TigerJack

I initially thought the same about going to a home made raw diet but do some research first. Meat based protein is harder to digest than dairy based protein. You've got to keep the ammonia levels in the blood down and meat protein must produce more than dairy. I was advised to avoid all meat initially and go with cottage cheese. Got her on to Hills id and she did really well. Lilly's coat has come back to being beautiful and healthy since the surgery. Fixing things so her liver could regenerate and function properly had more to do with that than initial diet. Go check out the yahoo group 'dog liver shunt and disease' as they have a lot of people who have tried all sorts of diets and treatments and narrowed down what works well.

Digitalwingx - My experience with Liver shunt has meant my dog is virtually back to normal. My Yorkie Lilly was 3 when she suddenly got neurological symptoms back in January this year. I was imagining brain tumours and all sorts of things. My vet said I would think him silly but he thought it might be a liver shunt, apparently Yorkies are top of the small dog list for getting them. She is unusual in that she was older than they are usually picked up, being 3. Her bile salts test was 20ish and then over 240 after food. (Numbers should be around 2 and 20 max.) I had the ultrasound done and it was inconclusive for shunt but showed liver damage. I then needed the CT on top of that to try and show shunt. Sent to SASH for medical consult then CT done which showed her extra hepatic shunt. Lots of extra bloods and things done then too. While she was under I also had a brain CT done as well to completely exclude anything neurological. When I first saw my own vet who thought shunt, we immediately put her on Lactulose and a low protein diet (dairy protein, no meat protein) and her behaviour was immediately much better and her energy levels improved. She was on cottage cheese and rice for a while. Not enough to live on long term but its what she got till we finally got a diagnosis a week or so later. Lilly had one extra hepatic shunt vessel and microvascular hypoplasia of the liver. Her liver was tiny and not very healthy as it had basically been deprived of an adequate blood supply but he shunt for three years. Lilly's shunt, being extra hepatic was operable. The intrahepatic ones are sometimes fixable (good article in the last dogs NSW journal about a dog who had one done via a catheter dropping coils into the shunt to block it off rather than open surgery) but more often managed medically I am told. I was lucky, Lilly could be operated on. Lilly went onto anti seizure medication and a bunch of different antibiotics and anti nausea things plus the lactulose and then went into SASH for 6 days and was operated on by Andrew Marchevsky. Her surgery involved opening her up from just below her sternum down to her groin (tiny 2.4 kilo dog) and placing a cellophane band gadget around the shunt. Once the shunt was in place she was in their ICU for a day or so and I could not visit that day. Had to keep her very quiet. The danger, when the blood is sent back through the liver on its correct pathway rather than bypassing it via the shunt, is that the liver doesn't cope with the high toxins in the blood and they get the encephalopathy again and even seizures. She did well and went to their regular ward and eventually came home on day 6. Still on 4 drugs and Hills LD and strictly no animal protein for 4 months before review. At that point, she went in for most of the day and had lots of retesting done and her results were fabulous. Her liver was regenerating and she was able to come off all the drugs. I had been told I could wean her back to normal kibble after 2 months but I had been too scared to (plus one bag of that lasts a very long time for one little Yorkie) so after her 4 months review I tried normal food again. All good. Lilly is an agility dog and had been getting slower and a bit apathetic about it all. I had put it down to jealousy over a new baby brother but in retrospect, I think she had a raging headache and failing liver for well over a year. Her energy levels had flagged. She was much improved just with the diet and drugs pre-op and is fabulous now. She needs a bit more time for her liver to get back to completely normal and she now needs to build up fitness again as she basically had had 6 months off doing nearly nothing. She is back to competition and apart from being a bit unfit still, is a different dog. So much more energy. Our experience is fantastic, virtually a complete recovery. I am told she has a normal life expectancy, no need for ongoing medication or diet and can do all her pre-illness activities. I'm still a bit terrified of giving her meat protein but I test it with little bits here and there and so far all good. She is probably one end of the spectrum, not all have as great a result. I am also extremely lucky that she is insured as I got all the tests she needed and went straight into surgery asap without any worries. All up, I have gotten over $12,000 back from insurance, including her 4 month post op testing. If you don't have insurance I don't know what you do. I probably would have tried to manage her medically for as long as possible while saving for surgery. I know things don't always turn out to have operable, fixable shunts. When Lilly was just home for SASH I did a little Facebook blurb about her being home and safe and was contacted by a friend who also has a yorkie who had been doing odd things. She described symptoms and sent videos of the odd behaviour and it was almost a carbon copy of my Lilly's. I told her to go in and demand the bile salts test and she did that next day. Vet laughed at her but did it anyway and then they found she had wildly abnormal results too. She also went to SASH and had the same workup as Lilly but in her case no shunt was found. Doesn't mean there isn't one but means nothing that can be seen or operated on. She is being managed medically so will be on diet and drugs possibly for life. There is a great Yahoo group to give you really good information on dogs with liver disease. It is called 'Dog liver shunt and disease.' Lots of people on there with dogs in this situation and they are really good at hunting down information on diet and drugs and supplements to keep dogs going. Their files section has a lot of good research on symptoms and treatment and diets and drugs etc. Helped me a lot. I can't help with vets or surgeons in Victoria but SASH were great in Sydney. Go straight for the CT with angiogram, its a more definitive result than ultrasound. It all does cost a bomb, I hope you are insured. Good luck. Jo and Lilly

a dog run is just a big crate. Google Susan Garret Crate games and follow her method. Makes dogs happy to be in crates / runs and its not too hard. Make the crate / run into the safe refuge, happy place rather than a jail cell where you get left alone.

