This Dedication is to the Special and the Lost Loves
Now at Rainbow Bridge due to deadly Diseases
& Tragic Accidental Overdoses.

There's always the possibility that this can happen the first time to any breeder.
Hey, there was a first time for me too!! It's not SHAME ON YOU for
"having the problem", but it is SHAME ON YOU if you, as a breeder,
don't take steps to see it doesn't happen again.

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"Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me"
Now Playing!
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 In 1999, Dr. Karen Tobias began an epidemiologic study of Yorkshire Terriers and other dogs with shunt at 24 Veterinary Teaching Hospitals and a pedigree analysis of Yorkshire Terriers with single congenital portosystemic shunts (PSS).  Her objectives were 1. to determine the risk of development of single congenital PSS in Yorkshire terriers;  2.  to prove that congenital  PSS are hereditary in this breed;  3.   to determine the mode of inheritance of this disease in Yorkshire terriers;  and 4.  to determine which other breeds have the greatest risk of being diagnosed with PSS.  Through this research Dr. Tobias showed that single congenital liver shunts were inherited in Yorkshire terriers; however, the mode of inheritance has yet to be determined.  Many other breeds are also at great risk for development of this birth defect.  Fortunately, the disease is surgically correctable in most of patients, but surgery requires great financial and emotional investment from the pets' owners.

Through generous donations by breeders and animal lovers, Dr. Tobias has been able to start a "colony of shunt dogs" to be used for breeding.   After their shunts have been surgically corrected, these dogs are placed in loving homes and will be bred to each other when they reach an appropriate age and size. Puppies produced by the matings will be evaluated for liver shunts, treated as needed, and adopted into our veterinary community. We hope that this breeding program will help us determine the mode of inheritance of this disease, so that future breeders can make educated decisions on how best to eliminate the disease from their gene pool.

OTSFMLS organization is willing to pay $250 for affected liver shunt female pups directly to breeders who will turn over their liver shunt pup or adult female to Dr. Karen Tobias
University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine
 Univ. phone (865-974-8387)
PO Box 1071
Knoxville TN 37901-1071
E mail addy - ktobias@utk.edu
Tobias Office Phone - 865-974-5525
 FAX 865-974-5554
http://www.vet.utk.edu/clinical/sacs/shunts_faq.shtml

for study of the disease.  COMPLETE CONFIDENTIALITY IS ASSURED.   The lineage isn’t important in the ascertaining the Mode of Inheritance and in determining the DNA ID.


In 1986 Fanny Mae, died in my arms at 18 weeks with a shrunken atrophied liver. At that time, none of my
vets knew what it was. As soon as we were aware of what it was and the "possibility" that it was hereditary
because the sire had thrown it two out of four in a friend's litter also, I removed all the siblings and Champion
relatives from my breeding program and have been careful to stay away from these lines ever since. I have not
seen one single case of Liver Shunt in my breeding since that time. Recently I have been approached by pet
people who have bought a puppy later diagnosed with liver shunt and have been given sometimes quotes for
surgery in the thousands of $$$. In some cases, the breeders have refused to make a refund to help with the
surgery and in other cases, the cost of the surgery and the care made it a difficult choice for them and they had
no choice but to put their pet down.
In an effort to help these pet people, a fund has been set up, supported by a group of caring people online, to
"help" them with this expense. The amount of money available will have to be considered on a case by case
basis, depending on the amounts collected. To find out about eligibility requirements, write tshumsky805@charter.net
and if no response within 12 hours, write BarbBeck@yorkielane.com

 

Search:
Keywords:
In Association with Amazon.com

http://www.yorkielane.com/LiverShunt/shopforls.htm

There are more opportunities to help TSFMLS just by shopping here: 
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All purchases made through these links will earn
a % for the TSFLMS Fund


TSFMLS has applied for its 501(c)(3) non-profit organization
Contributions/donations are Not tax deductible at this time, but will be once our non-profit status is through.  Thank you for your continued support and patience.

