Hi Sciascia, For your Rat Terrier, Beano, with gallbladder sludge and liver disease (due to inability of the liver to drain bile into the gall bladder), I am very glad that the Alkaline Phosphatase has returned almost to normal using ‘conventional’ methods. The fluids support her liver and kidneys for her upcoming surgery. When you eat the gallbladder secretes some bile into the small intestines, through the common bile duct, to help digest fat. In these patients we need to get right into surgery. Eye Removal (Enucleation) in Pets. The most common reason for gallbladder removal surgery is to treat gallstones. Saturday 8:00AM - 10:00PM We needed to determine if there was inflammation, infection, or even cancer of the liver? It might help to read our Liver Page before going any further on this page. Her urinalysis showed significant amounts of bilirubin. Monitors like this give us an early warning of an impending problem. One of the most common side effects of gallbladder removal is diarrhea. At that time an ultrasound was performed and it was determined that she had a  problem with her gall bladder. The chronic thickening is apparent. We do this with a clotting blood panel. OBJECTIVE To determine mortality rates for dogs undergoing cholecystectomy and variables associated with failure to survive to hospital discharge. Dogs progressing to gallbladder rupture usually demonstrate abdomi Our heart page has lots of good info on EKG’s and other cardiac tests. The gallbladder is tucked between the lobes of the liver on the right side of the abdomen and is responsible for aiding in digestion. This is when we do the pre-anesthetic EKG also. They were there, they told me, because Maxwell, the older dog, needed emergency gallbladder surgery. Gallbladder, liver and Chronic lung problems. Our patients don’t talk to us, and prior to ultrasound, it would have been difficult to know the gallbladder is rupturing and immediate surgery is needed. This gall bladder was thickened due to stones in it. The liver is intimately involved with the bodies clotting mechanism, and we need to make sure we are not going to encounter a severe bleeding problem during and after surgery. This is an example of severely jaundiced gums in a dog with a liver problem. The abdomen is flushed many times to remove any contaminants. This allows better visualization. Our gallbladder surgery patient getting her pre-anesthetic exam just prior to surgery. Read Our Reviews What Is Gallbladder Disease? Our patient was brought into our hospital the night before surgery to start her IV fluids and put on her Fentanyl (Duragesic) pain patch. after gallbladder removal ficon96. Everything else checked out OK except the white’s of her eyes (called the sclera) and her gums (mucous membranes). When her enzyme test were almost back to the normal range we removed her gall bladder. They were yellow tinged. In working toward a conclusion for the cause of cholelithiasis, your veterinarian will need to confirm or rule out diseases of the liver, pancreatitis, inflammation of the bile duct or gallbladder, and a gallbladder distended by an inappropriate accumulation of mucus. Animals can live safely without their gall bladders. This is what the liver looks like on an abdominal radiograph. Initial treatment consisted of fluids, antibiotics, Actigall, Denamarin,, vitamin supplements, and I/D food. A main advantage of this procedure is prevention of secondary gallbladder infection and rupture. The surgery begins with an incision into the abdomen at a special location called the linea alba. She is a 13 year old chihuahua who has already been hospitalized for 13 days. When she is satisfied with the exposure she puts several very strong sutures where the gall bladder attaches to the liver, Here is the trouble maker after it has been removed, A biopsy is taken of the liver to give us substantial information as to its health, The abdomen is flushed many times to remove any contaminants. The line in the center is measuring the size of her common bile duct, which is large in her case. It is time to remove her gallbladder. The whole liver should be that reddish color you see in the top left liver lobe. Surgical removal of the gall bladder is called cholecystectomy. This is a different gall bladder removed from a small dog. Her gall bladder, the dark area on the top left had a problem. Dogs with enlarged livers are more likely to get cancer of the gallbladder, which will interfere with the flow of bile, and which, in turn, may account for the inflammation in the gallbladder. On occasion a gallbladder might have stones in it. After this layer, there are several more layers of sutures placed in the subcutaneous tissue and the skin. Notice that the pathologist states that the changes in the liver are consistent with a gallbladder mucocele. Antibiotics can help dogs with gallstones or mucoceles if the case is uncomplicated. A urinalysis on this same dog showed significant amounts of bilirubin, another indication of a liver problem. Sunday 10:00AM - 10:00PM, Join Our Newsletter Sunday 10:00AM - 10:00PM, Join Our Newsletter My 6 year old yorkie had surgery 1 1/2 weeks ago to have his gallbladder removed after almost a year of not knowing it had ruptured and reruptured and begun to rot in his stomach cavity.