Quote:
Originally Posted by bjh  Why wouldn't you do a blood panel on a sick dog?????  That is what every vet I know does as a first step. A full blood panel can tell a doctor a lot. Read here: CFYTC Health & Grooming - Liver Shunt
It is not advisable to do a BAT test on a small young puppy. A blood panel will let you know if the liver is compromised. If the liver is compromised you would want to put the puppy immediately on a liver cleansing diet and go from there. The most important thing is to get the puppy stable and that can be done with proper diet and medications then start looking at your different options. |
I would do a blood panel on any sick dog where doing blood draws wasn't a concern. If we are specifically talking about the liver here though and only one test can be done, the bile acid test would give use a lot more information. The ALT doesn't go up for liver shunt/MVD too easily. The liver has to be quite damaged for it to reflect that (usually).
So if we have no idea what is going on then a blood panel is the way to go but if a liver issue is suspected, just because the liver enzymes aren't up means nothing because it isn't uncommon for the liver enzymes to be fine and there still be a problem...
If a blood panel consistently indicated liver problems that are caught on bile aicd testing, that is great, but blood panels just don't give a good enough picture.
Now if there is reason to believe that this isn't the liver at all and the vet is worried about something else, then a panel would be the way to go in my opinion.