Hi Killian, I hope you are feeling good today! You and your family have sure been through a lot together lately!

I was sure thinking of you today while I watched my favorite TV show "Emergency Vets" on the Animal Channel. They had a tiny little teacup poodle puppy, only 6 months old, that had a liver shunt.

It was very informative to watch the process of figuring out what was wrong, especially when they took the pup to the University (Colorado) hospital for special liver tests. Many of the issues sounded familiar because of you!

For this pup, there was only one hope - to have surgery to fix the shunt. Even with all the special care, they said that there was a 25% chance that the surgery would be fatal. That must be very frightening for the loving family. Thankfully, the surgery went fine, and in only 1 week after getting back home the pup had grown some and was acting more like his silly puppy self.

As a side note, the lady that owned the puppy was herself the recipient of a liver transplant. She had only had her new liver a few months before getting the puppy. She said she felt as if all that happened was meant to be.

Your PetTalk friends are proud of how brave you have been through your tough times. And we are proud of your mom for trying to get the best and safest care for you. We will keep hoping that surgery isn't needed. But if it is, we know it can come out good!

[ July 30, 2001: Message edited by: TheAntiPam ]