Just diagnosed with Microvascular Dysplasia!
 

So I brought Lexi into the vet for her annual shots etc..and the vet reccomended running the tests for this because of our common it is for the breed as well as her size since she's pretty tiny.

So of course I agreed, ran all the tests and her bile acids test came in at 84 and the conclusion is she has microvascular dysplsia but her liver looked good and they believe she does not have any shunts at this time.

The vet said warning signs would be vomiting, seizures, things like that to bring her in which normally I would anyways but I'm wondering if anyone else has this with their dogs and any info anyone could give me just to help me understand a little better.

I did google it but I'd still like to hear from someone who's dealt with this issue.

Thank you in advance!! :)

Andrea and Lexi:aimeeyork

My boy, Zeus, has MVD. He was diagnosed at 10 months and he is now 7 years old. He takes Denosyl SD4 daily and is on a prescription diet. He is doing very well. PM me if you want. Juliet

A post bile acid number of 84 could mean microvascular dysplasia but it could also mean that there is a large shunt present. What diagnostic imaging was done? Ultrasound?

Does she have any symptoms?
What does the vet want to do to manage this? Low protein diet? Denosyl? Lactulose? Or nothing at all?

This is sadly very common in Yorkies.:(

If you have any specific questions, we can try and answer them for you.:)

Alot of us have MVD dogs - Roxy is one of them.

Here is another group that is really knowledgable and a great support for MVD and LS dog owners: DogLiverDisease : Dog Liver Disease

Was a Protein C test done? That is the next step after an abnormal bile acids test. Ultrasounds can be as low as 60% reliable.

Comparative Coagulation -- NYS Animal Health Diagnostic Center

As of right now the doctor reccomended just watching it. Her urinalysis came back okay-no crystals, blood or protein. Her Bile was at 84 but because all her toher results came back perfectly normal and the bile is the only thing that came back high she isn't going to reccomend meds or diet change at this time.

I currently feed them Nutro Ultra Holistic Organic dry food but after reading some of the postings I've really been thinking about going raw.

Lexi doesn't show any symptoms at this time but he does loves to constantly have her head scratched but I just figured she loves to be petted so I may be readiing too much into the head nudging thing.

So do you think that maybe she should be on meds--do I take her to get a second opinion?:confused:

Please Google "Nutro Consumer Affairs". This food is being blamed on sickness and death in many dogs. Whatever you decide to feed, I would not feed this...

A compromised liver can lead to a compromised immune system. Raw is not recommended for liver compromised dogs (although some people will disagree). It also tends to be higher in protein which may not work well for her.

It doesn't seem like she has any symptoms but that number is quite high. Had she had any meds (including heartworm, flea, vaccines) for a week or two before the bile acids test? That can skew the results.

What further testing was done besides the urinalysis?
ARe there plans to redue the bile acids test?

Although supplementation and diet change aren't always necessary, if my dog's bile acids stayed at 84, I would definately do these things (and actually my dog's post is 106, so we do supplement).

Not only is Raw too high in proteins, it is the wrong proteins.

Meat and Organs should really be avoided - as they are very tough on the liver :(

Yeah, that too. I forget to say it sometimes because Ellie is okay eating meat and her nutritionist doesn't have a problem with it (probably because she is close to being asymptomatic). We avoid red meat, pork and exotics. So the choices seem to be fish, egg, tofu and cottage cheese.

I thought about it before I bought the food--I just recently switched because I wanted to change them to an organic food and it is a newer line and I was actually able to understand all the ingredients on the label.

But she actually hadn't had any meds recently that would affect it and they had Lexi at the vet for the entire day so I would have to look at my forms again to see exactly what tests were done again. I know I had to have her fast the night before brought her in and then they said the tested her pre and post bile, urinealysis and one other which may be the protien c test--that's the one I can't remember. The vet did reccomend giving her an EFA supplement but that's all.

She didn't mention anything about how to reduce it and said that at this time her reccomendations were that it isn't necassary to move forward at this time. I do trust my vet but I feel like there should be mroe i can do

I have to be honest with you.... post of 84 is high to me, and I just wouldn't feel comfortable not taking 'any steps' to aid her liver function.