Theres a few places and large variety of prices. A friend and I have both just gotten new dog walks made and have gotten most of the bits and pieces to chip them. The agility nats have gotten in the way and they will be finished once that is over. Yes you can get a version at Bunnings. They only have quite dark colours in stock. It does say you can special order the lighter colours but that is at a significantly higher price. The chip is the kind that is black in the middle and colour coated. BBAE on the central coast will sell you the right amount for contacts. He makes agility gear. He has blue yellow and purple chips and its the type with the colour all the way through. Bit more expensive. He has just put up an excellent video that explains how to do the whole process from woe to go that is very informative. Explains the ratio of resin to chip etc. Apparently its about 4 kilos of chip per board of the dog walk. BBAE gets his supplies in bulk from A1 in Sydney. They are a bit cheaper per kilo to buy from but they have such a lot of product (in a rainbow of colours) and agility gear, using such a small amount, doesn't really factor on their radar as big customers. They mainly do floors and kid play areas etc. They were lovely to talk to and answered lots of silly questions but they sell their chip in 25 kilo lots (per colour.) I was quoted $7.90 per kilo for 'EPDM' which is the colour all the way through stuff. White is cheaper at only $5.50 a kilo. 20.5 litres of resin is $246 + gst. They said 4:1 ratio of chip to resin by weight. They have the black in the middle colour outside kind too. Not sure on price. My friend did find a smaller manufacturer a bit cheaper but it was a bit random what colours would be available. He did that trip so not sure what their name was. I think if its just you, hunt around for smaller businesses. If you can get a couple of friends to club together and all do your gear. Help each other do it and buy in bulk then A1 is the go. I don't doubt there are many other places but these were just the few we looked at last month in NSW when we bought our supplies. I will add that another friend of mine chipped her dog walk years and years ago and she used all one colour and then painted the contact colour over the top. Lasted well and grip was fine. Dogwalk lived outdoors 100% of the time too.

Haemangiosarcoma sucks. Since I lost my boy to it I have heard of so many others so its not uncommon sadly. My boy Jack was a Malinois cross and from first looking off and skipping a meal, unheard of, to the end was only 3 days. His was in his belly. It was all over everything but primarily through his liver and spleen. He was bleeding internally. Sorry for your situation. I wish I'd done what you are doing and just have as good a last few days as possible. I was talked into 'maybe surgery will work' and instead we just ended up not waking him up. Poor boy's last memory is with strangers at the vet after me walking out leaving him there. I really expected it would be a quick op and all OK but it wasn't. I didn't realise till later that I never got to say goodbye. Enjoy your last days with her. So sorry.

Also, if you're getting a pup, ask your breeder to send you home with the 6 weeks free insurance which the breeder needs to set up. My breeder said it was easy. Just set up a log in and list the puppy with dates etc plus my details. Then you upgrade to paid version after the pup is home. Gives you coverage from before you own the pup and there's nothing that might not be covered. Also I remember asking for the breeder to get a short statement from the vet who saw the pups at vaccination before I got them which just stated checked this and that and all clear.

Petplan here on two yorkies. Youngest boy was still on their free 6 week introduction when he broke his leg requiring 3 pins being inserted. I (obviously) continued into the paid policy and I got the lot back (over $4500) minus two x $150 excess fees. One excess for the 6 week free policy and one for the ongoing paid policy. I have my guys in today getting investigated for liver shunts so will let you know in a week or so how those claims go.

Have you tried a thunder shirt and DAP spray. Both would help her cope with the stress of all of this

Also, the pink identification form you've got from the Companion animals register has nothing at all to do with the Dogs NSW registration of a purebred dog. The pink form is recognising that the dog has been microchipped. You now need to take that along to council and pay the one off registration fee so that the dog is council registered to your name. Its lifetime registration in NSW. Make sure all the contact details are correct on the pink form and go along to council with it.

I have a little maltese cross dog who does this. She is elderly and getting arthritic and she makes some kind of shift in her sleep that hurts and it jolts her awake with a yelp. She then growls at the nearest of my other dogs because she seems to think they caused the pain. Seems to be neck pain as it happens when she lifts her head.

