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. 

But as the day went on, I noticed that he was really acting strange.  He was wandering around the kitchen, following the parameter, bumping into cabinets and the refrigerator.  He was almost crouching as he moved, and I called my husband in to watch.  He'd call Kirby's name and his ears would perk up, but he didn't really come to him.  I was like, okay, something is really wrong.   He had begun drooling at the mouth, and his eyes seemed really dilated. He just wanted to crawl in my lap, which I let him do.  I became more and more worried and ended up calling the emergency clinic, as my vet's office was closed.  She suggested I bring him down as there was no way to tell what was wrong over the phone. 

Kirby had to go out again, and I let him out.   He kind of tumbled down the stairs and peed, and couldn't climb back up the stairs.   I picked him up and brought him in the house.   He trotted to his crate and stayed there.  I really knew something was wrong when I picked up his crate to take him to the clinic.  He didn't move at all, and Kirby loved car rides.

The vet's assistant took his temperature and heart rate, which had dropped to 40 beats.  She immediately took him back and the vet gave him a shot of something to get his heart rate up and stabilize him.   She fed him Karo syrup and did blood tests. Everything came back okay except for something with his liver.   She mentioned liver shunt for the first time, and briefly explained to me what it was.  She told me that Kirby needed to stay overnight so they could observe him and I agreed. We left the clinic around 9:00 pm Saturday evening.

Around 5 am, Sunday morning, the doctor called and said we should come back as Kirby's heart rate was steadily dropping, despite the shots to boost his rate, and it would not stabilize. He was no longer responding to the staff.  We rushed back and I began holding and talking to him and after ten or so minutes, he began to move about and whine and pant.  They told me he had been leaking pee, and he continued to do so as I held and talked to him.  The staff was excited that he was up because he had been so lethargic all night. 

Then she decided that maybe my holding him was causing too much excitement for his heart, and suggested that I lay him down for a while.  The whole time I was holding him, he'd have a hyper moment, then calm down, then start all over again.  He couldn't see me, but responded to our voices.  As soon as she laid him down, he got up and began pacing the cage and bumping into the walls, trying to find his way around.  He ended up having a bowel movement, then almost immediately fell to his side.  His heart rate had dropped again.

I asked the doctor about doing x-rays, and she said that she didn't really see the need, since his bloodwork wasn't really abnormal.  At 10:30 am Sunday morning, they said there was nothing really more to do, other than waiting to see a change.  They advised that they were surprised that Kirby made it through the night.   But because his heart rate continued to be unstable, his vision was gone, he couldn't control his urine, they knew that all of this was taking a toll on his brain and were afraid that permanent damage had been done.  The need for shots to jump start his heart were becoming more and more frequent, and we finally decided that we didn't want him to get them anymore.  They really made it seem like we were fighting a losing battle, so my husband and  made the devastating decision to euthanize Kirby.  In my 34 years, that was the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my life.  I held him in my arms as his precious life was taken away.

He weighed only 3.7 pounds and was always a happy and energetic dog.  After Sunday, I begin searching for liver shunt sites and was I surprised at the information I found, considering I'd never heard of it.  At first we were thinking he ingested something that was toxic to his system, but after reading article after article, and reading the dedication page at Rainbow Bridge, I'm convinced that Kirby suffered from liver shunts.  He was due to go for his checkup next month, but there were no symptoms at all prior to him becoming really sick. 

If only she'd done the x-rays, maybe it would have changed things.  Maybe I would have asked to continue the medication until Monday morning, when I could have taken him to my regular veternarian.   I just have to wonder if she didn't know what else to do, or if the clinic wasn't equipped to do more.  So many unanswered questions.  From what I've read, I know that surgery to correct liver shunts is expensive, but at least I could have made a more informed decision.  I'll be donating to the TSFMLS immediately. 

Thank you for the website.   I feel better knowing that we did all we could for my baby, but oh we miss him terribly. I've attached a photo of him, and hopefully you can add it and my story to your site.

Sincerely,

Anphonetta Claybrooks
kirbyque@bellsouth.net