Lab tests

[MyLilGirl_Misty]

It's been a while since I came here to this site. Anyway, Misty just turned one as of today and she had her first yearly exam which included blood work.

Her blood work panel looks fine with the exception of one test and that one being the ALP. Normal values for ALP (47~237), that's here in Japan by the way and Misty's was at 464. Now, like I said, all of her other values fell within the normal range including the other liver tests with the exception of this one.

The vet said because there are no other increased values in her blood panel and that this was common in pups that are still growing. Maybe so, but I'm a little paranoid now.

Has anyone here had the same experience with there Husky pup and if so, did the number come back down or stayed elevated?

My little girl just turned one and I can't imagine something being wrong with her health at this age.

Thanks for reading and your time.

[Elyse]

Alkaline Phosphatase: ALKP/ALP – This enzyme is present in many tissues, therefore it not very specific in liver disease, but it appears very early in the progress of liver disease, therefore it is considered quite sensitive. ALP tends to be slightly more specific in the cat, but not quite as sensitive. A similar enzyme or isoenzyme is secreted as a result of high levels of cortisone, therefore an effort must be made to separate Cortisole induced ALP or CALP and normal ALP. Liver ALP is released from the liver when many anticonvulsant drugs are administered to the dog. This must be taken into account when evaluating ALP levels. ALP levels typically are greatly elevated in the young, growing animal and therefore a veterinarian should not mistake any elevations as disease in a young animal.

http://canineliverdiseasefoundation.org/?p=23

[Povodny]

I think you should listen to your vet. If you start digging about looking for a reason to worry without a proper understanding of what you're reading you're only going to worry yourself silly.

The only thing I would suggest is. If you're not happy, go back in three months and have the tests run again. And if youre still worried again in a further three months. In the meantime just keep a general eye on her. The problem now is you'll pick up on every little thing and think the worst and unfortunately signs of liver failure are so non specific. Also there is acute liver failure which would show signs rapidly and chronic which is slow and insidious

I don't wish to worry you in any way. What I can say is even with worst case, liver disease is treatable. I can attest to that as my two an a half year old female was given 10 days to live last sept and has made as full a recovery as is possible. Looking at her you'd never know how ill she actually was.

Try not to dwell on the what ifs and trust what you see in front of you, a healthy happy energetic growing girl.

[Rosemary]

Blood work? Are these tests done as part of the annual examination, or is it something you have to specifically ask for? We have never had blood work done, and our vet has never suggested having them done.

[Stranger]

as far as im aware we dont have that here either. do you have to have it done or is it an optional extra?

[MyLilGirl_Misty]

Thanks to all that have responded thus far and if anybody else would like to add, please do.

As for the blood work, I didn't request anything, I guess it's all just part of the annual physical your pet receives here in Japan. It seemed like a thorough blood panel they did. They took a large tube of blood from her and I'm actually glad they did this, because now I know the condition of her overall health and not just from a visual observation.

Povodny, If you don't mind me asking, what led to your girls disease? Was it something she was born with or a side effect to medication?

I'm trying not to drive myself nuts over this but it's hard. I have become so attached to her in the past year that I dread the thought of anything happening to her, especially at such a young age.

[Povodny]

Thanks to all that have responded thus far and if anybody else would like to add, please do.

As for the blood work, I didn't request anything, I guess it's all just part of the annual physical your pet receives here in Japan. It seemed like a thorough blood panel they did. They took a large tube of blood from her and I'm actually glad they did this, because now I know the condition of her overall health and not just from a visual observation.

Povodny, If you don't mind me asking, what led to your girls disease? Was it something she was born with or a side effect to medication?

I'm trying not to drive myself nuts over this but it's hard. I have become so attached to her in the past year that I dread the thought of anything happening to her, especially at such a young age.

There was never any trauma that appeared to cause it. She was referred to a very well respected teaching veterinary hospital here. All they could surmise was she'd had it since a puppy. We have her litter brother as well and he's absolutely fine.