I have several young Kelpies and an older staffy x whippet as my 'large dogs' and I have a small herd of toy dogs. I have chihuahuas and I love them to bits but some of them (the boys) are perfect with people but a pain with the other dogs. Constantly being the 'big' dog and generally annoying my kelpie boy. The worst shedding dog I have is my short coat chi boy! I have one small white fluffy of indeterminate type but the coat is a nightmare and does need to be clipped off. I have ventured into the registered breed world with my latest littlie and gotten a Yorkshire terrier. Fantastic little dog. Lovely temperament, great with all sized dogs and fast learner. She was heavily socialised from when she was tiny (tinier) and she is always out with me at trials so has met lots of dogs. I think socialisation is key to avoid the reactive yappy type of tiny dog that is afraid of anything different. I now have two yorkies, the older girl was a petshop pup years ago (I know better now) but is equally lovely temperament wise. The coats do need to be combed out to be kept nice. My young one is such a busy little dog she always has bits of tree and grass attached. I am not as good at keeping them to show standard as I would like but if you give them a comb out every day you should be able to prevent the worst of it. I do like that there is no shedding at all with the yorkies. No undercoat, just the long silky top coat. I find the bigger dogs that grow up around the littlies, learn to avoid stepping on them. That said, my boy kelpie is a klutz and sometimes doesn't know where his feet are when he's excited. I don't leave my tiniest yorkie out with him unless I can be there. She loves him but has been knocked flying by him. Recommend the Yorkies but (for all dogs, not just all little dogs) socialise socialise socialise!

Going on the 12th for agility and then 18th 19th 20th for flyball

My small dogs are inside all day with no access to outdoors. They have all easily adapted to using an indoor loo. I did initially go to the trouble of putting fake lawn on top of a plastic tray but then you just have to wash the fake lawn as it does get stinky, just hosing it doesn't really cut the smell. I changed to putting old towels on top of the plastic tray and those are easy to wash. Downside is they think any floor mat you leave around is for peeing on but you just don't leave them around. Trick to getting them to start using it is to not clean up immediately they use it the first few times. Leave a pee smelling towel on it to encourage them to return to the smell. My baby yorkie is so conditioned to using it that she will be outside playing and get the urge to go and will run indoors to use the loo. I do have to say that retraining an older (and larger) dog to use it might not work as well. I used to have a 14 year old great dane with multiple cancers. He was never bladder incontinent but he did get dodgy with bowels towards the end. (You want to clean one of those up when he had an accident!!) He never considered going near the indoor loo, he was so conditioned to going outdoors that he would get very stressed at maybe having to go indoors. I ended up just leaving the back door open at night and positioned his bed as close to the door as I could. Sometimes worked, sometimes not as he started getting weak in the back legs and couldn't get up in time. Good luck, I ended up finding my Dane was really not enjoying life having accidents, he got quite miserable. He hated it and thought he was in dreadful trouble. He was a rescue though and had maybe been treated badly as a youngster for having accidents indoors.

My small dogs are inside all day with no access to outdoors. They have all easily adapted to using an indoor loo. I did initially go to the trouble of putting fake lawn on top of a plastic tray but then you just have to wash the fake lawn as it does get stinky, just hosing it doesn't really cut the smell. I changed to putting old towels on top of the plastic tray and those are easy to wash. Downside is they think any floor mat you leave around is for peeing on but you just don't leave them around. Trick to getting them to start using it is to not clean up immediately they use it the first few times. Leave a pee smelling towel on it to encourage them to return to the smell. My baby yorkie is so conditioned to using it that she will be outside playing and get the urge to go and will run indoors to use the loo. I do have to say that retraining an older (and larger) dog to use it might not work as well. I used to have a 14 year old great dane with multiple cancers. He was never bladder incontinent but he did get dodgy with bowels towards the end. (You want to clean one of those up when he had an accident!!) He never considered going near the indoor loo, he was so conditioned to going outdoors that he would get very stressed at maybe having to go indoors. I ended up just leaving the back door open at night and positioned his bed as close to the door as I could. Sometimes worked, sometimes not as he started getting weak in the back legs and couldn't get up in time. Good luck, I ended up finding my Dane was really not enjoying life having accidents, he got quite miserable. He hated it and thought he was in dreadful trouble. He was a rescue though and had maybe been treated badly as a youngster for having accidents indoors.

I have a few thundershirts for different dogs, different anxieties. My storm phobic dog only gets full calming effect from the shirt if I get it on her before the storm arrives. She can tell when they are coming though and tries to climb into my lap, panting alot. As long as I get her shirt on and her into a place she feels secure (smallish crate, covered over) then she copes. If she's loose, she tends not to calm as she doesn't feel safe. My generally anxious boy who got even more freaked with helicopters constantly over us during recent bush fires, sometimes has an anxious night if his routine is disrupted. He then whines and barks all night. If he's unsettled when he comes in of a night I will sometimes need his thundershift on to help settle him. He usually needs a spray of dap or some rescue remedy too. I also used to have a little rescued dog who didn't like being confined in a crate but who sometimes needed to be if I was out at a trial for example. He was much moer relaxed (won't say completely chilled) if I got his coat on well before he went into the crate. If he was in the crate and became anxious before the shirt went on then it didn't have as much effect. I am finding the combination of shirt, dap and rescue remedy the best, especially for my boy who needs his routine to go to plan. I never leave them on when I'm not there either. They aren't unsafe or anything but I don't like a potentially anxious (and panting) dog to maybe overheat.