Elevated Liver Enzyme - need help!

[chloe chloe]

Our dog is 3 yo and has elevated ALT but is asymptomatic. We have used Denamarin and it went down then it went up again at the next test - no change in diet or behavior between the two tests. We feed her raw food and she gets exercise, is healthy, and happy. We had an ultrasound to rule out a shunt and now the vet is suggesting EXPLORATORY SURGERY!!

Is it possible that high ALT is "normal" for some dogs and doesn't affect their longevity? For the other posters here, can you please share the final diagnosis (or cause) that resulted in a cure?

We are at our wits end and want to do the right thing for our dog without subjecting her to unnecessary procedures.

Thank you for any suggestions you have!

 

[2bullymama]

So sorry this is happening... I have no experience but send you lots of poitive thoughts

 

[Honeys Owners]

Our dog is 3 yo and has elevated ALT but is asymptomatic. We have used Denamarin and it went down then it went up again at the next test - no change in diet or behavior between the two tests. We feed her raw food and she gets exercise, is healthy, and happy. We had an ultrasound to rule out a shunt and now the vet is suggesting EXPLORATORY SURGERY!!

Is it possible that high ALT is "normal" for some dogs and doesn't affect their longevity? For the other posters here, can you please share the final diagnosis (or cause) that resulted in a cure?

We are at our wits end and want to do the right thing for our dog without subjecting her to unnecessary procedures.

Thank you for any suggestions you have!

Depends on how high... If all the blood tests were negative for auto immune diseases and the ALT wasn't too high I wouldn't worry. If it was really high I would think next test would be a liver biopsy rather than an exploratory surgery.

 

[FroxerMom]

I have no experience with this with any of my dogs past or present, but hope she is okay!

 

[dermich]

This is similar to our girl, she has just on the edge of high Creatine. It's on the edge.
Like humans you should really not treat "on the edge".

A "real" problem is Very high levels of ALT (more than 10 times normal) are usually due to acute hepatitis, sometimes due to a viral infection.
Notice 10x's normal

Is your pup testing in the normal range at all?

And I would say no to surgery as well.

Especially if all other blood tests are normal.

 

[Honeys Owners]

This is similar to our girl, she has just on the edge of high Creatine. It's on the edge.
Like humans you should really not treat "on the edge".

A "real" problem is Very high levels of ALT (more than 10 times normal) are usually due to acute hepatitis, sometimes due to a viral infection.
Notice 10x's normal

Is your pup testing in the normal range at all?

And I would say no to surgery as well.

Especially if all other blood tests are normal.

High creatinine means kidney problems, high creatine kinase means muscle damage, eg. from heart, kidneys or trauma to muscles. High ALT is the lab marker for liver damage. It only is high if you have a good liver,at the beginning of bad liver disease, since once your liver gets really damaged there's no more ALT ( liver enzyme ) to be released. Then you are monitoring bilirubin and clotting time.