My Lucas' Liver Issues

[MaddieBoo]

Hi Everyone,

I posted this in YT too, just wondering if anyone here has had experience... I'm sorry I'll keep this as short as possible, I just knew I could come here for advice.

My furbutt is Lucas, turned 1 on September 14th. Happy, healthy, rambunctious, playful, hilarious, and (on occasion) a naughty little yorkie. We have never had any problems with his health or his behaviour, to us he is perfect and we love him more every day.

This week, I took him to get groomed by our breeder, who informed me at our appointment that his brother/littermate has been diagnosed with Liver Shunt. The breeder also has Lucas' sister/littermate and suggested to me that we get them both a Bile Acid test to ensure that they do not have it as well. Of course I agreed and yesterday, we took them both to the same vet we both go to. Today the breeder left a message on our machine saying she was going to a town outside our city to another vet based on the results. We were very confused so we called the vet and got Lucas' results.

The vet said that it is unlikely that he has liver shunt,especially since he has had no signs or symptoms that anything is wrong. But his levels are much higher than a normal dog's functioning liver 75 versus 25. She thinks it is probably "microvascular", which she said is common in small breeds. I'm so upset and worried that my little guy is sick, and I really don't know enough about liver conditions.

I just need some advice on what exactly this could be, and what I should do. They say they can do a biopsy to find out exactly what is wrong, and that it would be done maybe by ultrasound or they may have to cut him open which I would really not prefer.

Should I pursue further testing? Is there anything in his day to day life I should be changing?

They also suggested a supplement of amino acids that may help, and I was wondering if anyone is familiar with this?

Is this something my breeder should have tested his parents for before breeding? Or is this a fluke that no one could have done anything about? I don't want to blame her at all, we think she is so awesome, I just do not know how this occurs.

I'm just devastated and I think it is because I do not know enough about it. Any information or experience with Liver shunt or "microvascular" would be very helpful, since I know there are bound to be some resident experts with this.

Thank you so so much.