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Terri Shumsky Fanny Mae Liver Shunt
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July 31, 2004
We have been able to secure another Yorkie female from a breeder for Dr Tobias' colony who will have a wonderful home and be bred to help find the DNA ID for PSS (livershunt disease). The breeder was happy to help the breed and Kissy was successfully operated on last week and is doing fine. She is ten months old.
November, 2003
After years of hoping to reach the breeding faction of the public in conveying a viable alternative to putting to sleep an inadvertently produced liver shunt breeding, It is with great pleasure that TSFMLS wishes to announce that we have been successful in facilitating the transfer of an affected, well-sized female Yorkshire Terrier puppy - voluntarily relinquished by her breeder - to the care of Dr. Tobias.
Such donated dogs are surgically corrected, medically managed to the degree necessary and 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 the University of Tennessee's veterinary community. We hope that this breeding program will eventually help determine the mode of inheritance of this disease so that, one day, breeders can make better educated decisions on how best to eliminate the disease from their gene pool.
The newly donated puppy has already had her corrective surgery with the ameroid constrictor and was up and about the same afternoon. Without this kind of donation from such caring breeders and animal lovers who inadvertently become afflicted with a liver shunt breeding, Dr. Tobias' study wouldn't be possible.
We commend and thank this breeder for making, what we believe is, the proper, moral and ethical decision. Not only did she save this puppy's life by allowing Dr. Tobias to surgically correct her when the breeder/owner could not otherwise have afforded such surgery, but she is also allowing the opportunity for critical information to come from this in betterment of the breed as a whole.
We remain hopeful that this breeder's actions will be used to set a glowing example and become the rule rather than the exception. This selfless act of love for the breed should serve to help others to not fear doing the same. Only by working together, can we help eliminate, or at least severely curtail, the number of cases of liver shunt that are attributed to the breed.
We would like to mention this reminder: If you breed a confirmed liver shunt puppy, or if you have a confirmed family of affected dogs and would like to consider donating them to Dr. Tobias, you can do so knowing that complete CONFIDENTIALITY is assured. Lineage/pedigrees are not required when relinquishing an approved, affected dog to Dr. Tobias. For this purpose, Dr. Tobias can be contacted directly and in confidence at:
Dr. Karen Tobias
University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine
Univ. phone (865-974-8387)
PO Box 1071
Knoxville, TN 37901-1071
Please note that Dr. Tobias is no longer accepting donated females to her breeding colony.
If this program is reactivated by Dr. Tobias, we will post that information for you here.
