Lynne
Well-known member
Hello everyone.
I have been reading Cavalier Talk since before Christmas, as we have been going through hell and back regarding my baby Megans problems, but I didn't want to post anything until I had a good idea of what to post. Megan is an 8 year old black and tan. She may be 9, but we are not sure as she was a 4 year old rescue pup, when we got her. She is very small, and was massively overweight when we got her, but we put her on a strict Burns Diet, and within six months she turned into a gorgeous svelt and healthy girl. Luxating Patella in the first year apart, she has been very very well over the last three years but before Christmas we started to see symptoms that things were not right. Excessive drinking, runny poo, and little puddles in the house (she will have been mortified to do this as she is very well house trained). The final straw was being off her food (unknown as megan is a very greedy dog), and a very bloated tummy one evening and wheezing when we picked her up. So straight to the vets.
A very very long story short - her tests were all over the place - excessively high in some areas, very low in others, and their scans showed 'funny' things. We went from the possibility of liver disease, to a possible tumour, to everything appears healthy but her gall bladder is in the wrong place and has 'grains' in it etc., and in the end we were referred to a specialist vet in Solihull called Willows.
This Friday they discovered that she had lots of gall stones, and they strongly suggested that we had her gall bladder removed, and at the same time they would take a biopsy of her liver. Gall bladder op went well, and megan is responding very well, and we think she can come home tomorrow. They feel her quality of life will be massively improved now that the gall bladder has gone.
BUT - (there is always a but) her liver is another thing. The surgeon said he had never seen a liver like it, and he thinks it is congenital. She has been surviving on only two liver lobes. One is very very small, the other is very very large. neither of them look healthy. They have taken a biopsy of both, and the results should be back within five days.
The surgeon is a liver specialist and says he is intrigued by what he saw, and needs the results to give us an idea what happens from now on and how we manage it. As he is a liver specialist I am taking hope from the fact that he would have recognised cancer/tumour instantly probably, so the biopsy must be for something else.
So, my question is - No.1 highly unlikely but has anyone else every come across this before? and No.2 we were adapting her diet before the operation to help her liver, by giving her chicken, white rice, fish, pasta and low fat cottage cheese, (which she wolfs down) and also adding milk thistle and SamE to her meds - can anyone else suggest an easy on the liver diet? and also what sort of quantity is she supposed to be eating. She is currently 6kg weight.
Sorry, this was supposed to be a long story short, but it has turned into quite a long one, and I have missed so much out in between.
Thank you for reading and I hope someone can look at this and give me hope/help/advice.
Lynne x
I have been reading Cavalier Talk since before Christmas, as we have been going through hell and back regarding my baby Megans problems, but I didn't want to post anything until I had a good idea of what to post. Megan is an 8 year old black and tan. She may be 9, but we are not sure as she was a 4 year old rescue pup, when we got her. She is very small, and was massively overweight when we got her, but we put her on a strict Burns Diet, and within six months she turned into a gorgeous svelt and healthy girl. Luxating Patella in the first year apart, she has been very very well over the last three years but before Christmas we started to see symptoms that things were not right. Excessive drinking, runny poo, and little puddles in the house (she will have been mortified to do this as she is very well house trained). The final straw was being off her food (unknown as megan is a very greedy dog), and a very bloated tummy one evening and wheezing when we picked her up. So straight to the vets.
A very very long story short - her tests were all over the place - excessively high in some areas, very low in others, and their scans showed 'funny' things. We went from the possibility of liver disease, to a possible tumour, to everything appears healthy but her gall bladder is in the wrong place and has 'grains' in it etc., and in the end we were referred to a specialist vet in Solihull called Willows.
This Friday they discovered that she had lots of gall stones, and they strongly suggested that we had her gall bladder removed, and at the same time they would take a biopsy of her liver. Gall bladder op went well, and megan is responding very well, and we think she can come home tomorrow. They feel her quality of life will be massively improved now that the gall bladder has gone.
BUT - (there is always a but) her liver is another thing. The surgeon said he had never seen a liver like it, and he thinks it is congenital. She has been surviving on only two liver lobes. One is very very small, the other is very very large. neither of them look healthy. They have taken a biopsy of both, and the results should be back within five days.
The surgeon is a liver specialist and says he is intrigued by what he saw, and needs the results to give us an idea what happens from now on and how we manage it. As he is a liver specialist I am taking hope from the fact that he would have recognised cancer/tumour instantly probably, so the biopsy must be for something else.
So, my question is - No.1 highly unlikely but has anyone else every come across this before? and No.2 we were adapting her diet before the operation to help her liver, by giving her chicken, white rice, fish, pasta and low fat cottage cheese, (which she wolfs down) and also adding milk thistle and SamE to her meds - can anyone else suggest an easy on the liver diet? and also what sort of quantity is she supposed to be eating. She is currently 6kg weight.
Sorry, this was supposed to be a long story short, but it has turned into quite a long one, and I have missed so much out in between.
Thank you for reading and I hope someone can look at this and give me hope/help/advice.
Lynne x