Dog's high amylase, cholesterol, liver enzymes. Is Atorva needed?

Hello, In dogs, unlike humans, we generally don't worry about their diets with high cholesterol. High cholesterol can be associated with both hypothyroidism and adrenal disease, as well as a genetic predisposition to high cholesterol. I would recommend talking to your vet about the rest of the of blood panel and seeing if there are any other abnormalities that might point to an endocrine disorder or a genetic predisposition before changing his diet. However, some boutique, "fancier" diets are not actually balanced for canine nutrition. In particular, grain free diets have been associated with heart disease over time. I would talk to your vet about his diet and make sure it's meeting his nutritional needs before making any new changes. If you do decide to change his diet, please do so over a course of seven days so the rapid change of food does not cause stomach upset. Other signs of hypothyroidism include: increased appetite, weight gain, lesser activity levels, hair loss, and changes of the skin Other signs of adrenal disease, either Hyperadrenocorticism (Cushing's disease) or Hypoadrenocorticism (Addison's disease), can include: vomiting, diarrhea, panting, weight gain, increased thirst and urination, hair loss, and skin changes If Rocky has any of these other changes occurring, this is likely why your vet is recommending further testing to examine his endocrine health. Luckily, most endocrine diseases can be well managed over time once they are diagnosed. I hope this has been helpful! I know it's a lot of information, but I wanted to try to answer everything. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

No, pancreatic enzymes in the diet would not elevate AST. AST is usually use as liver disease marker, however elevation in AST can be also seen in heart diseases, pancreatitis, diseases of the muscles, kidney problems, trauma etc. AST of 94 is only a mild elevation, so repeateing the blood test in 2-3 weeks would be a sensible initial approach.

Hello. I am sorry to hear about Iako. ALT and AST can become VERY elevated so the values that you have listed are elevated, but only mildly/moderately so. The AST is mildly elevated. These enzymes need to be >2x for us to even look at them. ALP is usually elevated if the liver is irritated or 'upset'. This can also go up with exogenous steroid administration (which you likely got with the Addison's disease) so it depends on when these bloods were taken in relation to his diagnosis. Dehydration (which often occurs with an Addisonian crisis) or hypotension (also occurs) can make these values elevated. They are sensitive. I would recommend just getting the medications under control for the hypothyroidism and the Addisons, and rechecking the liver values 2 weeks after everything has settled down a bit. Good luck with Iako. The alternative is getting a liver biopsy, however I would just monitor and recheck the liver values first. I am not too concerned with these values.

Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. There is no clinical significance to a low amylase, and I do not believe I would have been concerned with this finding. That bile acid result is high, but I don't see a fasting level. I'm not sure if the blood was obtained only once, or if you did a 12 hour fast and then offered a fatty meal and had another blood sample drawn. Regardless of how it was obtained, it is a high value, and I suppose it is hard to completely ignore. There are a couple different ways to approach this. Recommending ultrasound and biopsy is not wrong, but you could be a little more conservative and simply recheck the bile acids in 2-4 weeks. I would definitely recommend a 12 hour fast for the pre-prandial blood draw, and then feeding a fatty meal, and then obtaining another sample two hours later. A single bile acid level is not enough information. If upon recheck the findings are abnormal, then you can feel more justified in pursuing ultrasound and biopsy. I hope this helps.

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!

I assume when you say liver enzymes you mean ALT? There a few enzymes we look at and elevation in 1 value makes us consider different causes then elevation in another. ALT elevation is caused make liver cell injury and leakage of enzymes in to the bloodstream. As the liver sees all the blood of the body it can be quite a reactive organ. So the question is whether the liver enzyme is up because of something wrong with the liver/vessels to liver themselves (such as an infectious or inflammatory cause (hepatitis) or a shunt (more common in younger dogs)) or something the liver is responding too (toxicity, disease of over organs). Unfortunately all parts of sago palm are toxic to dogs with the seeds (nuts) being most toxic. And it can be quite challenging to know if this is the cause. If it is sago it depends on the degree of ingestion as to how severe the case is. Unfortunately the treatment for this is supportive as you have been doing. The values may continue to increase or hopefully may plateau off and remain mildly elevated or decrease again. Ultrasound will help to rule out other things going on in the abdomen, assess the liver for changes in texture (although a liver can appear normal on an ultrasound and not be functionally normal), and sometimes identify a portosystemic shunt. After the ultrasound then sampling either first by fine needle aspirate or with a biopsy (needed for many cases of hepatitis, some other issues) can be performed. Checking platelets and clotting times should be performed prior to liver sampling in patients whose livers are not normal to decrease the risk of bleeding from sampling. As shunts are more common in younger animals , if this is suspected, additional imaging may be recommended prior to sampling as ultrasound will not identify all shunts. There is also a disorder called microvascular dysplasia that can be found in the liver. This is best diagnosed by liver biopsy and the sample sent to a pathologist who specializes in liver pathology. I hope this has helped and not confused you more. It sounds like your vet has taken the appropriate steps thus far and has recommended the next best steps to try to rule out some other causes. Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

That is an enzyme found in the liver, red blood cells (RBCs) and in skeletal and heart muscle tissue. Damage to any of these can result in increased levels of SGOT in the blood. If your vet thinks she has a heart condition then there may be other signs associated with her heart. Your vet could repeat the blood-work in 3-4 weeks to see how the value has changed, especially since it is only slightly elevated. You could also take her to a cardiologist to have an echocardiogram of her heart to see how her heart is functioning.