WoofnHoof

The shunt is a normal function while the pup is a foetus but some breeds can be predisposed to the shunt being retained after birth, the shunt exists to allow blood to bypass the liver which is normal while the foetus is growing as the blood is already cleaned by the mother's liver, if the shunt fails to close after birth the blood continues to bypass the liver and the liver over time will shrink and eventually shut down, I was told that my dog would probably only live 1-2 years without surgery. Congenital shunts are those that don't close up after birth whereas acquired shunts occur often due to some other problem with the liver. Acquired shunts generally have the worst prognosis as shutting one down often just results in another one appearing somewhere else, sometimes acquired shunts can have multiple vessels as well. My sibe had a congenital shunt, they are generally thought to be inherited but the mode of inheritance is not simple or clearly known so it's very hard to pinpoint which relatives are contributors. Larger dogs more commonly have intrahepatic shunts than smaller dogs which is what my dog had, his was quite deep inside the liver and required fairly complex surgery to repair. Surgical treatment for a congenital shunt is generally recommended and is most successful if the dog is less than a year old. Having said that though the surgery is expensive and there are no guarentees that it will work and there is risk of post-op complications, post-op siezures are the most dangerous I was told this can occur in about 30% of dogs, the intrahepatic shunt surgery my dog had had about 50% chance of working first go, extrahepatic shunts have a higher success rate because it is less difficult to get to and a band can be fitted which will close the shunt down gradually. I took the chance to have surgery with my dog because he was quite young (10 months) and wasn't responding well to medical management and it paid off, he is nearly 3 now and you would never know there had been anything wrong with him, he is a perfectly normal happy healthy husky

That's the only thing?!? He's certainly hasn't produced any riders of note, and having the O'Connors on the payroll doesn't count :D

Hi sorry for the silly question but what's PM? A PM is a personal message if you click on someone's name a drop down menu will appear and one of the options is send message it then takes you to your messages

This is an interesting thread. My perspective is from an equestrian background, when I am looking for a trainer I am looking for someone who can produce great riders, not just the odd local flash in the pan or a bunch of ok riders but consistent high level performers across a decent time period, this shows that they are effective communicators and that they can not just produce the best results but also can keep up with changes in the discipline and transfer that ability to create great riders as the sport changes. There are plenty of instructors who were great in their time, or can jump on your horse and make it go brilliantly, but the ones that can teach you how to get the horse going brilliantly and give you the tools and inspiration to continue that work at home are the great instructors and are worth their weight in gold. There are accreditations but pretty much anyone can get a level one so you need to combine the formal quals with personal performances but more importantly the performance of their pupils, this is where I imagine word of mouth would be extremely valuable in the dog world as there might be many success stories but they are harder to find if they don't compete.

Yeah you had me worried when you said 'cosmetic', lumps are mostly better gone if they keep growing they can cause big problems and tumors can vary in grades between benign and malignant so I certainly wouldn't call it cosmetic surgery in any way shape or form, more like 'preventative surgery'.

Cool

Do you get to find out what happens with the pup? If so updates would be great

Must be devestating for your breeding program, it's worse when the mode of inheritance isn't known so I applaud you for helping to get the markers identified and working towards eliminating shunts :rolleyes: I have heard of shunts reappearing after ops but my impression was that it's usually with acquired shunts as opposed to congenital ones, most of the info I could get hold of suggested that congenital ones that do reappear are indicative of permanent liver damage in dogs that have had the shunt for quite some time? Either way hopefully one of the vet techs will have the funds to do it, I don't have a huge amount of faith in medical/diet managment over surgery because my boy was on ABs, lactulose and hills LD while waiting for surgery and he was still having bouts of sickness and there was still higher risks of kidney stones, liver damage etc. Not saying it can't be done but IMO surgery is preferrable.

Oh poor little pup! Did they find out if it was intra or extrahepatic? Hope they can do a successful closure on it.

