Help! My Yorkie is still sick..and with what???
 

Hello, I am new to this forum, and I am very desperate. I have a 1.5 yr old Yorkie named Henry who has had medical problems since he was about 6 months old. To cut the story short, Henry has normal liver enzyme levels (normal blood work in general) only slightly elevated Bile Acids, but his urine Ph is all over the place. One month I am treating him for urate crystals because his urine is basic and this month he has many many struvite crystals and his urine is acidic (he also has a bacterial infection noted by cocci in the urine). Also, Henry's urine is always more concentrated than it should be, and he gets bladder infections frequently. I just finished one round of antibiotics for the Struvite crystals, and at the re-check we found he was actually worse. Henry is now eating S/D prescription food and has started up another round of antibiotics. He absolutely hates this food though and feeding him this for three weeks will be a nightmare. I should also mention that Henry had a liver biopsy about 6 months ago that left the vets stumped. He does not have MVD, and does not appear to have a liver shunt. However, his liver looks like the liver of a very old dog. I am feeding Henry Denamarin pills every other day, but I just don't understand what is going on now with the urine crystals, bladder infections, normal liver enzymes, but slightly elevated bile acids...ANY THOUGHTS? I am desperate and broke. I feel as though there may be a lower protein food that could also help break up crystals? I appreciate any advice.

Honey,
If you post this in the forum for sick and injured pups you will sure
get many more responses.
There are several here who will be certain to assist you.

Good luck to you,

Thank you!
 

I didn't see the other thread you mention, but I will track it down now. I appreciate the advice.

Warm Regards

PLEASE join this group:

DogLiverDisease : Dog Liver Disease

They are VERY helpful, and I truly think they can guide you in the right direction.

Has he had an ultrasound to check for bladder stones?
When his liver was biopsied, were several samples taken or just one?
What are his bile acids?
Was a Protein C test or scintigraphy done?

for a dog with stones/crystals and liver issues i recommend natural balance vegetarian that will work for both situations

also i recommend you get your dog on probiotics too keep the infection down in bladder that keeps causing the uti - here are the ones i use

dds plus

Dds-Plus Capsules by U.A.S.Laboratories - UA-1010 - at The Vitamin Shoppe

also i recommend juicing organic zucchini with celery put pulp and juice on food as zucchini cleanses the liver and celery cleanses the urinary tract

there are supplements for dogs which have cranberry in them as well

sorry you are going through this

also what were bile acids as sounds like they were below 100 and if no mvd then could be gall bladder contracted and your dog does not have liver disease so that is one down

have you bought ph strips to test urine at home to make sure doing ok

also are you sure the food is not S/O not S/D ?

Henry's Stats
 

Hello, I greatly appreciate the comments and this forum is making me feel better already, and at least not so alone. I think I will try some other natural supplements in conjunction with the Denamarin that might help even his pH.

Here are Henry's stats:
-Protein C test was 113 which was considered negative for liver shunt
-Liver Enzymes are all in normal range as was all of his other blood work
-Bile Acid 18.2, Bile Acid Post Prandial 97.3
-Ultrasound found no bladder stones (thank goodness)
-To my knowledge just one biopsy sample from Henry's liver was taken. No MVD was found, but the liver looks like the liver of a much older dog. Following this find, the vet said I could take him off of the prescription liver diet (low protein) so I did. However, his protein levels in his urine are a bit high now.
-Henry's urine is always very concentrated and I feed him 1/2 wet food and 1/2 dry food to try to get more water in him.
-Henry no longer has Bilirubin in his urine, just crystals


I don't understand why Henry's liver enzymes are normal, but his bile acids were high.

Henry has no physical symptoms other than bladder infections. He eats, plays, and sleeps like a normal pup. However, I have been having problems with bladder infections since I have owned him. He has had both Urate crystals and Struvite crystals.

Warm Regards, and as always your thoughts are appreciated.

P.S. I need to figure out how to post Henry's picture because he is incredibly cute. His left ear never stood up so he has a quirky one up one down look :)

For Dwerten
 

Hi Dwerten,

I also wanted to address your questions/comments. I had not even considered a gallbladder issue, but I will certainly look into contracted gallbladder. Also, I am going to call my vet tomorrow and ask about probiotics and perhaps cranberry pills. I would love to manage this as naturally as possible if I can, so thank you for the suggestions.

I did make a mistake, and Henry is currently eating S/D although I can't get him to eat it. He will take a few mouth fulls if I feed it to him by hand but he spits most of it our repeatedly. I'm not sure he can live on this for three weeks but I will try. If by tomorrow he is still refusing to eat much of it I'm going to call the vet.

I have not tried getting my own pH strips, but I work as a microscopist and have access to many labs where those would be. I will also be taking dog urine with me to work to see if I see less Struvites over the next few weeks!

Warm Regards

Please join that yahoo group I posted. There is a lot of things that you can do for him and they will tell you.

Hi TLC
 

I just completed my membership in the Yahoo forum and I have posted my case. I'm just waiting on the moderators :) I greatly appreciate your suggestion.

Warm Regards

My little male was having these same problems he had 2 surgerys in 6 months. he was put on U/D food and is now drinking only bottled water. hes doing great now.

try baking the wet food as that may entice him to eat. try feeding him some watermelon or apple pieces (no skin).

if they only biopsied one part of his liver, he could have MVD in a different part of his liver.

i don't think citrus (cranberries) are good for stone (could make it worse).

good, the yahoo group WILL help you

urate stones are a sign of liver issues struvite are not

cranberries are for bladder infection but check with vet as not sure how it affects stones

protein c test is not real accurate :( a dog i helped had negative protein c test and had multiple shunts but i am sure they looked when doing biopsy i am sure

try the natural balance vegetarian as that will help with stones and with liver as those bile acids being that high i still think mvd is present

Thank you everyone!
 

I really appreciate everyone's input here. I am going to start giving Henry bottled water, and I am going to ask my vet about Natural Balance Vegetarian or a U/D diet. I would really like to be able to manage Henry with diet and supplements. Hopefully we never reach the point of getting bladder stones. I'm going to monitor him carefully. I am also going to try baking his prescription food...I hadn't thought of that!

Thank you all so much!

getting the right diet will solve the issues with this i believe :)