Checks can be made to TSFLMS, and mailed c/o Terri Shumsky, 363 quail summit, Paso Robles, CA 93446.


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I lost Kirby, my six-year old Yorkie, on August 3rd. 
Last Thursday, he began acting strange, not wanting to go for a walk, following me everywhere I went, just not being himself.  Friday he seemed okay, eating fine.   He woke me up around 3:30 am Saturday morning because he was pacing the kitchen floor.  I watched for a while, and then went downstairs to let him outside. He never needed to go in the middle of the night before.  He had already peed and pooped on the pee pad, so I put down a new one and filled his water and food bowl.
I noticed that he had drunk a lot a water, and that seemed odd to me.  He went back to his crate and I went back to bed.  About 7:30 Saturday morning, he was pacing the floor again.  I went down and noticed that he had peed FOUR different times on the new pee pad.  I'm thinking why is he peeing so much? Later that morning, my husband let him outside and for a while everything seemed fine.  I let him out on the porch to get some sun and he ended up throwing up.  I let him in so I could watch him and once again he seemed okay.  Even ate some food.

Click here to read all of Kirby's Story



Sarah’s Sherman

"Sherman was given to me by a breeder that I have already bought two pups from in the past. She knew he was ill but did not know the cause. I picked him up on April 26th and wound up at the emergency vet the same day as he was vomiting up roundworms. She told me he had been dewormed when he got each of his puppy shots. Her vet would give me no information because I did not know Sherman’s mother’s name. The breeder told me Sherman was born on 11/29/02.

Click here to read all of Sherman's story


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Misty
Sire's Pedigree       Dam's Pedigree

Misty has receintly had surgery for PSS and was spayed and Trudie has kindly requested that any donations be sent to FLMS for other victims. Thank you Trudie and we hope that Misty recuperates quickly and she lives a happy, healthy life thanks to your intervention. Thank you for allowing the pedigree of Misty's Sire and Dam to be published here. Bar Beck has notified me that she will be very active in LSChat at Yahoo and will help the educational process.


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Whisper's Pedigree

To Whom It May Concern:
This is my plea to any dog breeder that is continuing to breed a line that you know has liver shunt disease in their past and for any dog breeder who has not acknowledged guilt in any way but knows  there may be a problem in the line they are breeding from.  I would hope that you would read this true story with compassion and make whatever changes are necessary in your breeding plans.

My little dog, Whisper, would have been 7 years old 6/28/02.  I purchased her from a dog breeder of many years experience who had failing health and died approximately 4 months after I purchased this dear little dog.  I was never told anything about health problems.  She was underfed and only weighed 3.9 lbs. When I got her.  She had no hair on her ears and the tip of her tail looked like a rat.   I purchased her in July 2001.   She had been bred, had one puppy, which died, and so the breeder didn’t want to keep her anymore.
Click here to read all of Whisper's story


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1996 - 2002
Pedigree
 I had a beautiful little male named Bogie that died from liver complications. ( I've attached a picture of him for you to see).  I  purchased him from a show breeder, Colleen Sinor and Doug Sinor.  I was given no health guarantee to speak of.  I never dreamed that a reputable breeder would  do business the way that she did. He had MVD and was also cryptorchid ( she informed me that they were down when she sold him, and that a lot of time they popped back up!) . The testicicles were located high in his abdomen  and were retained. The liver problem didn't show up until he was 5.  He began to have seizures and testing revealed elevated liver enzymes with a bile acid   result of 176.6.  We were heart broken.  We fed him the liver diet, had him on 2 different medication for the seizures and spent close to 3,000 dollars to no avail.  The seizures were never controlled.  He would have them about every 7 days and then they would be cluster seizures, occuring about 6-8 hours apart.  He would behave fairly normally during the interim .  We were contemplating the next step, but not wanting to think about losing him when he died naturally in his sleep last spring.  We do miss our little baby Bogie Horn!  Reisha Horn

