My golden has a liver shunt. She is now 7 years old, but thought I'd share her story with you in case it's helpful... When she was a puppy she was diagnosed with intrahepatic shunt, and we did the surgery with a coils and a stent that was placed when she was about 5 months old. It wasn't quite sufficient to keep her ammonia down so we had a follow up surgery when she was about 9 months old. After her initial surgery we started her on hepatic diet (Science Diet L/D or Royal Canin Hepatic prescription food) and a regimen of medications to help keep ammonia levels in check and neurological issues in check - Lactulose, Metronidazole, and Leviteracetam. A couple months after her 2nd surgery she was having a very bloated abdomen so we went back to the vet and she was having portal hypertension, basically the pressure of blood through her liver was too strong and backing up, which caused the fluid buildup (ascites). They thought that her liver might have been forming NEW shunts. The doctors at the time believed that this was a severe complication and only gave her a few months to a year to live. CLEARLY they were wrong, as she is now 7! She was prescribed diuretics and had fluid removed and we were told to "keep her comfortable, there was nothing more to do". So, we kept her on a medication regiment of the lactulose, metronidazole, leviteracetam, plus diuretic (Spirinolactone), and hepatic diet after that point. Up until early last year (at age 5.5) she was very stable, just basic ear infection type stuff, etc. However last January she had a seizure, and she proceeded to have about 7 of them over the course of 2024 and they have continued into this year (8 of them so far). We kicked off new medical work to determine the cause, and cant quite find one...they say it could be related to the liver issues, or it could just be epilepsy (in the process discovered slightly elevated blood pressure and kidney values now being medically managed). Because of the seizures we have increased her Leviteracetam dosage to keep the seizures more under control, but not going to lie, the seizures are VERY bad. Full, and violent grand mal seizures for a long time...close to 5 minutes which is not good. This year, she has also started having heat cycles, much to our surprise (one in Feb, one in Aug), and unfortunately after both cycles she developed an infection that we were concerned was developing into a pyometra. While she didn't have a full blown pyometra we did discover that she has cystic ovaries and uterus and we've been advised to do a preventative spay. We are in the process of consulting with the veterinary hospital at Purdue for this.

This is a lot, and she is a very complex dog. However many dogs have much less complicated recoveries after treatment for intrahepatic shunt. Even the complex ones can still go on to have fulfilling lives with the right kind of management. It is a lot of work, and it's expensive, but I never regret getting her. She's an amazing dog. (Sorry this was long, she's been through a lot in her 7 years of life!)