Elevated BAT

[Ellie May]

Originally Posted by Deegan's mom

It is a mess and I'm feeling over whelmed with two furbabies with health issues. I spend so much money on supplements, special food, extra testing and other stuff at the vet that I don't know what I will do if he needs another surgery... I'm so stressed out by this. I want to give them both the best possible life but what if I don't have the money to do it. Ugh...
By any chance are you a member of the LS Yahoo Group?

Yes, I am a member there.
I know it can be very overwhelming when talking abouthealth issues.
Everything is so expensive and it's like if you can't aford it, you feel like the sweetie is suffering for it. You can only do what you can do though. If everyone that coldn't afford to treat a medical condition turned their dog over to a rescue, the rescues would be so full (more so than now) and they probably couldn't afford to exist at all.

Does your vet have a payment plan....just send them so much a month?

It may not be anything at all but with those results, it just looks like the liver is having a functioning issue. By the way, I saw what one person paid for LS surgery at Oakland and it was quite a bit. I hope that included the testing also. If there is some type of issue where he needs an internist, you might consider going somewhere else...

The U/A may come back perfectly normal after the antibiotics and that would be great. Maybe if there is concern of another shunt you could do a Protein C test?

[TLC]

Please, please try to relax and breath....Yes his BAT is elevated, but it could be a number of reasons...What has Olga said about it?

Yes it is true that he could shoot another shunt, or that his surgery wasn't successful at closing the shunt he had. I don't know for sure, but I wonder if that was the case if his BAT would be sky high again

Do you know what his BAT was before his LS surgery?

Also, he may also have an underlining MVD as well, and that may be why his BAT hasn't returned to normal after his LS surgery. If that is the case, you are already treating him with a special diet and supplements, so that is what you will have to continue to do.

I know this is very stressful and I know money doesn't grow on trees (to bad right ) ~ but we are here to guide and support you until you get to the bottom of all of this and back on track ~ have faith, you are a good person for rescuing him and you are a good person to be able to go above and beyond for him right now...

[Ellie May]

Did they do a biopsy when they did surgery to rule out MVD?

[TLC]

Originally Posted by Ellie May

Did they do a biopsy when they did surgery to rule out MVD?

I don't think so, but I could be wrong He was a rescue dog.

[Deegan's mom]

Hi everyone - thanks for the concern, I appreciate all the support and help I can get. I just wanted to let you all know that I'll answer all the questions later tonight. I commited myself into having a Gold Rush party and it's this afternoon, so I've been busy cooking and cleaning... But after the party I will try and answer everything. Thanks again. Hugs from Deegn, Trooper & me!

[TLC]

Also, when I need to collect urine, I turn the pee pads upside down, so I can collect the pee from the plastic side

[Deegan's mom]

I was so exhausted after the party and didn't have the energy to get on here, but I'm here now so to answer al the questions...
Right now I'm doing fine with paying for all of Deegan's meds & stuff along with Trooper's. My concern is if he needs another ls surgery that I won't be able to afford that... I'm maxed out, Julien is a mold maker for the auto industry and we all know how that is. We don't know how if they will be able to survive and if he'll still have a job in 6 mths. And I worry because his last ls surgery cost the rescue group $4500 US! I'm praying that it won't come to that though. My vet has payment plan and is happy to work with me on anything which is good. I've never heard of a Protien-C test, but I will ask my vet about it.

Olga said that his levels could be high because they never had him on liver support after surgery (I'm the one who put him on those after I adopted him). But she also said they could be up because of the bladder infection, and recommended that I put him on a probiotic called Azodyl, which I'm gonna talk t my vet about tomorrow. She is a bit concerned that he might have another stone too though. They did remove one during his ls surgery. I've been adding water to his food all the time to try to avoid this though.