“Microvascular dysplasia is microscopic changes in the liver that may cause blood to pass more quickly past the liver cells instead of slowly percolating by and through them.  Dogs can have the same clinical signs and bloodwork changes as those with shunts, although more often the fed bile acids are not as high, the fasting bile acids are near normal, the albumin and blood urea nitrogen levels are normal, and the signs are less severe.  Treatment includes low protein diets and lactulose, with or without antibiotics.  Diagnosis is made by liver biopsy (the results of this are exactly the same as a shunt) and by proving that there is not a shunt.  This disease is hereditary.

Note:  Any liver disease can cause bile acids to go up and many medications (such as phenobarbital or steroids) can as well.  Dr. Tobias”


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Bobby and Teddy at the fundraiser for his surgery

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Bobby & Teddy and his doctors at MSU after surgery

From Bobbie- HEP Rescue
I'm home! The people at MSU were wonderful! (And to think, my foster mom use to be a U of M fan). I'm attaching a picture of my new best friends. That's Dr. Curcio on the left, he was my surgeon. And that's Andrew on the right, he did everything else. And of course, Teddy was here too. Teddy has a hospital bracelet & bandage just like me. I wonder what kind of surgery he had? Anyway, I'm not up to par yet. I'm pretty uncomfortable (but who wouldn't be). I don't have much appetite, I can only eat a teaspoon or two. But my foster mom says "each day will get better". My foster grandma came to the hospital too, she was so happy to see me that she cried. She held me and kept me warm all the way home. I'm still waiting on some the results, and of course I have more tests to run. My bills are running close to $3000. That's a lot of $$$. But, if my illness and medical records can help with the research to end this terrible disease, it's worth a lot more. As always, thank you, thank you, thank you to HEP and FMLS. You guys are the greatest!!! I'll write in a few days when I'm feeling a little better.

Love & Sloppy Kisses
Bobbie & Teddy


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Ozzie
FMLS was able to participate in this miracle for little Ozzie by donating $800 to the Ozzie fund for his surgery, thanks to the many donors keeping the fund alive.          Terri S.

"I just got a phone call from Ozzie's surgeon. Liver biopsy results are back and consistent with just the one extrahepatic shunt that was repaired using the ameroid constritor. No other abnormalities found. Ruled out MVD. We will still monitor his blood sugar and his results are up and down. This is not expected to be a problem. I expect his results to be more consistent now that he is eating again and we "keep him on a regular feeding schedule". Ozzie is eating well now thanks to all the wonderful advice yesterday. He so badly wants to run and play. Ozzie's prognosis is very good for a full recovery. In 3 months bile acids will be checked again. So everyone in this day of bad news in the world we can do a happy dance about Ozzie. God bless everyone for their prayers.

Kathy Kemps, Unitedyorkierescue.org


Fanny Mae's first LS Victim is Romeo, scheduled for surgery 9/1/2000
Romeo before surgery
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Romeo
"Romeo is doing very well, still exhausted, but recovering nicely. I've attached a photo of him from this morning. he may be going home tomorrow!
K. Tobias" September 2, 2000

Romeo after Surgery
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.. what a difference I can see in the "eyes" of this little guy..... Amazing Surgery, and Amazing Grace.......
"WE" did a good thing....


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Honey
Honey, a 1 year old Yorkshire Terrier, appears to be recovering just fine from the surgery. The dog traveled to Knoxville from California with her owners for a specialized procedure on her liver. Click on Honey's Photo to read the entire Story


