January 18, 2018: At only 2 months old, Bear; pure bred AKC registered Yorkie, made his arrival to his forever home with Karen. Bear immediately grabbed the hearts; and socks, of everyone in the household! LOL No one had any idea of the struggle Bear would endure through the 2 months to come. First emergency room visit (2 weeks later):
Bear began making a strange noise while he was breathing, expressing sounds of pain and discomfort. He gets diagnosed with Tonsillitis, prescribed medications and sent home.
Less thank a week later:
Bear walks the hallway of the house, leaning on the wall as if it’s his guide. Eyes hazed over, walking into things; his equilibrium is completely off. He shows no sign of distress or pain but you can tell something isn’t right. Another trip to the emergency room. They aren’t quite sure what’s going, he stays overnight for some testing prescribe some meds and suggest a follow-up with his vet. Meds seem to be working just fine, he is back to his normal high energy self.
Few days later:
Follow up with vet, they do some blood work and and decide to take him off of the meds previously prescribed. Within a short time Bear begins to go back downhill. His mom finds him a new doctor, he gets seen and they get answers.
Based on the tests Bear, has a Liver Shunt:
”Yorkie breeds are prone to extrahepatic portosystemic shunts (liver shunts). This is an abnormal vessel that allows blood from the intestines to bypass the liver and go into circulation around the body. As this blood does not go to the liver, toxins are not filtered and accumulate in the body causing some signs of disorientation, depressed attitude, and seizures. Additionally, the liver is under-developed, as it does not get a normal amount of blood flow. This leads to low blood proteins, low blood sugar, etc., which can exacerbate signs of disorientation and attitude.”
To give 4 month old Bear a fair chance at life he requires surgery to repair the liver shunt.
A $2,000 CT Scan is required to locate the the shunt, immediately followed by the surgery, approximately $6,000.
Any help is appreciated! Bear is still so young but he deserves a fair chance at life.