Maultsby
Pet of the Month - May 2025
Maultsby is a 3-year-old Pembrook Welsh Corgi who has visited AHS since puppyhood. Maultsby enrolled in our Puppy Preventative Health Care Plan and went through the full puppy vaccination series. She had her normal preanesthetic blood screen and routine spay operation at one year of age. She started on the adult wellness program and appeared to be the picture of health. At her semi-annual wellness exam and blood screen she was noted to have minor elevation of two liver enzymes. They were mild and it was determined that we would recheck them in a month. At the one-month recheck both values had risen slightly. A liver function test called bile acids was prescribed which showed minor, but not severe, liver dysfunction. An ultrasound exam of the liver was normal. She was started on a liver supplement and the values rechecked a month later. At this visit both enzymes had again risen.
The only way to determine exactly what was going on with Maultsby’s liver was to biopsy. This requires anesthesia and surgical removal of pieces of the liver to have examined by a pathologist. Due to the invasiveness of this procedure, it was determined that we would put her on a specific diet that is easy on the liver. After two months, the values had improved significantly but had not normalized. At this point, it was determined a liver biopsy was in order.
Our laparoscope made this procedure much less invasive for Maultsby requiring only 2 small port holes to obtain the samples. This vastly improved the recovery for Maultsby compared to the traditional open surgical technique and she was back to normal quickly. While we ran multiple tests on the liver samples, Maultsby’s test came back positive for copper storage disease. This is a problem where a pet’s body does not rid itself of copper, which slowly accumulates in the liver, causing severe hepatic disease. This is why the liver values were normal at her spay when she was young. The copper had not accumulated to a level causing harm yet. This is a very frustrating disease to treat and involves putting the pet on a diet with low copper levels (which had already been done) and, in severe cases, which Maultsby has, starting on an agent to chelate the copper in the body which allows her to excrete it. Unfortunately, this is very expensive and the only way to determine the pet’s response to therapy is with additional liver biopsies. Fortunately for Maultsby, she has amazing owners who are committed to her treatment. Maultsby has a long road ahead but with good care we expect her to live a long and healthy life. This is why she is AHS’s Pet of the Month.