This little gal is alive because of Dr Karen Tobias surgery and because of www.livershunt.com and because of your generosity to the Fanny Mae LS Fund. And what's more wonderful is that her breeder is bringing all her dogs to Dr Tobias for pedigree studies and bile acid studies
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Mitzi
Mitzi is doing fantastic. You would never believe that she has been sick and you really have to look to see her scar. She is healthy looking. She does not like for me to make her picture and always has a sleepy look on her face because she squints. She can smile believe it or not. She burps too. We love her so much and we are so thankful to you and to The Fannie Mae Group. I would like to send individual  thank you notes to all the board or members. Please tell me the addresses.....email or snail mail......makes no difference We just want the whole world to know how grateful we are and that LS Yorkies can be helped. Eya soon......Illy/Aka Elaine


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Winston
I wanted to share about my Yorkie, Winston. I bough t him from a breeder a few years ago. After a few months, Winston developed what we thought was a stomach virus. He was treated and things returned to normal. A few months later, it happened again. This time they thought that he may have pancreatitis and was put on a special diet until his symptoms subsided. This periodically happened over the course of a year or more, but when the symptoms continued to last longer and the bouts with the illness occurred more often, I began to worry. In January of 2001, Winston became ill again and I took him to an Emergency Clinic and he was treated once again with medication. A week later it happened again and I called upon a new vet whom began to suspect it was more than pancreatitis. After many tests, he told us Winston and Portalsystemic Shunt. Winston had surgery on March 27 at University of Tennessee by Dr. Tobias and staff. We are very thankful to the Fannie Mae Fund and UT for all that has been done for Winston. He has improved energy and appetite now. My children and I are so glad to know that we will have him for many years to come. Winston goes back for follow-up tests in May to make sure surgery has helped him. Please keep Winston in your prayers
Susan Sewell and Girls
Knoxville, TN


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Chloe
"Just want to let you know about our 11 month old Chloe. She has been getting lots of rest,she got up and moved around a little more this afternoon, and has been eating small feedings. She seems to be thirsty quite a bit but Dr Mayo said to let her have small amounts at a time.It's sure great to have her home, and I'm like a mother hen watching over her. We have contacted the breeders and am hoping to get some back on the price of the dog and our local vet bills. I'll be letting you know how it goes so can advise on how to direct the funds if we do get something back. We will definitely want to contribute back to the fanny mae liver shunt funds.
We are amazed at all the nice friends we have meet that we might have never know if it hadn't been for Chloe.  We are getting stuff on Chloe together to send to Dr. Tobias, and advised Dr Mayo that Dr Tobias would probably like the photos he took of her liver and shunt.
Lee and Cathy"


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Our little Maggie is 7mo old and is the sweetest little puppy. She loves to play outside with her sister Abby, and just spending time at home playing with her toys. Our little Maggie was diagnosed with a liver shunt, and thanks to the Fanny Mae Foundation and the doctors at the Univ. of Tenn. she is on her way to a fast recovery. We thank you so much and pray that there will be a DNA ID for this disease in the near future so people can buy a puppy w/o fear. We thank you so much again for helping us with Maggie!! If it wasn't for your compassion and generosity Maggie would have certainly suffered we are forever grateful for special people like you!!!
Love,
Michael, Megan & Maggie


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Hello.  My name is Annie.  I was born May 23, 1999.   Mommy got me when I was 8 weeks old and weighed 15 oz.  I didn't grow up very much.  At 2 years old the most I weighed 2 lbs. 1 oz.  Then in early 2001, I started losing weight.  I got down to 1 1/2 pounds.  I looked like a walking skeleton. The diagnosis turned out to be liver shunt. So she found Yorkie National Rescue...  Someone there referred her to a website that contained The Fannie Mae Liver Shunt Fund.  This is where I first met an angel named Terri Shumsky and a vet in Tennessee named Karen Tobias.
Karen Tobias did the lab work on my Liver Bile Acid Tests free.  Terri arranged for the Fannie Mae Liver Shunt Fund to raise the money for my surgery.  A lot of wonderful people that I would like to thank very much sent in donations.
The surgery was done by Dr. Douglas Kern in Omaha, NE.  He was a really great surgeon. I came home yesterday.  I have done really well in my first 24 hours.
To read all of Annie's story........... Click here


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“My name is Beth and I am writing to you in hopes that you may help me and my little Yorkie.  I live in Ocala, Florida and I own a female Yorkie who has been very ill for the past two months.
Beth Brightwell

To read all of Nikita's story........... ClickNikita6-02a.jpg (24215 bytes) here

Nikita's surgery was paid by FMLS and she is doing well.


