5 y/o female with liver failure

Our 5 year old female min pin (Mame) has been ill for many weeks now. Her first symptoms (6 weeks ago now) were a loss of appetite & some limited mobility (having troubles jumping up on the sofa). We had her seen by her regular vet a couple days after we noticed her acting differently. At that time, they speculated that it could be arthritis or a pinched nerve in the neck causing her discomfort & impacting her appetite. We went home with some anti-inflammatory medicine & some pain killers to make her more comfortable. A week later she wasn’t interested in eating at all & was clearly not comfortable as she started to shake a lot – especially after having just a little food. We took her back into her vet where they checked her bloodwork & took some x-rays. This time we were told she had pancreatitis (elevated liver values) & went home with a low-fat diet, anti-nausea meds to go along with the pain killers. She did ok for a week or so but then when she ran out of anti-nausea meds she began to loss interest in food again. After several days of barely eating, back to the vet we went – this time IV fluids, meds to make her more comfortable & a round of IV antibiotics to be sure she didn’t have an infection related to the pancreatitis. The vet at this time also rushed us to a specialist clinic to have an ultrasound & consultation with an internal medicine specialist. They didn’t see anything out of the normal, except her elevated liver values – liver, pancreas, lymph nodes, GI track – all normal looking! They sent us home saying it looked like we’d gotten through the worst of it & she should get better over the coming days with her current treatment & continued low-fat diet. Much to our relief, we returned her home & continued to care for her as we’d been doing. She seemed to be getting better, not nearly as lethargic or tired, no more shaking & she even regained a bit of her “spunk” & interest in eating with gusto.

She did well for a couple weeks, making minor improvements most days with an occasional “hard day” where she didn’t feel like eating much. A week ago, she started to not feel well again, refusing to eat & again returning to shaking & being lethargic. We noticed at this time that she started to drink a lot of water & then peeing in the house (not like her at all). We also noticed that her abdomen was a bit distended. This was alarm enough to get her immediately to the ER over the Memorial Day weekend.

She was admitted to the ICU where they took her blood work, took some of the fluid off of her abdomen (which was clear/yellow with protein) & had another ultrasound. Her liver values where still high, her clotting ability was compromised & her liver, lymph nodes, gallbladder & GI track were all abnormal (just 2 1/2 weeks after her completely normal ultrasound). They immediately started her on IV fluids, broad-spectrum antibiotics, liver protectants & multiple plasma transfusions to get her clotting under control. After nearly 3 days in the ICU & 4 transfusions later, her clotting values were close enough to normal that they felt comfortable putting her under for a laparoscopic surgery to get biopsies of her liver. She came through the surgery ok & the biopsies are currently being reviewed. After surgery though, her clotting ability crashed again – so 2 more plasma transfusions & now that she’s been clear of her surgery for 24 hours, they have also introduced prednisone as a last ditch effort to get her to make any improvements. While her liver values are improved & her actual liver function is normal (which I don’t understand) the inability for blood to properly pass through her liver is causing all sorts of secondary issues which are threatening her life – portal hypertension, GI track irregularities, fluid build up in the abdomen making it difficult for her to breath. She’s not at all interested in eating & the many specialists have begun managing our expectations that this may simply be something we can’t correct. The biopsy results wont be back until Friday (or god forbid, maybe not until Monday). 🙁 They checked for cancer with a needle biopsy before the surgery & they didn’t see any masses during the surgery so they don’t think that’s what’s causing everything – but at this point, they really don’t understand what’s causing all of these symptoms.

Up until this point, she has been a vision of perfect health for the entire 5 years we’ve had the honor of knowing her loving spirit. While we still have hope that the steroids may reduce the inflammation & help bring her back to a more stable & treatable situation – we’re running out of options & time. :'(

Has anyone had any similar experiences & if so, what did it end up being? I’m so worried that we’re not going to find out what’s wrong with her until after it’s too late. We’re so scared for her, she’s too young to be this sick.