Roxy has had about 5 BATs in the last year. Her first was 100.9 and the last was 85 (her lowest post # was about 62)

I feed her a home made low protein diet that I got from a Nutritionist, and I give her supplements and I am monitoring her yearly now with BAT and bloodwork. (this past yr was crazy with all sorts of testing, etc.)

If you go and join the Yahoo Group they can truly give you some guidance on what direction to go with food and supplements :thumbup:

Could you please tell us where you find this information? :)

I have to agree with Nicole.
If the vet didn't do a Protein C test, Scintography or liver biopsy (not usually recommended unless already having abdominal surgery), they can't possibly know what is going on. So many things can affect liver function that it may not be liver shunt or MVD at all. These things are very common in Yorkies though, so it is probable.

I would at least retest in a month or so.
You can put her on Denosyl.
If the vet wants her on a fish oil, not just any one is going to work. There are certain guidelines that need to be followed (it needs to contain enough EPA and DHA I think it is).

Ellie's first bile acid test came back at post 47. I wanted the test done as a precaution because of a couple things going on with her. When the vet saw that number she said I could put Ellie on low protein, Denosyl and retest in a month or go straight to the internist. If Ellie got sick in that month, it was still straight to the internist. I went with option 1 but she ended up needing to go anyway because a few months later when she had been off of Denosyl for awhile, it was 106. So with 84, I would at least retest.

My Cali has MVD diagnosed by Bile Acid scores of 0/88 or 92 something like that. We then did a ultrasound and then liver biopsy for confirmation. She has not been the healthiest girl but her MVD does not require any meds and she has no symptoms. I try and watch her protein intake especially watch treats they can be very high in protein. Hopefully your baby will do just fine

If you do a search for Purines in Foods, you should be able to find a list that shows how many purines are in specific foods. Meat and Organs are very high in purines which makes it harder for the liver to filter those ammonia toxins, so they are allowed go to the brain and heart causing HE symptoms. (that's the gist of it, I am not the best at explaining it :D)

Here you go:

Liver | B-Naturals.Com Newsletter

I am by no means an expert with liver issues, but I do know some nutritionists do use raw with their liver patients. They often use it in combo with other foods, just fyi. :)

Yes, I too got conformation that I can give Roxy raw chicken (instead of all the other protein sources), but she still needs more carbs than protein....But absolutely NO Organ Meat :thumbdown

Oh that's *great* to hear! Good to see more options for these babies. :)

I haven't done it though. She is doing well with Cottage Cheese as her protein (for now) ;)

my yorkie has MVD as well. she is asymptomatic, i just tested on a hunch. I feed her wellness core and nature's variety RAW with absolutely no problems. Plus it didn't increase her post bile acids when tested three months apart. I work with a lot of specialist veterinarians and the internalists said as long as she's asymptomatic i can feed her whatever i want. its not going to hurt. others may not agree but this works for us and i trust my vets completely.

I know one lady specifically who had her liver compromised dog on raw meats/bones/organs, and her ALT was through the roof...Then, she put her dog back on vegetarian food, and her ALT came down significantly and symptoms subsided...

Elevated ALT levels show that there is liver cell death...

If my dog's ALT level were increased a good bit but when on vegetarian food came down, I would say hand's down, I'm going to feed my dog the food that keeps him healthy...

It is *known that meat and organs are more encephalogenic and produce high amounts of ammonia. This is something that Dr. Center has stated herself...

Ammonia(toxin/poison) build-up is one of the main problems in dogs with liver disease/shunt/symptomatic MVD...The more ammonia, the harder the liver has to work and many times it cannot filter the amounts of ammonia that come from eating meat/organs...In these cases, the liver is already sick, why cause it more stress...

I know everyone has different opinions...I have just seen too many cases of liver problems where the people put the dogs back on raw or meat protein foods and see problems again down the road whether it be immediately, 3 months down the road, or 6 months...

If there's even a chance that something could be bad for my liver compromised yorkie, then I'm not going to give it to him. Why take the risk?

Now, again, I'm typing this in regards to *symptomatic* liver compromised dogs, and by symptomatic, I mean even the faintest symptom...