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Lucy

I am so sorry I took so long to send this. I wanted you all to see the sweet angel you all saved. I had to wait for my friend with a digital camera and he has been so busy. Lucy is doing so well you would never believe she just had surgery! She is very energetic now, so it was hard to keep her still at first. She sleeps when riding in the car so I guess it was good we had such a long drive home. At this point it has been two weeks and two days since her surgery. I still bring her to work with me everyday.She is so precious and so happy. I think she knows she is a little miracle and has you all to thank that she is alive and with her mom (me). She eats like a little pig and weighs a little over 2 1/2 pounds. Lucy was very glad to get back home to see her cat, Smokey Joe. He is a ten year old Siamese. Lucy pesters him to death, but he loves her an corrects her as gently as he can. She loves to relax and lay with him. Our other family member is Blackjack, a 120 pound Great Dane. He stays outside of course, though he would love to stay inside. That's my entire household. They are my babies. They would do anything for me and I would do anything for them. This miracle you all were a part of will be remembered forever. I will be sending money back to the foundation whenever possible, to be a part of helping other babies like Lucy. If there is ever anything I can do for the foundation, etc. to help, all you have to do is ask. I owe you so much. In the meantime, I am taking excellent care of Lucy and I will keep you up to date on her progress.

Sincerely,
Lynda & Lucy Leigh


Hollie's Bella
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Hollie was in college when Bella was diagnosed with liver shunt and had a great many student loans on her shoulders.  FMLS was able to arrange for Bella’s surgery and for Hollie to have a place to stay in Knoxville while Bella was hospitalized.
Another happy ending!!!!!  Bella is doing just great…
5/22/02 Dr Karen Tobias wrote….. Bella had scintigraphy late yesterday and surgery this a.m She is now spayed and has an ameroid constrictor  ring on her shunt.So far she's recovering well; however, we're  concerned because she is extremely small and underweight.,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
5/23/02 heard from Anne and Hollie ….. Great News!!!  By 10 last night, the vet had taken Bella out, walked her and she had eaten and had water. Her blood sugar is stable now.  It looks like we are on the downhill stretch.  We are going to see her today.


Rita Stillwell’s Chippy
NO PICTURE YET.
FMLS was able to pay $1375 for the surgery in full at Univ. of Tennessee for Rita’s Chippy.

“I got the papers and check today, now with the other bill that I have with the other vet in Abingdon Va. that leaves me owing  about $600.00. that's a lot better than what I did owe. Chip and I have lived pretty tight, but thanks to FMLS and the good Lord we're going to make it through.  I pray every night that the Lord touches you all and your family's needs, what ever they may be.You are all  most wonderful, I know with a heart as big as Texas.may God bless you over&over...    always   Rita


Patricia’s Lacey
NO PICTURE YET.
“My Vet has told me that if Lacey doesn’t  have this surgery, she will die.   She is so much company for me.  She has lost weight since her bout with almost death a few weeks ago.  She doesn’t eat very much at this time and I am so worried about her.  I’m afraid she will die before I can get her help.   Thank you so much for considering helping me.  This is a wonderful cause you are doing for sick animals.  May God continue to Bless you in your cause”
Patricia Allen
FMLS arranged for surgery for Lacey in Florida  as Patricia lives on SS for the disabled.
The name of the vet  that did Lacey’s successful surgery is John Rentz DVM, Companion Animal Hospital, Cocoa, Florida.  She’s doing fine!!!


