My Italian greyhound is really my husband’s best friend (no, no longer like a child) and I am. Her name is Wendy. She is an absolutely beautiful example of an Italian jacket – with her smooth body, her tummy tucked up, her champion as a pose and a capricious gallop. Wendy is 4.5 years old now, and her life has been one long, terrifying journey.
When we first adopted Wendy, she was a tiny puppy with big black eyes. You couldn’t even tell if she was looking at us because her pupils and eye color had not yet developed. She was very fuzzy for the Italian Greyhound puppy. She had a milky breath and waved her tail.
Unfortunately, a few weeks after we accepted it, she dropped it. It was a small projectile, like vomiting, while my husband held it. We didn’t think anything of it, because puppies sometimes throw up. She was on a strictly « puppy » diet, her stool was normal and her urine was normal. She ate and drank normally and behaved normally.
After about a month, things started to change with Wendy. She became less active. She lay down all the time. She didn’t want to participate in a typical puppy game – or, if so, it lasted more than a few minutes before she wanted to lie down. We didn’t know any better and thought that maybe she was just a « quiet » puppy or had a more « serious » temperament than our other Italian greyhound.
Soon we began to notice that she was not eating as much. It’s time to go to the vet. The vet told us her weight is normal and she looks great. We told the vet that her appetite had increased greatly, but he told us to give her chicken soup and rice. We tried and she ate something, but during the day she stopped eating. We turned her back and the vet told us to just keep trying. We tried one more night and she refused to eat. At that point, she also stopped ALL physical activity. She didn’t get up! She did not go, did nothing. She just stared around as she lay.
We returned her to the vet again, this time my husband was angry. Veterinarians & # 39; at least 5 veterinarians worked in the office. He demanded to see a vet, not the one who treated Wendy. He told the new story of Wendy’s vet, and he demanded that something be done about her rapid deterioration. The vet told my husband that he thought she had a food allergy and appointed Hill C / D. Well, fortunately, it helped her to come back to life. Later, I learned that Hill C / D is a low-protein meal, and the highest protein content in puppy food killed Wendy.
Wendy ate well at this. I brought her to the vet at least once a month for colds, fever, and weird behavior. She was constantly urinating everywhere. She never had good appetite and never drank much. She was still a « quiet » dog, but she grew up, and we moved to another town. She became an adult and we removed her from the hill. She immediately began to produce crystals in her urine. Italian greyhounds do not like to urinate outside, so we always preferred to use the substrates to urinate in the basement or garage. Fortunately, as a young man, Wendy didn’t always get to the pad and I could see the crystals on the floor !!!
I specifically took her to the vet to see crystals in her urine. The vet did a few blood tests and told me her BUN was a little low (and maybe her creatine too – I can’t really read my creatine readings). I researched this online (which was still developing at the time) and found information about liver shunts. Liver shunts are often congenital defects that occur in puppies / dogs, and these affected dogs tend to have low amounts of BUN, low crystals of creatine and ammonium in the urine! I brought it to the vet – she said « no » and « it’s not right ». She told us it was the food allergy that our previous veterinarians had diagnosed. I truly believed that my vet was ONE EXPERT. I have completely put forward the idea of liver shunting IN MY MIND.
Every time I brought Wendy to the vet, I kept asking each vet if they thought Wendy was too skinny. They all told me that she was just small and that she looked normal. Again, I had instinctive doubts, but believed in EXPERIENCE.
If only I knew what I know now. After 3.5 years of going through hell, bringing Wendy to tons of vets and vets – I finally found a vet who actually took the time to listen to Wendy’s full story and my problems. He said the magic words « I think she may have a liver bypass, you should have a bile acid test done on her. »
Here are the symptoms of liver bypass:
1. Poor Performer: A puppy / dog who is always sick. Because the shunts in the liver cause toxicity in the blood, because the dog does not have to filter her blood with the liver. Because of this, various diseases often occur.
2. BMI: A puppy / dog that has frequent urinary tract infections or appears to have a urinary tract infection because there are many accidents at home, except that they cannot be blocked or urinated in small quantities.
3. UNKNOWN REAR: Puppy / dog with bad mouth odor and / or bad urine odor (Note: Puppy and young dogs should have a good breath. Bad breath is a RED problem that something is wrong)
4. Pressing on the head: Dogs with liver shunts do not filter the blood, which leads to the accumulation of ammonia in the blood. The toxicity of ammonia makes their heads feel ridiculous – which is why they shake their heads a lot.
5. CRYSTALS In Urine: This is from excess ammonia in their system. Any dog with crystals in the urine should undergo a bile acid test.
