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seizuers

20 11:38:55

Question
I noted the message regarding seizures.  My 4 yr old male 9 lb. Yorker recently had a cluster of seizures. It was the most horrible experience! Prior to this we thought he may have had 1 -2.  He was recently hospitalized and diagnosed with HMD microvascular dysphasia not PPS (shunt).
He is on Pot. Bromide, lactulose, metronidozole. hills l/d and hepato support (milk thistle and vit. B).  He's starving all the time so I supplement his diet with carrots, sweet potatoes, apples and green beans. (he misses his treats and bones so much!)
So far, he's acting great.
Do you have any experience with this disorder?  Any info you can provide regarding diet, life expectancy, supplements - ANYTHING, would be greatly appreciated.
Gina


Answer
Gina,

First let me say how sorry I am that you and your dog are having to go through this. I have not had any personal experience with HMD and what I have read about it is confusing.  The fact that he has HMD but does not have the associated PPS is a good thing.
    
HMD is suspected to cause transient portal pressure increases. Medical management is the only treatment option. Long term survival with HMD is not reported since its diagnosis is relatively recent. HMD can occur alone or in combination with an extrahepatic shunt. The clinical signs associated with HMD are similar to portosystemic shunts but less marked. Bloodwork often reveals abnormalities only in bile acids and liver enzymes. Portogram can be normal and the only method of definitive diagnosis is biopsy.

Did your vet do a biopsy? If not could he have misdiagnosed a seizure disorder?  Were there other symptoms besides the seizures?  Below is a list of symptoms for the disorder.  If your dog had only seizures and no biopsy you may want to consider getting a second opinion.

Symptoms Of The Hepatic Microvascular Dysplasia

The dogs with hepatic microvascular dysplasia usually show certain symptoms very much similar to the signs shown by the dog that is suffering from the conditions of congenital portosystemic shunts (PSS), although as a matter of fact, some dogs do not show any symptom at all. In general the dogs suffering from the hepatic microvascular dysplasia usually have underdeveloped muscles and tend to suffer from unsatisfactory growth with suppressed natural instincts. They turn to be less playful. They usually do not respond well to training because of the fact that the toxins keep the brain depressed and the animals are naturally less intelligent.

The dogs suffering from hepatic microvascular dysplasia usually suffer from the loss of appetite and frequent tendencies of vomiting and diarrhea. These dogs are also prone to develop the bladder stones.

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