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Lacey
Lacey is only 11 months old, and she has been having problems since we had gotten her, with her being very thin, not wanting to eat, and having spells of being very listless and sick, and the breeder had told me that it was hypoglycemia and to give her syrup when she had a spell.  Several times I had to take her to the emergency vet clinic because she was so sick.
Within the last few months I have noticed her not playing near as much and not quite acting like herself.   Then she started following the walls within any room, it seemed like she would go out of her way to make sure she followed the perimeter of a room and seemed very disoriented.  Soon after this started, she began acting as though she could not see and would drool excessively.  I would call her, she would go in the general direction of my voice, but stare with her head pointed upwards and try to find her way to me. I then took her to our veterinarian who then referred us to another veterinarian that specializes in eye problems.  During this time, he didn’t find anything wrong with her eyes, and was puzzled as to why she could not see.  He then (without doing any blood-work or any kind of testing) told me he thought she had "water on the brain" and that I should put her down.  Not trusting his opinion since he didn’t do any kind of testing....
Click here to read all of Lacey's Story


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Jeter came into our lives last August after waiting 5 weeks after we had picked him from his litter.  Dad had said, “No more pets!  The zoo is closed!”   But then he was silly enough to take a bet from his 12-year-old daughter, Kirby, that she couldn’t score 3 goals in one game during a tournament because their team performed so poorly and hadn’t scored a single goal in two games.  Let this be a lesson…never bet a child who wants something as desperately as Kirby did!  He had to pay up on the bet…all the players and parents knew (thanks to Kirby).   One minute left in the game, with parents barking at her as she ran up and down the field, Kirby scored the 3rd goal!  The game stopped as the entire team, including the goalie, jumped on her.  From that day forward, Kirby’s Yorkie-to-be would be the team mascot.
            After putting a down payment on the only Yorkie we could find in the area in the newspaper, Mom started reading up on the Internet about the breed.....
Click Here to read all of Jeter's Story


Caesar’s story
Thank you so much for all your help - it means the world to us! We want to tell you too, we will definitly be donating back into the Fanny Mae Fund. I am going to call the doctor tomorrow to schedule surgery. We're hoping to get Caesar scheduled for surgery the week of March 17th. Once again, thank you so much for all your help!
Janell Phillips & Chris Shepler
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Hi! We're home from Tennessee!! We just got home late last night - it was about a 10 hour drive. Caesar got surgery on Wednesday and we picked him up on Friday morning to come home. He is doing very well and is running around the house like his normal self. We have to take him to our local vet to get his stitches out in 10 days. I did take a couple of pictures of him and am taking them to get developed today. I will send you pictures on  Monday. Dr. Lidbetter was a very nice doctor and so was his student, Kelly. They called us twice a day just to let us know how Caesar is doing. We are thankful we decided to take him to UT for the surgery. Once again, we'd like to thank you for all your help. We will be donating back to the Fanny Mae

 Fund in the future. It's a great feeling to see that Caesar is on his way
to recovery. Again, thank you!  Janell Phillips
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Here’s the story or I should say the tragedy of my Saphir.
    Saphir was born on October 2rd, he'd got nearly 3 months when i was going to look for him. I'd got him in the Paris area to a french breeder. So, Saphir and me, we're both french and we live in a area named Val d'Oise, in the Paris area. Everything to begin with inconvenient wee-wee: at the beginning, i thought that it was normal because he was still young (8 months) but arrived at the age of the 11 months, i worried. I thus brought Saphir to make a blood test to test biles acids in my work (i'm a veterinary nurse) and there,that was a shock because the results showed a grave hepatic infrigement and because it was a portosystemic liver shunt . My vet which was my boss has me to disadvice to make him operate because of his small size and just had me to give a treatment based of Neomycin and a dietetic alimentation. But in my head, i said to myself that it was necessary that i did more for him, then i was see an other veterinary wich said to me at once that it was necessary to operate him rapidly seen the rate of ammonia whom he had. He began by making a angiography and a ultrasound to localize the Liver shunt. In fact, it's about a extra-hepatic Portal-Azygos liver shunt. He thus has him to operate and everything took place well. The only inconvenience it is because he was able to remove only the main vein wich short-circuited the liver and he still has quite small tiny veins.
I've told to the breeder about what happened to Saphir but he didn't want to know anything. I very badly lived this experience but i thank you so much Dr Richard that save my baby !!!    Now he's fine and live with all his little family in France.


