I found Angel on Petfinder.com and adopted her from a small rescue group
near our home in SE Florida in October 2003. Angel was born 4/26/01 and
was being used as a backyard breeder. She had two litters of pups, but all of
the puppies died so the breeder turned her into the humane society. When I met
Angel, she weighed all of 6 lbs and I could see every rib and her hip bones
stuck out. As I sat on the floor and spoke softly to her, she came up to
me and put one paw on each side of my neck and rested her head in the crook of
my neck and gave me a kiss. That's all it took - I was totally in love!
Fast forward to 2005. Angel began peeing in inappropriate places
i.e. the back of my couch, my bed, and if I left clothes on the floor she would
pee on them. I took her to the vet and she was diagnosed with a UTI.
The vet said she had crystals in her urine and put her on food to disolve the
crystals. After almost 4 weeks, there was no change. My vet did
x-rays but they were negative. She then referred us to the Animal
Emergency Referral Center and Dr. Ronald Lyman. He did an ultrasound on
Angel and found her bladder was full of stones and told me that her liver was
very small and he thought she might have a liver shunt. He asked if it
would be ok to biopsy her liver when he took out the bladder stones and I
agreed. She did not have a shunt but she was diagnosed with MVD. She came
through the surgery with flying colors however, the UTI had also spread to her
kidneys. It was several more weeks of different antibiotics but the
UTI/bladder/kidney infection resolved.
Dr. Lyman recommended Hill's L/D for Angel. Within the first month
of being on the food Angel gained almost 3 lbs! Not only that but she then
decided she didn't like the food. He gave me a home cooked diet that was
designed by Hill's but Angel didn't like that diet either. It was
through a friend of mine who asked me if Angel was on Denosyl, Marin,
Neomycin or Lactulose. When I replied no she said I should check with her
doctor. He said yes to the Denosyl and Marin but didn't feel she needed
the neomycin or lactulose.
It was while I was looking for home cooked diets for MVD dogs that I
discovered the Liver Shunt & MVD Support Group.
Angel is doing well on the Dr. Dodd's diet and her supplements, enzymes,
probiotics and DMG and Hepatosupport. Another bonus is that my whole
family is eating better now because I am buying organics!
Karen
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