Liver Shunt? Maybe? I don't know what to to!

mellie said:
Wouldn't that be caught on U/S ? Why do you think gallbladder rather than livershunt ?
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It's a good question. I don't have, the answer. All I know is that I've got a dog that eats healthy, mostly active though has brain farts sometimes, losing his fur on his torso even though his hypo counts are stable. No one has tested his gall bladder....tits like they already decided liver shunt, please sign here....goes back to the biopsy that never happend.

From what I know about liver shunt, he should have shown dimished growth etc. None of that. The only external signs of anything wrong with him right now is the skin funk, and loss of hair. That's upsetting, but I still don't see me signing up for $5,000 of surgery. I d0n't know if the hair loss is because of hypo or liver or something else. I no longer trust my vets.

I'm doing battle with the vets, and frankly accusing them of double-charging me and threatening to escalate to the vet board for malpractice.

I'm so upset. I contacted me breeder and she gave me her vet's contact info. That is my next step.
 
Good - second opinion. I wish you lived near me Barb. I would have you see my vet in a heartbeat. Hope you can narrow down the skin funk soon.
 
I can tell you that when I first went when molly was sick (of course it was a sunday) to the emergency vet, vet said wellll given her symptoms, cushings...I literally had the WHAT?!?! face on...I said ummm no, im thinking gallbladder (he still didnt believe me or thought I didnt know what I was talking about)...he didnt have an US so he humored me and did an xray..Xray showed enlarged liver...So Monday I went to my vet, who listens to me (which is why I like him) and even at that I had to convince him it was gallbladder. He hadnt heard about it being an issue in shelties or the fact that they have a sludge issue.
 
Lightplum said:
I can tell you that when I first went when molly was sick (of course it was a sunday) to the emergency vet, vet said wellll given her symptoms, cushings...I literally had the WHAT?!?! face on...I said ummm no, im thinking gallbladder (he still didnt believe me or thought I didnt know what I was talking about)...he didnt have an US so he humored me and did an xray..Xray showed enlarged liver...So Monday I went to my vet, who listens to me (which is why I like him) and even at that I had to convince him it was gallbladder. He hadnt heard about it being an issue in shelties or the fact that they have a sludge issue.
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Yes indeed. When our dog was diagnosed with liver failure, initially his liver looked like it was elongated on x-ray and the vet said he thought it was cancer. The US showed the gall bladder sludge that led to his liver failure.

Barb I feel for you so much. I wish I could ride up there and whisk you and Bacca away to a good vet. I wouldn't trust the people that you are dealing with, what the heck are they doing? It all sounds so clandestine, ya know?

Second opinion, I second that. Is there a place to go? Can you travel with Bacca? If it were me, I wouldn't mention the other experience with your vet practice to the new people that you might see. Just saying, cause doc's sometimes don't want to tread on another doc's diagnosis.

Good luck sweetie, you are in our thoughts over here,

Big Hugs,


Kate
 
Barb if you are interested in trying the internal medicine specialist either in Toronto or Guelph and need a place to stay, you can count on me. You and Bacca are always in my thoughts.

Joanne
 
Barb,
I keep remembering how you said before that you never had issues with Bacca being groomed,then out day when being dried he freaked and screamed. Could this have been when his skin issues were already there or just before it showed its self....?? I am glad you have the name of the breeders vet...I also thought of that. There is one in Almonte that Our kids breeder uses... PM/FB me with the name of the vet you use...hope they are not mine??

:hugs looking forward to seeing you soon!
 
Tagg said:
Barb if you are interested in trying the internal medicine specialist either in Toronto or Guelph and need a place to stay, you can count on me. You and Bacca are always in my thoughts.

Joanne
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That is so extremely kind! I love this forum for the kind of people who open their hearts and sometimes their homes so "strangers". But I guess, you probably know more about me than many of my friends LOL! I don't think I need to take you up on it yet, but who knows...
 
Dexter'sMom said:
Barb,
I keep remembering how you said before that you never had issues with Bacca being groomed,then out day when being dried he freaked and screamed. Could this have been when his skin issues were already there or just before it showed its self....?? I am glad you have the name of the breeders vet...I also thought of that. There is one in Almonte that Our kids breeder uses... PM/FB me with the name of the vet you use...hope they are not mine??

:hugs looking forward to seeing you soon!
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Yeah, he started to freak out being groomed when his skin funk started to show up. We just didn't know how bad it was until it started to get really bad. And now its REALLY BAD! My breeder goes to Missippi Mills. I expect its the same place you are referring to.

All I can say is stay away from *** if you can. Unfortunately, they are the only game in town when it comes to specialities. They quote first and diagnosis later. I'm so close to putting in a formal complaint to the vet board about them

These are the same guys that told me that Bacca might have lymphoma cancer when I brought him in for a swollen mouth. They immediately wanted to do ultrasounds, etc. I convinced them to put him on antibiotics first. That cleared up quick, but then the hypo showed up later.

The rest is history.....first he gets diagnosed with hypotroid, then his liver counts out of whack for the last few years. He goes up and down. Sometimes he's wonderful, and sometime And now his skin funk. I don't know how he will survive summer without an undercoat.

My family says...no to $5,000 of surgery. Wait it out and see. I can't say they are wrong....but this is my Bacca. But I've already spent thousands already.

So maybe the Almonte hospital can help. What's another $1,000 is tests?????:sadsmile:
 
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Ok, I've contacted my breeders vet. Coincidentally, he also has two shelties himself, so he is very interested in taking on Bacca's case. Though he admits that he not a specialist in surgery, he has lots of experience in ultrasound and biopsy.

I've contacted my regular vet and the specialists and told them to send me everything in their medical records on Bacca.

I'm going to rebuild his file from scratch. Its so sketchy I can no longer keep track of everything.

Cripes, Bacca has been trouble for the start!
- Cryptoid
- Then his drug eating episodes (seems he was a great candidate for sniffing out marijuana, except kept eating the evidence). Yep stomach pumped for that
- Then the jaw swelling - which lead to first a cancer diagnosis to just a simple mouth infection to hypothyroid
- Then ultimately wonky liver counts

I LOVE this dog, but it never freakin' stops! :gaah
 
I'm glad to hear that you have found a new vet to help you out- I hope that something is about to work out for you:yes:
 
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