 

Star's Story

I own one of the most beautiful and sweetest creatures that God ever put on the face of this earth. Her breeder is Ann Wylie of Hylan Acres Yorkshire Terriers in Tatum Texas. She has taught me compassion to an extent that I could never fathom before. She has taught me bravery that I never knew existed in animals. She has taught me to love beyond my wildest dreams and she will teach me heartache I have never known before. She is my heart, she is the light that shines so brightly in her eyes when she looks at me in gratitude for helping her through another spell. She is my little liver shunt baby that I know I will lose sooner than should be. She has too many shunts for surgery to fix. Five times I have sat through her spells holding her and crying over her not knowing if she will live through the night or not.
Jean Fritz of Mesquite, TX "Star" passed 1/99 to rainbow bridge.

Theodore's Story: Life of a Liver Shunt Yorkie

It was Labor Day, 1998, and we were about to return from a long weekend away with our children. We had talked on occasion about getting another Yorkie, to add to our family of two children and two Yorkies. We were within thirty minutes of the breeder where we had purchased our other two Yorkies, five years earlier, so we called the breeders to see what they had. This woman told me they had a very special little guy who was ready to go.
Bev Patronas

Click here to read Star & Theo's Full stories


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I had so many things to worry about and finding out that we would get help from Terri's Fanny Mae fund was a blessing.  It is a debt that I will be more than happy to repay over time because I want other people to benefit from this fund as we did.

Click Here to read all of Madison's success story


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Marina came into our lives at the tender age of 8 weeks January 2001.  She immediately stole our hearts with her sweetness and fun loving ways.  She has never met a stranger.  Everyone falls into the category of friend and deserves a good sloppy doggie kiss.  She is the typical Yorkie, very smart, stubborn and wants things her way.  Marina appeared to be in perfect health running and playing hard with her human sister until the young age of 2.5.  Marina became ill with seizures, loss of appetite, drinking excessive amounts of water, sleeping for long periods of time, vomiting whenever she did eat, none of the behaviors were normal for her.  After numerous tests, she was diagnosed with a liver shunt.

Click here to read all of Marin's Story


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Hello Everyone, I wanted to introduce myself and give you an update on
Lexie. My name is Debbie Hammond, Lexie's Mom. Lexie's surgery with
Dr.Tobias was last week. She went in the hospital tuesday. Her Scinitigraphy
results indicated one extrahepatic shunt.Her surgery was on wed. and lasted
45 min. Dr.Tobias said the surgery went very well.

Click here to read all of Lexie's story


Please visit http://www.livershunt.com
For dedications to those who lost the battle to Livershunt


I am hoping that this page will help inform, even 1 person, that there are some breeders that breed dogs that are carriers of diseases that affect the health, and take the lives of these precious babies. And to hopefully save someone the heartache and tragedy that the owners of these precious little dogs, held in our hearts and within this page, have had to go through because of Liver Shunt, Collapsed Tracheas, Barbiturates overdose, or CHF.


University of California - Davis - Genetic Study Group
Participating in this Genetic Study will help your Breed eliminate many genetic problems in the future.
http://www.vgl.ucdavis.edu/research/canine/Samples.htm


Pinkiea.jpg (16274 bytes) It all began on Feb. 15, 2000. My Pinky lay limpless in my arms.. not a breath coming from her tiny
body. Oh God, I thought, I've lost her. Trying desperately to keep my composure, I shook her little
body until I saw her eyes open. What a relief! What seemed like hours was only seconds, but her
lifetime passed before me.