But like I said before when I called Oakland they weren't too concerned with the numbers at this point and are going to talk in detail with my vet this week about it. I just wonder if they aren't telling me everything?? Or maybe I'm paranoid... They said that before his ls surgery that his numbers were in the hundreds!! (so to recap - prior to surgery they were in the hundreds - after surgery they were pre2, post 32 & now pre 26, post 52).

In regards to MVD - I don't know what that is and doubt it was tested for. I don't see anything in his paperwork that I have that mentions that at all. Can someone explain what it is, what symptoms I should look for and how to test for it??

Oh and thanks for the tip on turning over the pee pads, that's a great idea! Now I just hve to get him to pee on them! lol

I'm a little more calmer than I was yesterday, still very worried, but hoping for the best scenario... Thanks for the guidance everyone!!!

[Ellie May]

Table top collection (using the pee pad would fall into this category) is probably not going to work for this because so much bacteria can be introduced if they step on the pad before or after, etc. Then you may see a falsely high bacteria count. That isn't saying it never works but the vet may not want to take it by this method.

MVD (microvascular dysplasia) is small shunting throughout the liver. It is inoperable and causes high bile acids. The treatment is what you are doing now. The only way to 100% diagnose this is with a liver biopsy which they could've done during ls surgery. They can have both ls and mvd.

$4500 is just way too much for ls surgery. I'm just not sure Oakland has a good handle on this kind of thing. A second opinion wouldn't hurt and I'd be worried with the high bile acids and the possible UTI that there is another stones. You can always check with ultrasound or there may be ammonium urate crystals in his urine.

[Deegan's mom]

Ahh, yes - that is true about the pee pad collection. I hadn't really considered that...
I was blown away when I found out his surgery was $4500 too! That's why I'm in such a panic - I couldn't afford that. I might be able afford it at my own vet's office in Canada, but I'm not sure on that either. But thank-you for the insight on the MVD, checking for stones with an ultra sound and about the possible crystals. I have all this written down along with Olga's suggestions and will be speaking to my vet hopefully tomorrow about all this. I need to get to the bottom of this to make sure this lil' punkin is feeling up to par. I'll keep you posted. Thanks again!

[lil fu fu girl]

Just checking in, and see that you have got plenty of the "Lifers" helping you.
They are very knowledgeable and up to date on the latest medical insights for yorkies.
So I will just wait to see what your vet tomorrow says. Best of luck........

[Deegan's mom]

I spoke to my vet today who spoke to Oakland about the elevated BAT. Apparently Oakland told my vet the same thing they told me, that they are not concerned about the numbers due to the fact that it's a degenerative condition and his levels will never be normal??
They said that if we ran the test again that it would probably come out with different numbers and that we should gage his health by monitoring his liver & kidney enzymes every six months. And as long as those are ok and he's not showing any signs that's something's wrong that we should be thankful.
So with that all being said I'm finishing up his antibiotics and will then redo the urinalysis and test his liver & kidney enzymes on the weekend and hopefully, I pray that they come back ok by mi-week so we can then get him neutered. Although Oakland did have a list of anestesia's that should be used on him. They want the vet who's doing the neuter to treat him as a geriatric for precautionary measures. I'll get the names of those anestesias when I go for his tests this weekend.
As for the other questions I had regarding the protien-c test, mvd, stones & crystals I will have to ask the vet on the weekend because she called me at work and my reminder list of questions was here at home and I totally forgot to ask those - I was just so relieved that she didn't have any bad news...
Thanks again for all the help and concern - if you have any more suggestions or questions that I should ask, please feel free to let me know. I'll post in again after his blood work gets back.

[manolos mom]

You really need to join the Yahoo support group for LS and MVD. Loads of information and tons of support.....Good Luck to you....

[Deegan's mom]

Originally Posted by manolos mom

You really need to join the Yahoo support group for LS and MVD. Loads of information and tons of support.....Good Luck to you....

I'm already a member, and have spoken to Olga about it all. She is a great help & a wealth of knowledge - I don't know what I would have done without her!