Mixie's Story

Mixie is an Alaskan Klee Kai which is a miniature husky.
Her father is about 15 inches tall and her mom is about 14 inches tall at the shoulders.
Mixie is white female pup who was born in August. Nobody in the litter had any apparent health issues.
After their first vaccinations at the age of eight weeks, I noticed her belly looked round like a pup
with worms. This seemed odd since I keep all my dogs wormed and the pups had been wormed at
4, 6, and 8 weeks. A week later I gave her the heart worm dose (we live where that is a big issue).
I also treated her with Frontline to prevent fleas. When the roundness persisted, I asked my vet
to check her stool. The vet said she thought she had Coccidia and put her on Albon for a week.

The symptoms persisted and I had another vet check her stool since mine was on vacation. That
vet said she had roundworm and put on three days of Panacur. I had my vet do a follow up the
next week when her stools were loose and there was evidence of blood. The vet put her on
Metronidazole. The next week her belly seemed even bigger so I started researching what else
might be going on and I found the term "Ascites", which really seemed to describe what I was
observing. I took her to the vet and asked that she be checked for that condition.

The vet was able to extract fluid from her belly using a syringe thus confirming my suspicions!
My vet felt that perhaps Mixie had a Porto-Caval Shunt. She also did a urinalysis which was
unremarkable except for a higher than normal pH. During my research I had run across Dr.
Dodd's liver cleansing diet that I made and gave Mixie along with Milk Thistle.

The Ascites diminished to just a slight bit of edema! After about a week it began to grow again.
During all of this, Mixie was acting like a normal pup to me. She played hard and slept hard. I
did notice that she drank frequently, and perhaps urinated often, but she ate ravenously. One
other thing I noticed that differed from the other pups was that she trembled from time to time,
but that seemed to be when she was in a new situation, and then it stopped.

Now that things were looking serious, my vet ran a blood panel. Although some values were
elevated, the only one that caused concern was her Alk Phos, which was quite elevated. At this
point I was conferring with two specialists who have been very supportive with various health
concerns since I have been working with this breed. They suggested doing the Bile Acid test and
when those results came back the values were sky high.

Mixie was put on Hills H/D, which didn't agree with her, so I now add other things such as low
salt cottage cheese or scrambled eggs to the liver cleansing diet. The consensus of the doctors
was to get a Doppler Ultrasound to try to determine whether there was a shunt and to also look
for a possible AV Fistula. My vet did put her on a mild diuretic (Spironolactone).

We went up to Tufts Veterinary School in Grafton MA where a team of three doctors examined
Mixie. The ultrasound ruled out the fistula and portal shunt, but her liver is small. They also
said her kidneys were somewhat enlarged so they did a urinalysis. They told me that I could have
a biopsy done and gave me the estimate. They said they suspected Micro Vascular Dysplasia. Since
that is handled with diet and medication I have elected not to do intrusive diagnostics. Mixie
receives lactulose after each meal to help process any toxins produced as a byproduct of
digestion. She is able to eat low protein kibble; at the moment it is Solid Gold Holistic Blendz.
She is also on the diet that I feed her about every four hours. I have also researched and
devised a regime of supplements to give her each day

If you'd like a copy of the diet, please email me at the address below
and I'd be happy to send you a copy!

Mixie is doing very well with this treatment and I hope to repeat her blood work within the next
month. I am looking for the right home for Mixie. She would be a wonderful companion for
someone who has the time to give her the care she needs.

If you are interested in being considered for adopting Mixie, contact me:

Fran Morano      Email to: morano@earthlink.net