Click here to read the rest of Pinkie's Story

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Heidi Gilbert
3/13/1985 - 11/26/99
R.I.P.

Heidi was a bundle of joy from the minute she came into my world. She was my little kid...my devil and angel, both in one, playful...happy...and oh so busy.

Click here to read the rest of Heidi's Story

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Lacey Nicholson
11/5/88 - 8/16/92
R.I.P.
Our precious little Lacey died from her first attack of pancreatitis. Her sire was CH Lordean's the Angel Maker and her dam was CH This Time Color Tyme. She was our first yorkie and her Mommy's precious little baby. Her favorite toy was a little soft rope bone that she loved me to throw so she could go fetch it. We had the bone put into her little casket with her. We loved her so much and still miss her so much.
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Dinky R.I.P
Born 1990  -- Died 10/09/1999
You came into my life just over 3 years ago, when I found out from a friend that the first 6 years of your life you had been neglected and abused. You were a little miniature silver/blue Yorkshire terrier with little tan feet. Oh what a state you were in underfed, a mouth full of bad teeth and abscesses, nervous and so frightened and barks constantly with a deep unusual frightened bark.
Click here to read the rest of Dinky's Story
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"Precious" R.I.P. 12/8/998
On the 7th of December, 1998, Precious barked to go outside. She was sleeping in her crate. I got up and let her out and put her back to bed. It was a little after Midnight. At about 1:AM, she barked again to get out, so I got up  for her again. This was very unusual, as she hardly ever had to go out during the night. This time, she did not want to go out, but she wanted to come to bed with us.......

Click here to read the rest of Precious's tragic Story of HGE and how it should have never happened.

No Picture Available Terri,
As a Yorkie lover, Will you please give me advice? My girl who is 2 and half years old born in Hong Kong. She has been suffering a strange disease. According to the explanation by the vet., she might have a problem with blood vessel to lever. And which causes high ration of Ammonia in the blood. And finally it causes blindness and stiffness of the muscles of mouth. As a symptom, she loses her sight ( we may better say stricture of sight?) and trouble in spilt ( I mean drinking water). The name of disease is too difficult for us Japanese to remember. If any of the members have any knowledge on this disease or similar one, please kindly inform me I would like to save our girl.
T.Sugimoto in Hong Kong.
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BISS VASSAR SQUARE ELIZA DOLITTLE
R.I.P 1978 - 1981

Click here to read Eliza's tragic overdose story

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BUTTONS 10/12/97 - 8/11/98

 

 

 

 

Buttons was almost 10 months old when his owner took him to their vet, a good family friend for many years. Though she received all the normal "warnings" about barbiturate overdosing on toy dogs, she felt a great confidence in her Vet that she had for all these years.  He gave a pre-anesthetic tranquilizer for intubating which is normal, but then he gave the little 3 pd dog PENTABARB and the little dog went to sleep forever NEEDLESSLY. Look at this little face, and weep with us for something that did NOT HAVE TO HAPPEN. If your vet will not use Isoflurane or gas anesthesia (because it is expensive).... FIND ANOTHER VET THAT WILL.  Here's some of the comments from veterinarians who have heard of this mishap:  "I can't believe that anyone is still using PENTABARB.... that is only used for severe seizures that NOTHING else will control....a last resort"   "This is unheard of in today's veterinary medicine. This vet is DECADES behind"  This was a fine and healthy, chubby little dog, full of mischief and not at all sickly in any way. An autopsy showed no reason that this dog should have expired other than an overdose. Even the Vet, who is a family friend, feels very badly about this "overdose".  When your breeder preaches ISOFLURANE.....FIND A VET THAT WILL USE IT BEFORE YOU NEUTER OR SPAY YOUR LITTLE TOY DOG.
If you are all shocked and moved by this tragedy, please spread the word and Buttons will not have died in vain.

Thank you,
Terri Shumsky

For more information on these diseases and problems affecting yorkies, please visit
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