I hope her baby is ok and is in the best medical hands necessary and is being taken care of now and on the road to recovery and in my prayers!

Donna Bird

I think she had the BAT done yesterday......I don't know if she's obtained the results yet......waiting to hear from her......

yes meds will affect it as all meds are processed through the liver and why yorkies and malts should have bats done as vets need to know what meds are safe and the proper anesthesia to use even though i would only use isoflurine and propofol anyway. This is why after seeing 3 vets and the 4th one said we need to bat dd if she is going to go on atopica for allergies and when i learned about liver issue and spent 24 hrs straight that night learning about it as he was rushing me in to do scintigraphy and i will not put my dog through any unnecessary tests unless i 100% feel it is necessary and so glad i joined liver shunt group and educated myself as it saved my dog with no high alt, no symptoms other than skin issue of having the scintigraphy now most owners would have blindly done the test sadly but i learned alot after my dex was so sick and i spent 10,000that i will be broke if i do not start educating myself or worse my dogs could die so i better do my homework and so glad i did 4 years later but it is exhausting but i believe with animals they cannot talk so you as the owner have a bigger responsibility to be their voice

She got the results, they are posted here within her thread, but I guess with all the postings here, it was 'missed' by a lot people :(

she posted it below it is 200 plus so she needs to in my opinion do the scintigraphy and then decide but i would only have tobias do surgery with my dog

Thank You. I'm sure she's devistated and collecting her thoughts on her next step........

Prayers are with her.

My prayers are with her! Now she knows the results and now it's one step at a time...I would do a consult with Dr. Tobias as to how to move forward. Again, ask the experts in this field!
Prayers are with the OP and her baby!

Donna Bird

Agree. Both Dr. Tobias and Dr. Center have other qualified DVM, ACVIM specialists that they work closely with throughout the country......

well having dealt with dr dodds for 3 years now she is the most caring vet professional i have met and she not only is extremely sharp as vets all over the world consult her she has been studying blood for 40 years and knows her stuff. I trust her with blood work exclusively as most vets are not as sharp as you think on blood work and go by what labs say - I personally trust people who specialize in a certain thing and why i go to an opthamologist for eyes, internal medicine for internal organs, dentist for all dentals, orthopedic for injuries,dr dodds for blood work, dermatologist for skin and allergy issues and vet for your basic stuff it is worth the extra money to have the best if something is more serious. I personally believe in titers and believe many health issues are due to over vaccinating dogs. After the puppy shots my dee dee was a total mess at 6 mos constantly itches and is hypothyroid she is a total mess and probably due to inbreeding as vet stated she was inbred on her AKC papers so do i blame backyard breeder more YEP but due to poor immune system the vaccinations probably made it worse what was already genetically there. Also, on the vaccinations it says FOR HEALTHY DOGS ONLY so dogs with health issues I am not buying into over vaccinating them. Many vets still do yearly vaccinations which i think is absurd. My parents bought into it all and they have a healthy dog he got a bordatella shot instead of intranasal and got a viral infection a few days later and was very sick and they refused to think the dog got it from the vaccination and this dog has not been sick in 9 years but the only thing that changed is he was always given intranasal prior. They started to run wild with pancreatitis etc as he was vomitting blood and bloody diarhea but I have alot of experience with that and said to my dad no way - it ended up costing my parents $1200 to get him better and he has been fine ever since but he will never get a bordatella shot again

It depends on the dog and comfort of owner so you have to do what you feel along with your vet feels is best for your dogs.

A vet we go to cringed when i took demi in for a rabies shot as she was due and asked me 3times am i sure NOW WHY WAS THAT? Does she know something I do not know - I believe so

IMO the first test can be meaningless. Have her retested in a month. It took me a lot of sleepless nights & hours on the phone to learn this.

It's as if some vets need a course in giving the test. Dr. Tobias will give a vet instructions on how to perform the tests. But when you tell them this, one may want to watch for fragile egos. Not all vets are humble.


They rarely give this test. So even though they're acting like it's a no-brainer it's usually uncommon.