I think that there is a misconception that people mean ONLY low protein...This is not the case...Low protein should be given *while* the dog is symptomatic...Then, it should be increased slowly little by little every 7-10 days so that you can watch for more symptoms. If the dog handles it well, increase again...When a dog is symptomatic, you can reach an excellent level of protein by using proper diet, supplements, lactulose, fiber, etc.

Also, the key is the TYPE of protein...A truly liver compromised dog cannot handle meats/fish/organs like they can vegetarian proteins...Vegetarian proteins produce less ammonia leading to less toxic build-up...

Conner's liver numbers were a little high. He was going to the vet monthly to be tested. They gave me a prescription food and I was limiting his treats and he was also getting liver support pills daily. His numbers went down but still were not within the normal range. I took him off the prescription food and gave him Wellness weight control because of the lower protein. His numbers have come out normal ever since. The vet seems to think he may have eaten something that caused these elevated numbers or it could have been his Frontline (he is now on Revolution). I have kept him on the Wellness (plus it has Glucosamine and Chondroitin).

A member on another forum I belong to whose Maltese has asymptomatic MVD recently had a consultation with Dr. Jean Dodds. I will cut and paste the results as she wrote them:

"My dogs are asymptomatic with MVD (shunt ruled out by liver scan and protein c) but Dr. Dodds told me absolutely no raw food for them and no wheat, no corn, no soy and no dairy (use Goats Milk yogurt if they like yogurt). No red meat; chicken ok; turkey not so good; white fish best choice, but no salmon (check mercury levels at gotmercury.org). Supplements are Milk Thistle (marin has liver in it so you may not want it; hepatosupport is a good alternative); SAMe is good for the liver; skip dandelion root even though its good for the liver its also a diuretic, which is not good."

http://yorkiefoundation.org/purina1.pdf

Here's an excellent article :)

To the OP, I'm so sorry your baby may have MVD...Is your baby asymptomatic? Picky eating? Vomiting?

she wasn't showing any symptoms actually we moved to a new state and lexi was due for her shots and I researched a good clinic and the vet suggested it since yorkies are prone and so she's asymptomatic but I'm glad I found out sooner then later that's for sure

What a great vet you found! :thumbup:

According to Dr. Center, all Yorkies should have a bile acids test as a puppy. Unfortunately, most vets aren't knowledgable about the current protocol in diagnosing and treating liver disease.

This is from Page 22 of Dr. Center's seminar handout:


"2: The best approach to avoid "over diagnosis" is to test bile acids in young dogs of highly affected breeds (at 4 mths of age) while they are clinically healthy and before they are adopted into pet homes. Highly affected breeds include: Yorkshire Terrier, Cairn Terrier, Maltese, Tibetan Spaniels as well as many other "terrier" type breeds (Miniature Schnauzer, Lhasa Apso, Shih Tzu, Dachshund, Bichon Frise, Pekingese, Toy and Miniature Poodles, and Havanese and others). Proactive assessment of serum bile acids will limit the awkward circumstance imposed when an MVD dog, with minor health issues, is suddenly recognized to have abnormal bile acids by a pet owner's veterinarian. This circumstance can lead to unnecessary diagnostic confusion and unwarranted invasive tests such as liver biopsy and portovenography. How old dogs should be at he time of initial testing has not been established. Typically, abnormal bile acids DO NOT normalize as a dog ages ..... " (all emphasis added by Dr. Center)

Thank you to everyone for your advice and how to approach this. I'm going to bring Zeus in next month to have his testing done just to make sure too--he's a yorkie-jack russell but I don't think it rules him out.

Great post Yorkieluv.
I know I am just not strict enough with Ellie but feeding raw is something I wouldn't even want to try. I don't prefer it anyway and there are just too many questionable aspects of it with liver compromised dogs. Liver compromised dogs may do okay on raw but I guess the question is, how much better could they do (or how much better could their enzyme and BAT numbers be) on a different diet...

Liver shunts aren't as common in Maltese as they are in Yorkies, but we've got a number of MVD dogs over on Spoiled Maltese. We discuss diet a lot over there.

Dr. Center doesn't think asymptomatic MVD dogs need a special diet, but every single one of our members who have compared ALT values on regular or raw diets to values on diets designed for liver compromised dogs have seen huge differences, usually several hundred points higher on a regular diet.