Dr. Tobias has performed many successful surgeries to correct liver shunts in yorkies and has dedicated much of her research to identifying a genetic marker that will make it possible for all breeders of Yorkshire Terriers to be able to know, in advance, what dogs and bitches are carrying the disease and therefore avoid breeding to them and to intelligently remove them all from all breeding programs. To date, studies have conclusively shown this disease to be hereditary in Yorkshire Terriers, Cairn Terriers and Irish Wolfhounds.
In 1999, Dr. Karen Tobias began an epidemiologic study of Yorkshire Terriers and other dogs with shunt at 24 Veterinary Teaching Hospitals and a pedigree analysis of Yorkshire Terriers with single congenital portosystemic shunts (PSS). Her objectives were:
1. To determine the risk of development of single congenital PSS in Yorkshire terriers.
2. To prove that congenital PSS are hereditary in this breed.
3. To determine the mode of inheritance of this disease in Yorkshire terriers.
4. To determine which other breeds have the greatest risk of being diagnosed with PSS.
Through this research Dr. Tobias showed that single congenital liver shunts were inherited in Yorkshire terriers; however, the mode of inheritance has yet to be determined. Many other breeds are also at great risk for development of this birth defect. Fortunately, the disease is surgically correctable in most of patients, but surgery requires great financial and emotional investment from the pets' owners.
Through generous donations by breeders and animal lovers, Dr. Tobias has been able to start a "colony of shunt dogs" to be used for breeding. After their shunts have been surgically corrected, these dogs are placed in loving homes and will be bred to each other when they reach an appropriate age and size. Puppies produced by the matings will be evaluated for liver shunts, treated as needed, and adopted into our veterinary community. We hope that this breeding program will help us determine the mode of inheritance of this disease, so that future breeders can make educated decisions on how best to eliminate the disease from their gene pool.
Dr. Karen Tobias
University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine
Please Visit Dr. Tobias's Website for more information
and the study of the disease.
Click below:
COMPLETE CONFIDENTIALITY IS ASSURED. The lineage isn’t important in the ascertaining the Mode of Inheritance and in determining the DNA ID.
Please help us continue to search for the cause and cure of this disease by considering a financial donation to this fund.
Donations should be sent to:
University of Tennessee
Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences
C247 Veterinary Teaching Hospital
Knoxville, TN 37996-4544
Attn: Dr. Karen Tobias/Becky Greene
Checks should be made payable to THE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE. Indicate that the donation is for the ANGEL FUND
Donations may also be sent to:
Terri Shumsky Fanny Mae Liver Shunt Fund
C/O Lorraine Iervolino
316 Gladstone Street
Corsicana, TX 75110-1857
OR PayPal
Our PayPal account email address is;
tsfmls.fund@gmail.com
Thank You!
All images, names and content on this web site are copyrighted © 2003 by
Terri Shumsky Fanny Mae Liver Shunt Fund
and may not be reproduced, used or copied.
The graphics on this domain are watermarked and are NOT to be copied for any reason.
They are not for public use.