6. Complete blood test (CBT): This test is easy to pass at the vet’s office. In dogs that are on the liver, there is often a lower BUN and creatine.
7. Depression: Dogs that are on the liver are not very active or they may be active for a very short period of time. They are known as « quiet » puppies or « quiet » dogs. A « quiet » puppy is usually not normal, and all « quiet » puppies should undergo bile acid analysis to make sure they are OK.
8. Low weight: Puppies with liver shunts look normal with milk belly and so on. When they grow into dogs, it is obvious that they are too thin. Their ribs show, their bones are visible, and they do not develop muscle mass. Not all dogs that translate liver are light in weight, but many are. They tend to be low in weight because their liver cannot absorb and process nutrients to bring these liver dogs to normal weight.
9. Small: Dogs with liver shunts often grow not as much as their counterparts. They have smaller than normal liver and sometimes smaller than normal liver. Wendy has never developed strong leg muscles that exhibit all breeds of gray fungi.
10. Anorexia: Many puppies / dogs that translate the liver do not feed normally. They eat very little dog food. They can serve freshly canned food or food for humans – but they invariably resort to not eating too much. Eating makes them feel unwell because of the greater toxicity they have after eating – so they tend to avoid eating.
11. Breed: Any breed may have liver bypass, but Yorkshire Terriers are famous for having them.
Here is my advice for anyone who has a dog with these symptoms:
MAKE YOUR VOTE TO DO A HOME ACID TEST IF YOU COMPLETE ANIMAL COMPOSITION AND / OR YOUR WINDOWS Don’t take no for an answer. Tell them you want to DO SAFETY and cover all your bases. The bile acid test is approximately $ 100 and can save a dog’s life.
Once your dog has been diagnosed with a liver, you can begin the process of determining treatment. In the meantime, ask your veterinarian for lactulose, which may initially cause diarrhea, but will immediately help greatly detox your dog. In addition, immediately put your dog on a Hill diet that contains low protein. Don’t give your dog any food that has protein! Protein promotes toxicity in liver shunts.
There are several treatment options. You may need to have a scintigraphy to determine whether the shunt is intrahepatic or extrahepatic. Usually, a liver shunt is an extrahepatic (outside the liver) that is easy to function. Intrahepatic shunts (inside the liver) are much more difficult to manage and are usually found in dogs of larger breed. Your veterinarian may recommend, operate or not. It is usually recommended to operate the dog medically rather than to operate the intrahepatic shunts.
Surgery: One of the best and cheapest places to do surgery is at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Texas. And I mean the best and the cheapest. They specialize in liver surgery. I would not trust Wendy to any other surgeon for treatment. UTK also uses a surgical method for extrahepatic shunts that cannot be surpassed by a simple dressing.
Puppies who are in the mother mother of their mother-dog receive nutrients from the mother through the portal vein. At birth, this vein should close. In hepatic maneuvering dogs, it does not close. Instead, this portal vein acts as a bypass and most of the blood bypasses the liver. The liver is what cleanses the blood. The liver also performs thousands of other vital functions !!! 94% of Wendy’s blood bypassed her liver !!!
The classic surgical method was to bandage the portal vein (close it, close it, get rid of it ….). Unfortunately, the ligation method can shock the body and kill the dog as it stops the circulatory system! UTK has developed a much better and safer method. The metal ring is covered with a substance that expands upon contact with moisture. It is slowly expanding (it takes a month or so to fully expand). This ring, called the ameroid constrictor, is located FROM the portal vein. The ameroid convector slowly closes over time until the vein closes. Not only does it help the body to fall into shock, but it also helps to prevent infection caused by the infection! The liver is able to slowly take in more and more blood as the constrictor does its job. No shock to the liver or circulatory system.
I highly recommend the operation with the ameroid constrictor – you can research it all online to make your decision. The UTK program includes scintigraphy for shunt search, surgery, hospital stay, and a life biopsy for approximately $ 1600 (2007). They do a great job!
What to Expect for a Post Op: Your dog will feel pain for several days after surgery. Fortunately, the pain is not so much because the only cutting is abdominal skin and biopsy. Usually no cutting is done to accommodate the ameroid convector.
Over the next 4 months you will notice the following: weight gain, muscle development, loss of puppy (if your dog has kept the puppy’s coat), improved overall appearance (brighter), much more ENERGY and no more head rubbing.
After 4 months, you will need to repeat the bile acid test to test how the ameroid convector works. In Wendy was tested bile acids !!! After 4 months, if the bile acid test goes back to normal, you can return your dog to regular food !!!!
I can’t tell you how glad I am that I was able to surgically correct Wendy.
Cats, Dogs, Pets
