A friend's (really)  Irish setter has just been diagnosed with Liver shunt. Can anyone give me any information that would help her. Is it common in the breed  and does anyone know of any other setters with the problem?

My Mums dachshund was diagnosed with a liver shunt at 8 months old, she had surgery and is now 10yrs old.

We were told of 3 possible outcomes, surgery and normal life or special diet for life or she may still die, we got the first outcome, she gets normal dog food as low protein as possible and lactulose once a day as she can get constipated but other wise she has been fine.

Many thanks for that info. It is reassuring to know life is possible even after this diagnosis. I will pass on the info about the lactulose and constipation. Worth knowing about.

It will depend also if it is  an internal or external shunt and what age.my boy was born with a congenital shunt and in our breed we would normally have them put to sleep because the outcome is not good ,his was internal shunt,we decided to operate and he lived 4 1/2 years but had lots of other problems and cost us £1000's (could not insure because he was born with it) but if it is external there can be a better outcome.
I would never keep another dog with this diagnosis if it was from birth. he was on lactulose and antibiotics Low protein diet and L- arginine   which is supposed to help liver function. it can be a late onset problem in older dogs which im led to believe is not so bad

Thanks Willowsmum.  Sorry to hear you had such a difficult time with your boy and I have every admiration for you did.  This little girl is now 3 and has only just been diagnosed.  Her owners are hoping she will respond positively to the proposed change in diet. I gather she has already put on some weight even only after a couple of weeks.  I will pass on about the L- arginine which I know nothing about.  Do you know if it has a hereditary factor or is it just one of those things that happen?

I told the breeder about Penny and as it was the dams first litter she withdrew her from breeding, the sire had produced many pups and this was the first with a shunt.

What happens is instead of the blood going through the liver to be cleansed it goes through an extra blood vessel bypassing the liver and becomes more toxic day by day, during surgery a clip is applied to the extra vessel and it closes slowly over the next 6 weeks forcing the blood to go through the liver, by 6 months later her bloods were normal, she needs special care for any surgery like when she was spayed as certain anaesthetics cant be used.

Liver shunt can be hereditary or congenital there is some discussion in my breed and a few others  whether it is or not but can be in some breeds ,this shows itself around the weaning time or just after .My boy  was born with it and had a band on the vessel but as there were a lot of tiny vessels as well it did not work particularly well.sometimes I feel so guilty at putting him through it but at the time,he did not seem too bad .as I say there are variations on shunts and so not all outcomes are the same

The surgeon at Vet Hospital in Liverpool said he had never seen a shunt in a dachsie before and rang around other places and no one had seen one in the breed either.

Any others I have heard of have been in the States and the pups were under 3 months old, outcomes have varied

I've just heard from my friend that her girl has a little bit of blood in her urine and they are waiting for results of a culture.  No signs of stones or crystals though.  Her little girl is bouncing with health and wanting to play which she hasn't done for a while.  This must be good.

Could be just a urine infection, our boy you could see the crystals

Young Reebs came to stay with me whilst her owners were on holiday.  What a responsibility  but..... she appears to be doing fine on her diet and extras. It was a joy to see her out with the others.  No crystals or stones thank goodness. Her owners actually thought she might have put on some weight.  They are quite accepting that she will be on a special diet for the rest of her life but at least it looks as though she will be living a good life.  Thanks for all your support and comments.