My tiny puppy has low blood sugar and lethargy. Is it a liver shunt?

The CBC that you posted does not show any significant abnormalities. Hypocalcemia (low blood calcium) is not terribly common in puppies, it is most common in pregnant or nursing dogs. Hypocalcemia can be caused by severe malnutrition. More commonly, small breed puppies, like chihuahuas, can easily become hypoglycemic (low blood sugar). Sometimes this is caused by not eating frequently enough. I recommend that Bread be fed a good quality puppy food every 6 hours to prevent hypoglycemia. If she is lethargic, you can rub honey or caro syrup on her gums to help. If she will lap it up, you can also offer her a small amount of sugar water (but don't leave it out longer than a few minutes as it can quickly go bad and grow bacteria). In the US, we have a supplement called Nutrical, but it is not a calcium supplement, it has some vitamins, fat, protein, and sugar to help prevent this from happening. Other causes of hypoglycemia in puppies are congenital defects like portosystemic shunt or hydrocephalus, and other issues like bacterial infection (less likely based on the CBC), intestinal parasites, stress, or diarrhea.

I'm sorry to hear about your puppy. A couple things could be going on. One is that he just has a hard time keeping his blood sugar up. We often see this in toy breed puppies. They need to be fed small frequent meals and you should keep a nutritional supplements handy. They usually outgrow it. The other thing I'm concerned about is a portosystemic shunt. This requires blood work and often times a CT scan to diagnose but it can be corrected with surgery. I would get more information from your veterinarian about what they are suspecting the problem is. Also, get a second opinion if you're not comfortable with what you're being told. Hopefully the situation is fixable!

Congratulations on your new baby! He is adorable! The most common tests we start with to evaluate for liver shunts are baseline labwork (which includes a full chemistry, complete blood count and urinalysis) as well as a pre and post prandial bile acid profile. The bile acid profile is to specifically look at the liver function. Any of those tests results are available within a couple of days. Unfortunately, sometimes those test results are inconclusive, and we have to do additional testing. I have included a link below with more information about liver shunts. https://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=2533 Good luck! I hope that was helpful! Thanks for using PetCoach.

How cute is Asroc. I would recommend taking him to the vet because he might need additional medication to help him with the shunt. Their are some medications that can be given to help improve quality of life with a shunt. You could try adding in sweet potatoes into his food with some veggies like peas and green beans. These are low in protein but can increase a patients interest in food.

Unfortunately with out some testing I cannot tell you exactly what caused her episodes. It is possible she could have low blood sugar, a liver shunt, congenital disease (born with an issue), seizures, or infectious disease. I would recommend taking her to a vet due to severity of clinical signs and multiple incidents. The vet will need to do some blood work and exam to help narrow down what is causing Sarah her issues.

I hate to hear this is happening. I recommend to have a frank discussion with your veterinarian about what they suspect is happening. Coco may need more diagnostics to determine the cause. Here is a link about Hepatic encephalopathy including the causes: https://www.merckvetmanual.com/digestive-system/hepatic-disease-in-small-animals/hepatic-encephalopathy-in-small-animals If this is due to a single large liver shunt, surgery may be an option. If this is not, medical management may help which includes a special diets, lactulose and medication life long. You may want to seek a second opinion as well if your vet does not seem up to date on current information. Thank you can make an informed decision. I hope this helps.

Hi and thank you for reaching out about your sweet dog, Penut. I see all the fur loss in the pictures you have provided. If this is not due to shaving her, but has occurred on its own, I would be concerned about a metabolic or hormonal problem with Penut. If it had been shaved, then no concern there. In regards to her lack of weight gain despite a good appetite, a liver shunt is not very likely. You did mention that tests have been done, but did not mention which ones. I assume lab/blood work was performed. It is very common for a liver shunt to have at least some clues/abnormalities in the blood work to aid in that diagnosis. Assuming - everything came back "normal", this would make a liver shunt much less likely. If a fecal analysis has not yet been performed, I would recommend that to check for parasites as a cause of weight loss. Other very useful tests to look for reasons for weigh loss/lack of weight gain, would be imaging studies (chest and abdominal xrays). These can give you very valuable information. Even if the tests are normal, it is very valuable so that the doctor can help rule out diseases that are causing her problem. I would also have your doctor assess how much calorie intake she is having daily to make sure her energy requirements are being met. Best of luck to you and Penut.