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Khuno's Story
Hi my name is Khuno. I’m an Alaskan
Klee Kai also known as a Mini Husky. I was born on Feb 24th 2008
and I’m very special to my mommy, we even share the same Birthday. She
always says I was sent to her. As a puppy I was always a picky eater and Mom
noticed I would get sick after certain foods. I always felt bad when I got
my puppy shots too. Then when I was about 5 months old I started having
these “episodes” my mommy calls them. For a few hours I would get weak and
wobbly and not really know what was going on but then I would come out of it
just fine.
At first my mommy thought it was
from the heat because I was out helping her in the yard but one day we were
in the air conditioning and it happened. So Mom called Dr. J; he’s my
veterinarian. After mom explained to him what was going on he said it
sounded like my blood sugar was off
and he said to bring me in for a test. I was
still having an “episode” when mom got me there so Dr. J got to see what’s
going on. Well my blood sugar came back normal so Dr J said he wanted to do
some tests on my liver. The test came back slightly high so they did a Bile
Acid test which came back slightly high too. I don’t like the Bile Acid test
because I have to fast for it.
Dr J told Mom I might have a Liver Shunt and we needed to
see a specialist. I don’t know what that is but Mom did all kinds of
research and she said I couldn’t have a shunt because my BAT numbers were
too low and I came through anesthesia fine.
Around this time my breeder sent
Mom a story about another white AKK that has MVD. It sounded a lot like my
story! Mom put me on low protein food.
I don’t like the food but I’m not having
episodes anymore. So the trips to the Drs started. The first one did a
Doppler Ultrasound and through it he saw a very small Intrahepatic Shunt. So
on to the next Dr, they said I needed a CT scan. So back on the computer Mom
went and she learned that CT isn’t the best test for this and if I do have
an Intrahepatic Shunt there’s only two places where I could have this less
invasive coiling procedure done.
And so we went on a big road trip from Illinois to
University of Pennsylvania in Philladelphia. I didn’t like this trip because
we had to drive for a long time and then when we got there Mom left me at a
Vet Hospital. Can you believe that? Well the Drs there agreed my numbers
were pretty low for a shunt they wanted to repeat the ultrasound with me
under anesthetic, I was awake for the first one, so there goes my belly hair
again man I just grew it back!
They couldn’t find a shunt but they found an area where
my blood vessels were really close together; nothing else. I came through
anesthesia just fine again. They wanted to do a biopsy to check for MVD but
Mom didn’t let them. They also said I was too skinny which I was so they
told Mom to start giving me higher protein. Well Mom did and I started
gaining weight but I started having problems again. So now I went back down
to 18% protein and I’m doing well.