Liver shunt

I am posting this as an FYI in the odd chance that this info will help someone puzzled by appetite problems and a diagnosis of a possible parasite infection that does not get better.

After many years of waiting I picked up a beautiful Shiba Inu puppy named Kuma. She was sweet and rambunctious, and one day stopped eating. I changed her food, and she developed horrible diarrhea. I took her to the vet, and he suggested that she may have a parasite. Treated her with some pills and I took her home. This persisted and after she would eat, she would wobble around weak and like she was drunk, and then she would get diarrhea again. Puzzled and devastated I took her back to the vet and they did some extensive tests.

She was diagnosed as having a liver shunt. It was explained to me that as a fetus, the puppies blood does not pass through the liver, and once they are born the bloodflow that is routed around the liver closes and then shuts down, passing the blood through the liver and removing the toxins from the blood. Since this was not happening, every time she ate it was like she was poisoning herself.

My vet said there would be two surgeries necessary to save her. First, they had to determine if the shunt was inside or outside the liver. If it was inside the liver tissue, they would not be able to save her. If it was outside, there was a possibility that she could be saved. The surgery just to determine if she could be saved was very expensive but I made a promise to little Kuma that I would take care of her, and so I did it.

Kuma Chan is now almost 3 and she is fit as a fiddle. The surgery gave her a long scar along her belly, but the next day she acted as if nothing ever happened. It was very expensive but worth every penny. If you have a pet that is not responding to antibiotics please ask your vet to test to see if there is a liver shunt. Every day counts.

Thanks for posting this. I will pass it on to our friends. Glad to hear she is doing fine.

In the last 3 years of Tonee's (RB) life, I called her the American Express doggie:)

Thank you for sharing this information. Is this something that is common to Shibas?? I have a 15-month old Shiba named Kito, and he occasionaly won't eat, but he's just picky:rolleyes:
I have done lots of research on the breed, and I don't remember hearing of this, so maybe it's not a common thing.

I would LOVE to see pics of little Kuma!!

Thank you so much for this invaluable information. I am so happy that your beautiful dog Kuma Chan is happy and healthy!!:)

Thanks for the info. I am so glad Kuma was able to have the sugery done successfully.
My Killian has multiple acquired liver shunts that cannot be operated on. He lives on a home-cooked diet and tender loving care. However, his immune system is always affecting him one way or another.

Thanks for the information, glad to hear Kuma Chan is fine.

Thanks for the information.I am very glad Kuma is fine .That is wonderful news.We just went through the scare of a possible liver shunt.Our leonberger puppy,Dakota is having some problems with lethargy and lack of weight gain, recent diarrhea , slightly anemic, slight liver elevation and we did the bile acid test and it was negative.We were very happy. However we are still at a loss as we don't know what is wrong.We are very worried about her.We have changed her from wellness puppy to wellness fish and sweet potatoe, blood draw, urine, she's been on flagyl and now tylan powder. We did a precautionary course of panacur.:confused: :(
Laurie=Byakko's Mom, Dakota's Gramma