My dog's blood test shows high SGOT. Is it a sign of heart disease?

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Luna. This value is a liver enzyme. It can be elevated due to liver disease or a skeletal muscle problem. Liver disease in young puppies can be congenital disorder such as a portosystemic shunt or secondary to an infection. When I have a result such as this, I will recheck blood work in a week. If the value is still elevated, then I will run a separate blood test known as a bile acids panel. This is a liver function test. The elevation could due to something as simple as her shaking during the blood draw (skeletal muscle), but you want to ensure she is not experiencing any disease. I hope this information helps!

Since young dogs are still growing it is always possible for liver values to be elevated. The AST and ALP can normally be elevated in younger dogs. I would not be concerned unless Bruno is acting ill. If he has any vomiting, diarrhea or anorexia I would recommend taking him to the vet for an exam

ALT and GGT are both liver enzymes, so usually if they are elevated this would mean that Ginger may have a liver problem of some kind. These values can be elevated in dogs with hepatitis, gallbladder problems, or a tumor in the liver - but if the elevations are fairly mild, they can also be due to normal age-related changes in the liver, in which case there would be no reason to worry. For me personally, in an older pet that is otherwise healthy and does not have any symptoms of a problem, I often recommend repeating blood work in four weeks before doing anything else - liver values can fluctuate quite a bit, and often they are back to normal at the recheck appointment so we don't worry. If they are still elevated after four weeks, then at that point I would usually recommend abdominal x-rays and ultrasound to check for any problems. This is something that you can discuss with your vet if you're concerned, or get a second opinion if needed.

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.

ALT is one of the most important liver indicators in dogs and cats. It can also be elevated in dogs and cats when there is significant damage to the muscle, but in general it is thought of as a fairly sensitive marker for some type of liver damage. There are also several other markers for liver disease, so only knowing about the elevations in ALT may be misleading. If ALT was the only marker elevated, this is usually an indication of an inflammatory or infectious disease causing harm to the hepatic system. If you would like to discuss all of the laboratory testing and diagnostic imaging performed by your veterinarian, I would be able to take a closer look at your dog's situation. Let me know if I, or one of the other experts, can help you out in any way.

It's quite common for a dog, even his age, to have slightly elevated SGPT levels, if this was the only issue with the blood test and if he isn't suffering from any symptoms I would probably leave it for now.

The only blood test that I am aware of that could show evidence of heart disease would be a proBNP test. This protein increases when there is increased stress on the heart but there can be some false positives and a positive does not always mean heart failure or heart disease. When a veterinarian is suspicious of heart failure they may also recommend running a blood count and chemistry panel to help rule out infections and to check electrolytes and kidney values before starting treatment for heart failure.