In hindsight, I'd noticed she didn't dash up an down the stairs to the front door an back like the others, she preferred to stay at the top of the stairs and wait for whomever arrived to come to her. I put this down to her taking a more mature stance with us having a younger female. She still pulled like a train on walks, she was still as eager to go out for walks, she had a normal appetite. She did have a week of occasional vomiting bile, but on doing a little research on the Internet I put that down to only having one meal a day and too much bile on an empty stomach, I changed to two meals a day and the vomiting stopped. The first indication anything was wrong was after I had been away for two nights, I came back to find her belly had swelled significantly, I rang the vet an booked her in for the following day. My first thought was phantom pregnancy as she was just coming out of season, or even an infection because she'd been in season. On arrival at the vets their first impression was pregnancy. But to me the time lines didn't add. They did a scan there an then but no puppies, they did an immediate basic bloodtest which showed probable liver dysfunction. Then drew off fluid from her distended belly to send away, they referred her to the hospital whilst we were still at the vets and sent us away with some drugs to support liver function until we heard back from the hospital. She got an appointment within two weeks, stayed over. We picked up a very very poorly and overwhelmingly distressed little girl. She was too ill to do a biopsy and we were informed she had no liver function. She'd developed portal hypertension, leading to liver shunts around her other organs. We were told to take her home and 'enjoy what time she has left'. As the deterioration progressed we were to watch for head pressing, staring into space, aggression towards the other dogs and towards the end, towards us as the ammonia in her brain would affect her to the point she wouldn't recognise us and could attack us. She was also very anaemic but there's no treatment for that in dogs other than transfusion which apparently only makes them more anaemic.

She came home with a multitude of drugs, forgave us for leaving her, slept a lot, still wanted to go out an walk but didn't pull so much, she visibly lost weight. Then began to gain an appetite, I was making all her meals from scratch, by December she was on five small meals a day, she had another test done and although the bloods came back not bad the starvation liver test came back worse than before, the vet was concerned about her weight. We were once again told to go home and 'enjoy what time she has left' in January I took her with me to be weighed while I collected her prescription, I was convinced she was improving and she'd gained 2kg, I asked to speak to Hilary (our vet) but she wasn't in until Friday, so I asked could they let her know Safi had gained the weight. Friday evening Hilary rang out of the blue, she wanted to contact the hospital again and have a chat. She got back to me a week later with the news in the opinion of the vets at the hospital and judging by her most resent results and current condition she was definitely recovering.

She'll always be on medication and a restricted diet, but she's a happy healthy normal little husky (if you can call any husky normal)

You say you're happy they took the blood rather than just rely on the visual, if that's the case, be happy and stop worrying. You can't live waiting for something that may never happen. No one wants their puppy to be ill or hurt but worrying about it to the point it spoils the present is a waste of energy. I've watched Safi walk to the brink and return, I can read her inside out an back to front. I trust my instinct to know when she's well and when she's tired after a long day out an just wants to go home.

I'm sorry I've waffled, I got carried away lol:/

[MyLilGirl_Misty]

Povodny, that is one hell of a story and comeback for your little girl. She really did beat the odds. Your right, I should stop worrying, that is something I have to fix on my part, I'm a worry bug I guess. Thank you for responding to my post and sharing your story.

[Povodny]

Povodny, that is one hell of a story and comeback for your little girl. She really did beat the odds. Your right, I should stop worrying, that is something I have to fix on my part, I'm a worry bug I guess. Thank you for responding to my post and sharing your story.

I'm sorry, telling you not to worry is very harsh of me, but still, try worrying when you have reason to your little Misty is the spitz of Togo lol

[devilsgunner]

ALP can also be raised due to a period of stress (even if it's a short period), there's an ALP isoenzyme that's activated by stress hormones. The physical act of going to the vet, or any other mildly stressful event in the day or two before you got the test taken, may have elevated it. Also, as mentioned before, younger animals often have raised ALP - the reference ranges for lab results are predominantly based on adults, and are supposed to represent 95% of the healthy population, so they often don't capture young puppies. (Thank you vet school)

Essentially, as had already been stated, there's nothing to worry about!

[MyLilGirl_Misty]

Thanks devilsgunner for your input as well.

