Liver Issues, Now Nose Bleeds

[teekay]

Hi everyone, I haven't posted in a while but unfortunately I'm here to ask for any advice you may have for me regarding my husky, Mya. Some of you may remember K9Angel rescued her from Blacktown pound in 2009 and we adopted her early 2010. She is 8 now.

She had a blood test done last week (I was worried her recently much worse stinky breath was an indication of an underlying problem. The test results showed higher than normal liver enzymes and a subsequent acid bile test gave worrying results (not sure exactly what they were) She had an unltrasound on Wednesday and the specialist said her liver did not look normal at all. No obvious masses but something wasn't right. She had a sulrgical biopsy done yesterday. They couldn't do one via an unltrasound or fine needle as they didn't have an obvious place to take the test sample from. When I went to pick her up yesterday evening, the vet said the liver definitely didn't look normal. One lobe was worse than the other but she said she had no idea what it could be as she had never seen a liver like it. (She has been a vet for many years so not inexperienced)

The compilation was I had a trip booked to New Zealand, leaving Saturday (today) for a week. I have 2 grown up children living at home so after considering cancelling the trip we decided Mya was in capable hands with my two kids and we left Brisbane for NZ this morning. Mya had had a pretty bad night, she just lay in the same spot from when we got back from the vets at about 6pm til we got up this morning at about 6am. She whimpered on and off all night. But in the morning she seemed brighter, she ate a little chicken, she had a drink, she did a wee so I felt happier about leaving her.

But I have just finally managed to get a phone sorted here in NZ and spoke to my son. At about 10;30 this morning Mya's nose started to bleed. My son immediately rang the vet and Took her straight in. The vet ran various tests (I'm not sure exactly what ) and said she didn't think the nose bleed had anything to do with the liver issues. Maybe it was coincidental. Take her home and if she gets worse take her to the emmerigency vet this afternoon as they shut midday. Unfortunately Mya had a much bigger nosebleed later in the afternoon so my son took her straight to the emergency vet. He also ran tests and said he couldn't find anything obvious but as the blood was only coming from one nostril he thought there may be something up her nose causing the problems. Either foreign or tumour. While Mya was there her nose would stop bleeding but every time the vet did some more examination the nose started again. He thought maybe blood pressure related and she was getting stressed so he has given her a sedative and she is back at home. We still don't know the problem. He is back on at 7am and said my son can take her in for more test, probably head and chest X-rays but she will probably need to be sedated as she got a bit aggressive when he tried to look up her nose. She's really not a happy girl at the moment.

Sorry for the long post but I wanted to get it all down to see if anyone has ever had an experience of something like this.

A few more salient points. Mya had a coagulation test before the biopsy and the results were fine. She was on milk thistle, pain relief and antibiotics after the procedure. The vet has said to stop ALL medication for now. But her temp was 40 degrees, which he said was high. I worried about infection if she's not on the antibiotics.

This is all second hand coming from my son which is so frustrating. He's doing really well and has done everything right. I just wish I was there to ask questions myself.

Damn this bloody timing. I really wish I had cancelled the holiday.

Has anyone any advice at all. Could the nosebleed really be coincidental. It seems unlikely. My poor girl

Edited May 7, 2016 by teekay

[WoofnHoof]

Oh that is not good timing for the holiday My husky had a liver shunt but the congenital ones are usually picked up pretty early, they can get acquired shunts as well but your vet should be able to tell you whether that is a possibility or if it's something else. Although in my experience even experienced vets don't always have the answers for some of these things, sometimes you need a specialist, depending on where you are as to whether you can get onto one but maybe even just give one a ring I have found them very helpful over the phone. When my boy was waiting for his shunt surgery he was on Hills L/D so that might be something to chat with the vet or the specialist about just to take the pressure off her liver at the moment.

ETA it's hard to say whether the nose bleed is related but it's certainly possible but I don't know what the link could be, again I would recommend chatting to a canine internal medicine specialist if you possibly can. In the meantime avoid high protein foods if possible.

Edited May 7, 2016 by WoofnHoof

[JulesP]

Liver issues do cause blood clotting problems but the vet tested for that.

[JulesP]

Could also be portal hypertension, which does cause nose bleeds in people, not sure about dogs. Does she also have fluid in her belly?

[persephone]

how is she today ?

[Scottsmum]

How stressful. Sorry to read this Teekay.

[teekay]

Thanks for the replies guys, communication with home is very dodgy so I haven't managed to get too many details today. She is ok though atm. Still getting nosebleeds but I don't think she has had any major ones today. The sedatives have worn off so she's more alert but not happy. obviously in pain from the op but can't have any pain killers at the moment. She has eaten some chicken though. As I said communication is very limited so that update was this morning. I haven't managed to get in touch this evening yet.

