Quote:
Originally Posted by pheonix 
The problem of the Lab results are that you dont have a feel for the numbers. The show the normal range and the vet shows you the results and the trend. 250 up from 175 sounds bad, but there is no feel for how bad. 3000! That would have really scared me!
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Ralph,
I understand what you mean about having - or not having - a feel for the numbers. The ALT can rise really fast but can also drop just as fast. My vet told me that he doesn't get too worried until the numbers are 4-5 times above normal. He gets concerned if the trend is rising though. My first yorkie had liver elevations for 14 years, but at one point he had something acute going on. His numbers started climbing and they literally doubled every single month for 5 or 6 months, topping out with an ALT at nearly 3000 and an ALKP over 7000. Yes, we had long hit the panic button. But just kept staying the course with his diet, supplements and antibiotics. Our vet felt that his liver was not functioning well enough to support life at that point, and we were sort of preparing to let him go. And then, just as suddenly as they started climbing, they started dropping. In one month his ALT dropped from nearly 3000 to 1400 and his ALKP dropped from 7000 to 3900. They continued to drop over several months and at the one year mark from when they started to climb, they were back near the normal range. Liver problems are sort of hard to diagnose, and unless you're dealing with a shunt, the treatment is pretty much the same no matter what the cause. We were fairly confident he did not have a shunt, so throughout his life we just stayed the course with the treatment plan. We lost him at age 16, to an issue unrelated to his liver disease.
Just hang in there and try to remain positive.
Diana