[Lazacka]

ALP can also be raised due to a period of stress (even if it's a short period), there's an ALP isoenzyme that's activated by stress hormones. The physical act of going to the vet, or any other mildly stressful event in the day or two before you got the test taken, may have elevated it. Also, as mentioned before, younger animals often have raised ALP - the reference ranges for lab results are predominantly based on adults, and are supposed to represent 95% of the healthy population, so they often don't capture young puppies. (Thank you vet school)

Essentially, as had already been stated, there's nothing to worry about!

I want to believe this statement SO BAD but my vet says it's not true My pup (6 months) Nigel gets very stressed if he gets a bath (I have to alert the neighbors we're not beating our dog, he's just getting a bath, but he's the first out the door into the river or the rain, go figure lol). His Alkaline Phosphates were 649, then dropped to 595 in a week and he gained 2lbs in that week. The vet isn't encouraged by this at all. I keep telling them that I heard if he's stressed that it will raise his ALP and they keep poo pooing it....He doesn't show any signs of liver problems, his stomach is still very sensitive and I can't help but think these people over vaccinated him because it was at the time they gave him his 3rd round of a vaccination and he got sick for 2 days after. I am thinking of changing Vets. I just got off the phone with them and I told the secretary that Nigel gets stressed if he doesn't have his breakfast on time and waiting until 9:00 Am is ridiculous to drop a puppy off, he shouldn't be there later than 8:00 AM. She ho'd and hummed and then went with 8:30AM. So I'm going to feed him at midnight to keep the little guy satisfied then keep him up late so he won't be tired and stressed.

So, I guess I just want to read encouraging posts (as we all do) Nigel's liver enzymes and all other bloodwork is fantastic, he seems as normal as, well any male puppy could be (drives us nuts, lots of energy, loves his walks, very friendly and no longer cares if you touch his chewy, he actually brings it up to my lap to chew it). Should I be worried? The vet said he spoke with a specialist (I have a hard time believing this because when he came in to see us when we were called back to pick Nigel up due to his ALP still being high, he didn't even know the exact numbers) and that she didn't even seem worried or phased (I want to believe that too!) his initial reaction was to test Nigel again in 4 weeks and see if they go down, but now he wants to do this special test where they starve him and test his blood, then feed him and retest and compare. I'm all for it, but I would like to get those who have been through this prior's opinions.

Here's some info:

Nigel ~ Siberian Husky (umm...gorgeous )

Age: 6 1/2 months old

Gender: Male

General Health: Fantastic other than a sensitive stomach when overfed cookies or steals someone's food (he's quick and I tell the kids all the time!)

Energy: Hot days in the 90's he will sleep in the a/c go out to go to the bathroom but otherwise comes right back in, great on walks can do a good 30-40 mins before tiring, loves to swim and play (still haven't broken him of his play biting but he's getting better) night time is the right time for Nigel, he would stay outside all night if he could, if he was a teenager I would think he'd be sneaking out my windows.

Appetite: Fantastic, eats twice a day 1 1/2 cups in AM and 1 1/2 cups Evening with a couple of puppy cookies in between for some training and a rawhide bone a few times a week, never turns down a meal. He had learned to eat a bit slower, it takes him about 2 minutes vs. 30 seconds to eat now.

Coat and Skin: Beautiful, no hair loss, no extra shedding, no marks on his skin, no fleas, a little bit of itching most likely due to not being able to rinse him after his bath, but no dandruff or anything like that.

Overall look and attitude, just an energetic puppy who will play at the drop of a hat and still takes naps and loves to steal your things so you'll chase him, can jump like crazy, chases squirrels and birds, no more toy possession/aggression, loves to hang with his "pack" aka family.

Sorry for tmi but just trying to get all the questions out of the way lol. Obviously looking for encouraging posts, but want to hear anything.

PS, Vet said that the chances of bone cancer are extremely rare, cushing's disease it out of the question and the only 2 things it could be are his liver function (perhaps liver shunt(s) ) or just one of "life's great mysteries" and there is never a reason for it.

So again, sorry for my long rambling post, I don't want to hijack someone else's thread, but didn't want to clog up the board with the same subject. If you guys think I should start another thread just let me know and I will. Thanks again in advance