The way this liver shunt goes is this:  food comes in and instead of going through the liver it is shunted around the liver.  The liver is responsible for filtering out all the toxins in the food -- stuff that doesn't need to float around in the body but should just go straight out.  So if there are toxins being brought in but the liver isn't filtering them out -- what happens?  They go to his brain.

So the whole point is to keep his food low on the toxins so that he doesn't suffer the 'brain' stuff -- the brain stuff is called hepatic encephalopathy.  It can include seizures, temporary blindness, behavior changes, vomiting, pacing, fogginess - which looks like starring into space, or rubbing his head against the wall to kind of 'clear' the fogginess.

Once the surgery is performed and the blood is going through the liver, it is hoped that all those symptoms disappear -- if they haven't been going on too long or haven't created other issues, they usually do go away.

So Max takes one antibiotic a day to help kill the toxins and bacteria -- and we try our best to feed him a low protein, low purine diet.  Easier said than done.  Apparently the GOOD TASTE  for dogs is in the protein and the purines.  The prescription diets look like rubber --- and does not smell at all enticing.  No wonder Max won't eat them.

The other problem is that food starts the symptoms -- so he begins to associate the food with seizures, or the fogginess, or whatever and then he doesn't want to eat the next time.  So we try all kinds of things -- and he'll eat for a day or two until that food as well starts the symptoms.

For the last three days he's not eaten much at all, and he's thrown up what he has eaten.  He isn't losing weight yet, and he still has quite a bit of energy --- but I know that can't go on forever.  I'm torn between getting anything at all into him versus getting only approved foods into him.

We seem to spend all our time thinking about feeding him, or finding the money for the surgery.

I know -- one day we'll look back at this and smile.


Right?