Dog's blood test: high ALP and neutrophils. Is Loxicom safe?

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. Unfortunately ALP is such a vague value and does not tell us much in the way of specific diseases that it is not a very useful value. In older dogs with a high ALP, this may be a normal finding not related to any disease. Cushing's disease can cause an elevated ALP along with many other causes. If the ALP continues to rise or does not resolve, I would consider testing for Cushing's disease and have an abdominal ultrasound performed. Bronchitis and a tooth infection generally would not cause an increase in this value in my experience. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

That ALP level is not that high. This would not concern me at all. We don’t get concern about this and call it abnormally high until it gets over about 350-400. The Belamyl injection is just vitamin B12. That is fine to do. It may or may not help, but it will not hurt to give the injections.

She is a puppy. An elevated ALP is normal in puppies. ALP can go up because of liver problems, but also increases during bone growth. I see this elevation in about 80% of puppy bloodwork. I do not treat this as it it is not a problem and the value becomes normal when they stop growing. If there are other liver values elevated, then I am concerned, but ALP alone is not generally a problem. Per IDEXX, one of the largest veterinary pathology services in the United States, ALP values in puppies can be elevated 4 times normal (which is about where Luna is.) Denamarin, Vitamin B, and a low-carb diet will not hurt Luna, but they probably won’t change the ALP either. Best wishes to you and Luna.

I suggest your vet take a fine needle aspirate (FNA) biopsy of the tumor to find out what kind of a tumor this is. He would be taking a little bit of tissue from the tumor painlessly with a fine needle which helps determine what kind of a tumor this is. As for the elevated Alkaline Phosphatase level: this could be a sign of liver disease/gall bladder disease or bone cancer in your dog. However, if your dog had bone cancer, it would likely have some bone pain somewhere. 51% of dogs over 8 years have a high ALP. Because there are so many causes of a high ALP, many of which are benign (harmless) processes, determining the cause of an individual dog's high ALP is difficult. Your vet may want to refer you to a veterinary internal specialist. Joint pain can also be caused by arthritis, and the lethargy could be caused by pain or disease

Hello, thank you for your question about Daisy. There are numerous causes for elevated ALP in dogs, many of which you have ruled out by the testing described. Some dogs can experience a condition called vacuolar hepatopathy, a benign condition that we can sometimes not identify the reason for. Many of these dogs demonstrated no symptoms even with a significantly elevated ALP. There is no specific ALP level that will lead to symptoms in dogs, it is very patient dependent (some dogs are much more sensitive to mild changes). I would recommend having her liver values monitored every 4-6 months, or sooner if she develops any signs such as vomiting or inappetance. Additionally, I would consider adding Denamarin/Denosyl to her treatment regimen. Although this may not normalize her ALP it can help prevent further elevation of the value in the future. Hope this helps, good luck!

This supplement is unlikely to influence any liver enzymes and can be stopped anytime if there is any suspicion of that. ALP is elevated but moderately and I would not focus on that. Albumin is low and that is a main concern at the moment. Vomiting should be treated with symptomatic medications. If there is high temperature, antibiotics should be given/continued. Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further. If this answer was helpful please let us know, this will be used to improve our service!

Hello, and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. You're right that Ghontu tested positive for Ehrlichia - but keep in mind that is an "antibody" test, meaning it tests for *exposure* to a disease and doesn't necessarily mean she has Ehrlichia. If a dog is exposed to Ehrlichia and their immune system does its job and successfully clears the body of the Ehrlichia infection, they will still show a positive result on that test. So it's not cause for panic! I defer to your regular vet to determine how worried they are, based on Ghontu's exam and other findings. If they feel treatment is appropriate, they will probably start Ghontu on a 4-week course of medication. The ALP is a bit elevated, but that elevation is quite mild and wouldn't have me too worried. Again, I would defer to your usual vet. But unless they had reason to worry about the ALP specifically, I wouldn't think twice about that ALP value. Hope this helps!