to hear.

I have no experience, but this looks like good information.

Veterinary Teaching Hospital :: North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine

The first thing you need to do is rule out liver shunt/mvd....You don't need to spend a lot of money to find out if the problem is in the liver...Have a Bile Acid Test done...Depending on your area, it runs between $45-$100, and is very sensitive to liver function. It will tell you if there's a problem in the liver. If the liver is the problem, your baby can be treated with proper diet, lactulose, meds, and supplements...
Prayers that what your baby has is treatable...
Can you tell us more about the symptoms? When did you start noticing them? Is your baby a picky eater? Does she ever vomit?

My yorkie gidget was recently diagnosed with Necrotizing Encephalitis, there are treatments out there that have a 80 to 90% Remission rate but you need to act fast if it is encephalitis. here is the link to the yahoo group which are a bunch of us who dogs have been diagnosed. NewGMEDogs : NewGMEDogs Also, have your vet get in touch with a Dr. Allen Sisson when he gets back from vacation on 10/22/08. I will email you Dr. Sisson' protocol. Gidget's neurologist is using Dr. Sisson's protocol and Gidget went from hardly being able to walk and completely blind to now having site in one eye and partial site in the other and now walks almost perfectly. She is on chemo and also on a high dose of pred. Please email me if you have any questions. This is a horrible disease but there is hope. You can also go into the Yorkie Forum on her called Sick and Injured and see a thread on Necrotizing Encephalitis.

I just realized you are in Georgia. The University of Georgia has neurologists who have experience treating this. Jerryboo on this form took his dog there. Also, here is a website Veterinary Teaching Hospital :: North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine for the University of North Carolina. They even have a fund to help people with expenses if treated there. Not sure how close you are to North Carolina. Also, here is our thread in yorkie talk regarding encephalitis http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/sic...-terriers.html

Not to scare you more, but if it is GME or other form of encephalitis you need to get her on Prednisone quickly, you can't wait around and decide what to do because GME can progress really rapidly. GMe is usually diagnosed by an MRI and a spinal tap. I hope it is not GME but it sure sounds like it. Please update us on how she is doing. Hugs and strength.

I should have mentioned that my Brooke had GME, I say HAD because she has now completed a year of treatment and is is remission. It can be done, there is hope but Brooke would not be alive now if I had not contacted Dr. Allen Sisson. Gidgetann sent you his info and he is the GME guru and will help your doctors to use his protocol. I would highly recommend that you contact him when he gets back from vacation, in the mean time she needs to be on Prednisone.

Well, she's even more mellow than she has EVER been now. She'll go into circles, bump into things, and is alot slower. She is not a picky eater. And she doesnt vomit. She vomited once today, and I called the vet, and he said that it maybe because she spins in circles (causing her dizziness). She can't see (maybe a little, veryyyyy little). We started to notice this Saturday.

I have decided to get a detailed blood panel work done to her. So we'll be getting results tomorrow morning for further information...

liver shunt
 

Hi, we have a 2 year old yorkie who has just gone through his second liver shunt op. Basically, you really need to have him blood tested as soon as possible. Liver shunt is treatable. Our wee dog is a little on the small and thin side and his liver is still quite small, but he is a million times better now and is a happy wee dog. The bile acid tests and abdominal scans will be able to verify if its liver shunt, but do get it seen to asap. Our wee dogs symptoms were, not growing well, vomiting, not eating, shaking all over, walking against the walls in circles and falling over a lot. His coat was very poor and shabby as well. He needed a second op because the first one was still slightly leaking. Liver shunt is basically the food he eats isnt being processed through the liver properly. Instead of going through it and the "poisons" being treated in the liver, it is going straight into the blood streams which is carrying the poisons around the body and to the brain where it is causing the neurological problems. A vessel needs to be closed off to stop the poison going through and make it go through the liver instead, where it will be processed properly. If theres anything else you want to ask, please do. Don't leave your little dog to long before getting a diagnosis.

I just brought my foster Emerson to the Neuro and she mentioned Yorkie-Encephalitis...so I was just googling it and it brought me to Yorkie Talk :-)

I have already done a bile acid test and they were fine... however I don't think Emerson has the typical symptoms...he does a head bobling..but that is really it... but it is side to side not up and down so that rules out some other disorders..

Any info for me too would be great....

Blood Panel
 

She is getting bloodwork done this afternoon. It's not he bile acid test, but the doctor recommended that we do this blood panel first.

I understand you trust your vet's opinion, but keep in mind...most vets are not very knowledgable about liver shunt.

Thanks! I trust it more than I trust myself with knowledge about liver shunt or encephalitis. If the numbers are high or whatever for liver functions, then we will run the bile acid test.

For liver issues to show up on a blood panel the damage to her liver has to be fairly extensive.

While it is always a good idea to run a blood panel and I definately would in this case, the liver enzymes may not be elevated even if there is a problem. There usually has to be a fair amount of damage done to the liver for those numbers to be up. My dog's bile acids are very high and her ALT (liver enzyme) was normal once and "slightly" elevated once. So both need to be done.

I would run the bile acid test too..that was one of the first questions the neurologist asked me at my visit today...and luckliy I had already run the bile acid test so we knew it was not related to any liver issues...

Did you dog have symptoms like mine? vision loss, circling, tilted head?

No. My dog had no neurological symptoms. She had had a severe vaccine reaction and some bladder issues but was otherwise fine. I asked the vet to do a bile acid test as a precaution. And I am glad I did...

That is good to hear. I thought that she might've had had liver shunt. My vet so far, believes that Twix's case is more related to neurological issues more than liver shunt, but he said without testing, he cannot diagnose her illness. So hopefully, by tomorrow morning, we will have more information on her condition.

Our 3 yr old female yorkie started having seizures this weekend no other symptoms of liver shunt is it possible that that is what she has?

The vet will do the vile test as later this week. I pray its negative.