Thanks for the suggestion about portal hypertension Jules, I'll have to Google that. I don't think she has fluid in her belly but not sure. God I hate being so far away. I've never wanted a holiday to go so fast

[JulesP]

Get your son to go get some tinned L/D from the vets teekay. Sick livers really need a rest and high digestible protein or toxins could start to build up.

Sorry this is happening and extra sorry it is whilst you are away.

[Lhok]

My Akita had a huge nosebleed his nose would gush whenever he put his head down and took 3 days to come right(took him into the emergency vet and their consult room looked like a murder scene because he would sneeze and blood would shoot everywhere. The back of my car was the same and calling the detailers and asking how to get blood out of the back of the car was an interesting experience ) Does your son know if she had a knock to the muzzle? Even a minor one with liver issues could cause a bleed and delay significant clotting enough to stop it bleeding.

--Lhok

[dogbesotted]

Get your son to go get some tinned L/D from the vets teekay. Sick livers really need a rest and high digestible protein or toxins could start to build up.

Sorry this is happening and extra sorry it is whilst you are away.

and some st marys thistle ( when Snotto had liver problems the vet specialist said he was more than happy for her to have that and in his opinion it does support the liver and aid in healing )

The Snotto tried to starve herself before hunger eventually drove her to eat the L/D from the vets/ I have a supply that she has not eaten . I am in south east queensland

H

[teekay]

Sorry internet here is very hit and miss. Good news. May has not had a nosebleed in over 24 hours now

Have taken note of all suggestions and will certainly be looking into diet when we get back to Oz. At the moment she has just been having chicken and rice. She is on Milk thistle (which I'm guessing is what you meant bogsbesotted.) We should get the results of the biopsy Friday or Monday so once we know what we're dealing with we will be able to come up with a more precise action plan.

For the moment I'm just so glad her nose has stopped bleeding and she is much better in herself AND she finally poo'd today which is the first since her op on Friday

[persephone]

That's all encouraging news - here's hoping !

[JulesP]

If her liver is a bit dodgy then the GA to do the biopsy would have knocked her around a bit. Hopefully she is feeling better soon and that the results come back with nothing serious.

[dogbesotted]

Sorry internet here is very hit and miss. Good news. May has not had a nosebleed in over 24 hours now

Have taken note of all suggestions and will certainly be looking into diet when we get back to Oz. At the moment she has just been having chicken and rice. She is on Milk thistle (which I'm guessing is what you meant bogsbesotted.) We should get the results of the biopsy Friday or Monday so once we know what we're dealing with we will be able to come up with a more precise action plan.

For the moment I'm just so glad her nose has stopped bleeding and she is much better in herself AND she finally poo'd today which is the first since her op on Friday

glad that the nosebleeds have stopped. fingers crossed for continued improvement.

Yep St mary's Thistle and Milk thistle are the same :)

adding that Snotto did not get a biopsy and we still have not a clue to what actually was going on.. if she relapses then further investigations will be warranted. ..and her liver values have not completely returned to normal but continue to head in the right direction.

h

H

[Scottsmum]

How's things T?

[teekay]

Sorry for the delay in getting back with an update. We got the results from the biopsy yesterday and she has chronic canine hepatitis. She has been prescribed steroids.(High dose to begin with) and antibiotics (metrogyl) and continue with the milk thistle. Repeat bloods in 30 days to see how she's going.I'm hoping that the liver damage isn't too severe as she wasn't actually showing any symptoms when it was picked up that something was wrong. Her weight was quite low last week 13.7kgs but yesterday it had already gone up to 14.5kgs so that's good. She still looks very thin to me though. She's alwasy be a skinny minny but I think it's the shave for the op making her look even worse and we haven't has any more nosebleeds

Edited to add a picture of the furry diva, taken just now. Her fur is starting to grow back :)

2016-05-19_01-54-52 by Tee Kay, on Flickr

Edited May 19, 2016 by teekay

[Scottsmum]

Great news. So happy to hear she's doing better.

I hope you managed to get some relaxing done - I saw a photo on facebook. Ah. Maze. Ing!

[JulesP]

That was my diagnosis but didn't want to say!

The liver is amazing at repairing itself and the milk thistle is really good for helping.

Did your vet give you diet info?

metrogyl tastes blerk btw so you might have trouble getting her to eat that in food.

Hope she is feeling better soon and you too!

[persephone]

It's good news you at least have a diagnosis!! :)

Here's to happy healing now .

[teekay]

Great news. So happy to hear she's doing better.

I hope you managed to get some relaxing done - I saw a photo on facebook. Ah. Maze. Ing!

Thanks Scottsmum, I did have a wonderful week. Didn't manage to do as much walking as I would have liked, the weather was not particularly kind but we clocked up 2000km in the hire car and camper van so certainly got around and saw lots of spectacular places. So many photos to edit and share and I've only managed to get one up on fb at the moment. :laugh: I'm hoping to get another one up tonight. One of 'That tree' in Wanaka. If ever you've been to Queenstown area, you'll know the tree I mean.