Intrahepatic PSS are treatable but a higher risk as they can't put a band around the shunt they can only close it halfway and the blood supply to the liver has to be shut down too as they have to cut into it, there is a chance that the shunt will stay open and another op needed to close it down fully but my dog only had one op (thank dog one bill was enough!) and he came through brilliantly and is still going strong, he had the op at 10 months and he will be 3 next month. I believe the intrahepatics are more common in larger breeds.

I trimmed the whiskers on a horse once he'd never had it done before (it's commonly done for showing) and he had obviously been using them a bit because he kept bumping the sides of his feed bin and scaring himself! It was pretty funny but he got used to it pretty quickly, I have heard of some clever horses needing their whiskers trimmed because they use them to check if the electric fence is on!

This is the test my dog had, based on those results it was followed up with diagnosis by ultrasound. Just for interests sake what breed is it? My dog is a husky and originally I thought it was very rare in them but in the UKC health stats for the breed it is a bit more frequent than I would have thought, although still not common. ETA just saw your post above my dog's blood tests were taken at the vet in Toowoomba and sent to the lab in Brisbane (2 hours away) so it shouldn't need a specialist visit, the report from the lab actually stated that the figures were indicative of PSS so no specialist needed to interpret either

Cool thank you

My chi was quite fat for a while there and I got him down by restricting his diet and making sure he couldn't steal the other dog's food, he doesn't get much in the way of treats either. I was very happy to see him get a lot trimmer and healthier, he gets about 80g of lamb strip every day and the odd biscuits and treats in moderation.

Given the artic origins of the breed can I ask why the long coat is undesirable? Is it because of the maintenance issues?

I feed mine the boneless lamb strips all the time, I tried the ones with bones but they were too sharp and I didn't feel comfortable letting them have them. If I want them to have bones I give them chicken necks instead the bones are much softer.

I usually have a couple of tins of optimum in the cupboard for when I run out of other stuff, they seem to like it.

I guess it depends on whether some agressive surgery would buy the little fella some more time but that decision would need to be made in consultation with a specialist so it certainly wont hurt to see one asap as they can tell you either way and hopefully help you through it. It's hard to know whether the initial vet was negligent, I do feel that some vets can be dismissive of owners instincts and this can make a correct diagnosis take longer than it otherwise should. It has happened to me more than once that is why I say this, thankfully my animals have been saved in time but there were costly and painful delays as a result. However as others have said it's not always practical to run the full gamut of tests in the early stages of diagnosis so it is hard to say without being there. I hope your boy has some pain free good times left with you though.

I think making sure the dogs can't get under the house also helps as the dirt is a huge reservoir for fleas and eggs. It might be useful to get a professional treatment done for the inside and outside, wash everything and treat the dogs and other animals at the same time so that you can hit the problem with everything you have.

Bush's used to be preservative free but not anymore unfortunately, I just buy human grade most of the time now.

My sibe used to get car sick, he vomited a few times, I think he still gets motion sickness especially on windy roads as he gets a bit clingy but he hasn't vomited since he was a pup.

That is a bugger dobbie the acquired shunts are very difficult to repair from what I read you can shut one down and another will appear Glad to hear he has improved and hopefully he can be successfully managed with diet and meds

Its good to hear your dog is doing well on the prescription diet, I would be very hesitant to change anything when he is going well. Apparently the hills k/d is similar enough to the l/d the vets let me feed that so you can probably use that? You can rotate with the dry feed as well but i dont think dogs care too much about variety in their diet, i know my dogs dont and my shunt fellow was just happy to be eating something that didnt make him sick! Does your vet think that your boys shunt can be repaired?

Was the shunt diagnosed by a specialist/blood test? To be honest I wouldn't give him anything other than the prescription diet, my dog had a shunt and the consequences of too much protein can be disastrous Luckily my boy survived but he went into a coma and was very close to death. It's not something you muck around with so missing a few scraps and treats is not going to kill him but indulging him just might. ETA Did the vet give you any meds for him? Mine was on lactulose to help mop up the toxins, as well as antibiotics to keep infections from taking hold.

Horseland Saddleworld These are the two big chains you can do a search to find your nearest store, sorry I'm in QLD so can't help