Elevated liver enzymes

[Alexander]

Hi there, good afternoon. New member, thank you for having me. I have a 9 year old male Cairn called Teddy (he just turned 9 two months ago). He is a happy and healthy boy, but I took him to the vet last week for annual bloodwork and the results came back with mildly elevated ALP and ALT enzyme levels. The vet said that he would like to check the enzyme levels again in 6-8 weeks and then maybe do a liver ultrasound if they hadn’t returned to normal.

Needless to say, I am a little shocked and very worried. We have had no health problems at all with Teddy so this has come out of the blue. Has anyone had a similar experience? I’m really looking for some advice and maybe some perspective. Thank you very much. 
 

- Alex 

[bradl]

Hi and welcome to you and Teddy.

I can't speak with any personal experience specifically but the plan sounds quite reasonable to me. Lab values do wander in and out of ranges sometimes and some values can be affected by various temporary stressors (no idea if liver values are like that, specifically).  If they are wildly out of range, a retest and a follow-up ultrasound to look for anything anomalous sounds like an excellent plan to me. 

I won't bother with "try not to worry" (I probably couldn't follow my own advice ) but at least give yourself the grace of knowing you're being watchful and taking great care of Teddy.

[Alexander]

Thank you very much for your reply and kind words. I have researched this topic to death online and have learned that it could be nothing at all, or it could be one of literally hundreds of different conditions. Teddy is acting completely normally, eating, drinking, running around as usual, so that is good. Anyway, rather than wait and worry for two months, I have arranged an ultrasound for him tomorrow morning. I will report back. Thanks again.

 - Alex

[Alexander]

Ok, good morning. Update on this. I took Teddy for an ultrasound this morning and they were unable to see anything unusual apart from a little sludge in the gallbladder. The vet said that the elevated enzymes are likely due to age related changes in the liver and that they see mildly elevated liver enzymes in "senior dogs" all the time. She suggested putting him on Denamarin for liver health and rechecking the enzyme levels in 2-3 months. So, I am very relieved to say the least! Hopefully, my experience will help others who might find themselves in a similar situation, so they don't have to worry themselves to death unnecessarily.

Thanks,

 - Alex

[Newman]

thanks for the update about Teddy! feel free to share some pics of him if you wish, i'd love to see him 

Edited February 19 by Newman

[Otis’s Mom]

welcome I have a seven-year-old Wheaton cairn named Otis Ray. He is the love of my life like I can imagine, everyone feels the same way on here. I brought him home at 3 months 3 years after my husband died and I retired.. last year was his annual,  his liver enzymes were up just like your dog. My vet said that he needs to be tested in three months. I had him retested and his liver enzymes were normal.  I asked her what the problem could be. She said he could’ve probably ate something which is not out of Otis’s wheelhouse. We walk 3 to 4 miles a day and there’s always disgusting things on our walk.  99% of the time I’m able to stop him but that 1% percent i’m glad everything turned out OK sending warm vibes from Massachusetts.

Edited February 24 by Otis’s Mom

[Eliz222]

I'm glad to hear Teddy is doing much better.

I"m also glad Otis is feeling better. 

It's so hard when our pups are not feeling well since they can't tell us what is wrong.