Quote:
Originally Posted by Ellie May  That ALT is way too high. I would not be surprised if something is going on with her liver. When an ALT in a Yorkie is that high, a bile acids test should be done. It could be something like asymptomatic MVD. Anesthetic protocol and pain medications vary for liver compromised dogs, so the vet really should've waited on surgery and did a bile acids test when seeing that number (in my opinion). With an ALT 200 points above the highest it should be and no bile acids test being done, I would not give her any NSAIDs (Rimadyl) but again I'm not a vet and that is my opinion.
That is the poing of preop blood work (to detect problems and do further testing if it is off so surgery is as safe as possible). Why would he do it if he was going to ignore it? I guess I'd wonder why he didn't tell you about the high ALT.  |
That is what I was afraid of.
I didn't understand why he didn't tell me that before the surgery too.....he called after her blood work and told me about the dehydration and the BUN, but he never mentioned her ALT. I don't understand that at all either. Maybe I shouldn't wait a month before I have her tested?? I gave her the one Rimadyl this morning (1/4 25mg chewable), but I won't give her anymore. I'm guessing any lab work would be skewed now anyway because of the pain meds.....I'll have to wait a bit for them to "normalize". How long do you think I should wait? AND, can they do her liver and kidney panels on the same day as a bile acid test? I know she has to go in NPO for the bile acid (or at least nothing to eat anyway...), but can/should the other tests be done NPO? I imagine if she has nothing to drink before, she'll be dehydrated again. I can do an ultrasound on her myself (that's what I do for a living anyway...for people, that is), providing she'll let me of course. I think she will....she's usually pretty good. And I have a lot of experience with people with liver disease. The last place I worked was a big liver transplant hospital. I'll do some research online or make some calls and find out what I need to be looking for on a dog, if anything, that would be different from a human. Maybe I can go to the college library and get a canine anatomy book....that would be the only thing that's really different. AND, the company I work for just ordered me a new transducer that would be more appropriate for her size, and I'm supposed to get that in the mail on Monday. (I'm really excited about that transducer for the kinds of scans I do everyday anyway, but this just makes it better!) The vet she will go to here in town doesn't have ultrasound....they'd have to refer her to the vet school here anyway. We've done MRI's for them a couple of times, so maybe they wouldn't mind answering some of my questions. I know I'm looking for a shunt....I'll just have to find out the normal direction for her vessels (I know them for a human, and I'll bet they're very close to the same.)
Sooo, here's the big question...what will happen if she does have a shunt or MVD?