Calm down. Don't worry. Not right now. It may or may not be an issue.

lol well this person has stated prior they cannot afford to travel anywhere and just saved up enough for the bats and dr broom is the ONLY one in southern california that does the scintigraphy so unless she can travel and afford that plus the test I think she is best to do it here to be sure before incurring the costs for surgery that is what my friend did and when she knew it was a shunt then she traveled to tobias because if she travels there and it is not a shunt then that will be a total waste of money. I have heard though from some on my maltese group that dr center and dr tobias sometimes disagree on the surgery aspect so I guess at this point maybe a consult with dr centers would be in order and protein c test is less costly than scintigraphy but money being an issue i would go for the scintigraphy as i do not think the protein c is that accurate and may be a waste of money - does anyone know what dr center's charges for phone consults as sent another person to her and she called her back asap but did not hear what she charged

Good advice.......

I sent another person there....and she does not charge for phone consult.

However, I do know that UCLA does the surgery but, via a different method that has not proven to be successful......There is the Irvine Medical Hospital that happens to be one of the best in Southern California. Then of course UC Davis with one of the best Vet Schools in the country.......

what were the results on your baby? This is why i did 3 to be sure but i think with her numbers being over 200 and symptoms I think i would get on it if no symptoms then I would be more apt to hold off for a while and retest in 6 mos. I agree many vets are not up on this as went to 3 and then the 4th one was the only one that ever mentioned it and i have two yorkies and a maltese - the 4th is more up on it as i believe he is friends of dr broom and he also has a phd so i think he is further educated but i like you freaked when he called me saying my dd may have a shunt - i was in shock

yeah my vet sent her personal friend to ucdavis for internal shunt on a boxer and the dog died and ucdavis is far away from this person as she is from orange county i believe where vet care is expensive as my cousin lives there. UCDAVIS is more known for nutrition and i would not have my dog done there at all. The only dog i know that had surgery in so cal was a lady on liver shunt group she drove down from washington to dr broom had the scintigraphy done and it was a shunt then some other guy down here did surgery and dog died - NO WAY i would only have dr tobias and it costs about 4,000 to have surgery in so cal as my friend checked it out so she flew to ut and spent a week there and it was half the cost i have not heard of one positive shunt surgery in southern california so i would not risk it --i know this may sound funny but i prefer women surgeons they have small hands and i believe that is important in doing surgery on tiny dogs lollll

That's all well and fine....if you can afford the trip to Dr. Tobias, but there are those that can't.

Now isn't that funny because there are several members of Yorkshire Terrier Club of Greater L.A and YTCA that only have their dogs tested at UC Davis.

never heard of that and on several yorky groups and maltese groups haven't been on liver shunt group in a while but i could post if they have but after my vet's friends dog died no way would i have the surgery done there and it is 8hrs away from this person. The internal shunts are much more difficult to repair than external in their defense as internal shunts are in large breeds but my vet said she would never recommend repair for internal shunt again after her friends dog died :( sad

also remember the cost in california is very expensive so she will have to make a trip 8hrs away stay in hotel and i am sure ucdavis is not that much cheaper than private practice and if they were that great not sure why the lady from washington did not go there instead of coming all the way to southern california for it to be done and this was just a few years ago. Do they do the scintigraphy at ucdavis? Our vet dentist use to run the small animal hospital there i can ask him as dex is going in for dental but my friend came with me to appt with him and she has the liver shunt that was repaired by tobias so he said i bet it was way cheaper to have shunt surgery than here in california and she quoted him the price and he said yeah it would be double here so i think he would have said something about ucdavis if it was less

thank you. this post was pretty much useless cause im not feeling any better about this. Thanks to the 3 people who responded to my post. not to be mean but if you want to talk about something off topic, make your own thread please.

I think everyone has given you alot of information here but it will ultimately be up to you to decide the next step whether to do scintigraphy, consult dr centers, surgery, etc as i know you have stated finances are an issue but with those numbers being well over 100 I would further pursue testing myself but this will have to be your decision. If she is not having any symptoms you can hold out and retest in 6 months but with symptoms i would not wait

The reasons I've known them not to do the ring or silk thread is when the dog has MVD. I'm not sure if this is what you're referring to. But there are times that a client doesn't know that until they get there; going into surgery.

