Puggles - In Here Please

[Staffy-Lover]

Hi mate, sorry to bother but i thought id put the question here incase others are interested.

I want to get my boys liver tested to see how its going. my vet says that the blood tests will show if there is a liver problem. But i know that many epi dogs get a bial acid test ???? or the like.

What do you get ?

and what are the rules in terms of eating before, med use, etc.

thanking u in advance

PS hope monte is charging forward today

[~Anne~]

Hi Bec,

They do it in-house (well at least my Vets do) and they test liver enzymes. Monte's were only slightly elavated and this was normal for a dog on Pb.

They usually do it at the time they do the Pb and Kbr but I am not sure it is neccessary to test at trough though.

Have you spoken with your Vet? I am pretty new to the liver enzyme testing myself but this is what we have done to date.

I hope this helps.

[Staffy-Lover]

Hi Bec,

They do it in-house (well at least my Vets do) and they test liver enzymes. Monte's were only slightly elavated and this was normal for a dog on Pb.

They usually do it at the time they do the Pb and Kbr but I am not sure it is neccessary to test at trough though.

Have you spoken with your Vet? I am pretty new to the liver enzyme testing myself but this is what we have done to date.

I hope this helps. :rolleyes:

i spoke with him and he said it is part of the blood test but i was reading about a different test that epi's do. i think i might put it to the epi list

ta

[Rappie]

Routine blood work will pick up abnormalities in liver enzymes. Pre and post prandial bile acids are used to further investigate liver function if there are changes evident.

[~Anne~]

Thanks Rappie! So, initially, unless there are abnormal results we just go with the norm bloods taken??

[Rappie]

Yes Puggles - when we do a routine screening we are checking the levels of ALT and ALP which reflect what is happening in the liver.

How about a 2 minute clinical pathology lesson? :D

Normal biochemistry panels and preanesthetic panels will test (at least) two enzymes that give us information about the liver.

ALT (alanine transaminase) and ALP (alkaline phosphatase).

ALT reflects damage to cells particularly those in the liver, but does not indicate cell death (it reflects an ACTIVE process).

ALP reflects cholestasis (literally "bile without motion") which may be secondary to damage, or may suggest a physical obstruction to bile ducts.

Both these enzymes are sensitive indicators of changes occuring in the body and are dynamic - their levels can change in a few hours in some circumstances, or in a few days.

Neither ALP or ALT is 100% specific to the liver, they can both be influenced by outside factors - especially drugs or toxins.

The magnitude of change in an enzyme level does not (neccessarily) reflect the magnitude of the problem (a small active tumour? or a mild insult that affected the entire liver?), nor the reversibility --> All we know is that there is a change.

Bile acids test for reduced functional liver mass.

The abridged verision of the physiology --> Bile acids are made by the liver cells from cholesterol then stored in the gall bladder. Eating stimulates the release of bile into the small intestine where they help break down fat, then get reabsorbed. Any process that affects this cycle means that bile acid levels will be increased. We test before eating, then feed a small fatty meal and retest 2 hrs later.

Generally, if a dog started with normal levels then we would just monitor liver enzymes. If a dog had a pre-existing liver problem, then we started seeing increases in liver enzymes with Pb then we might do bile acids to check what was happening.

[~Anne~]

Thanks Rappie!! :D

So, with Monte's enzymes slightly elevated we would jsut continue to monitor unless there is a further change. I assume we should test every time we do Pb and Kbr levels?

Thank again!

[Rappie]

That is what I would do Puggles :D

I would do bile acids if I felt that there were a functional problem with the liver and that we were dealing with more than Pb induced changes.

I'm sure you are well aware that epileptic dogs + medications = one big balancing act!