May I ask you? Has your yorkie been spayed or a dental yet? I'm assuming she has not. If so, any problems? How old is she? Not one symptom? Do you have other yorkies to sure that isn't revealing any symptoms? Not to under-mind I'm just curious. Nothing else.

I'm not jumping to any conclusions assuming surgery. I've found that very few end up needing it. But say that she does. Most people that need it are financially strapped. By the time most people get a true diagnosis they've spend thousands just trying to figure out what is wrong w/ their yorkie. By her not having symptoms & you being educated it's beneficial. But if in the rare chance you may need surgery. The Dr's have affordable resources nearby to make the visit as low as possible.

has anyone traveled to UT from california by car?? If so, what hotels did you stay at and how long did you need to stay in Tenn.?

did you join liver shunt group on yahoo as they have a list of hotels that are recommended adn i would say you need to stay a week as you want to make sure no complications before you drive back

I don't think that 12 hr fasting holds any bearing on getting them to eat. It's not long enough to to change the behavior greatly. Some vets have used things like frozen Bill Jack & chicken or hamburger to motivate them. This will put it in prospective. 8 pm - 8am without food. This isn't torture, is it? A good vet knows canine behavior. Getting a dog to eat is easy when they feel secure.

I'm not sure who you as suggesting to make their own thread. I can't imagine why you just said that to an innocent person that is only wishing you the best. It wasn't useless, it shows some people may not have something to add but they care about another human & the well being of an animal. Useless????


Are you referring to the 3 people as Mardelin,dwerten & I? I'm not going to get upset. I understand your scared. It's okay. But don't be rude & saying I don't mean to be rude is all the same.

You posted the post. The post has absolutely remained on point. Bile Acids/LS isn't a subject I take lightly. Please just calm down. It will be okay. I have been in your shoes more times than more times than MANY PEOPLE HAVE EVEN SEEN A YORKIE. I've been through the surgery. I thought I was going to have to have it about 40 times though. It is not always the case.

Fight the urge to panic! Either Dr.s ask you get another test prior to seeing you. Please don't jump conclusions.

You will be okay. She will be okay.
Isn't K-Town about 2,000 miles from Cal?

Yes useless to me. I was telling that person thanks for wishing the best because I posted the post about Sashas BAT test and she along with 4 other people actually stayed on topic. You guys were talking about your opinions on things and not giving me advice. I said to make your own thread because you guys were going on and on about something else. I was not being rude. One person didn't even know I posted sashas results because of alll the other posts about some other stuff. Yes I'm stressed because I'm 17 and don't have a job because no one is hiring. Please don't ask why my parents can't pay for it. They are not made of money. So thanks to eevryone who wished me luck and gave me advice. That includes dwerten.

Hello Sashabear, I would like to send you hugs and wish you the best of luck. I know you have been dealing with this since September. If I can help you in anyway please let me know. Lissette

well having had the test 3 times mine is a total pig and food obssessed was on a 12 hr fast and we had a hard time getting her to eat at vets office so sorry do not agree with that - dogs do not eat many times at vets offices as they get stressed even the best eaters like mine when i put the food down it is gone in seconds so a dog that is hard to get to eat like liver shunt dogs it is even more difficult to get them to eat. Also feeding a high protein diet prior to post will throw off test so you are suppose to feed in my opinion what they normally eat to get the most accurate result so you know if you should lower protein they are currently eating or not

In this thread someone posted that dr centers does the consult for free so I would give that a shot and fax her the results and talk to her and get her advice for sure if it is for free just make sure when you call to ask them if it is free as you cannot afford right now to pay a phone consult fee :( she is doing studies on this so she may do for free to gather more information so that would be the next step maybe you can call her today and discuss your case but make sure you have the blood work and bats with you to fax to her so she can review them before calling - here is her contact information to call

Contact: College of Veterinary Medicine: Cornell University

I also think you should contact Dr. Center and tell her about your baby and you and your circumstances. Maybe she can offer you some advice, or recommendations to help your baby :)

P.S. I heard on the news that the Starwoods Hotel Corporation is going to be hiring 1200 people. Maybe you should check out their careers site :)
Starwood Careers Homepage: Find and apply for hotel jobs and travel careers: www.starwood.jobs