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Originally Posted by Cirlonde  I really need to get a copy of her actual test results...it's so hard to take in everything you're being told when a doctor is throwing all kinds of weird new words at you and your worried about your dog!  She's had two different tests. One was a full "senior panel" (vet called it that) which had to be sent off and the other was an in-house test that just returns a yes/no result.
It's my understanding that the senior panel showed (three, I think?) specific pancreatic enzymes were elevated. The vet called my husband who was at work and overwhelmed by the flood of info, so he had a hard time repeating it all to me later that evening. During that phone conversation, the vet did not seem too concerned with her numbers since she wasn't having any symptoms. He just recommended that we switch her to a reduced fat diet and check the numbers again before doing the dental cleaning.
So then, when they did the in-house test before the cleaning, it came back positive but that test apparently doesn't show specific levels or enzymes. Because it was still elevated, the vet did not want to put her under for fear the stress would cause her to have an acute attack.
For now, we're going to finish up the antibiotics and I've started brushing her teeth daily instead of weekly. I'm hoping that by being more diligent about at-home dental care, we can avoid having to have her put under anesthesia. And for the possible pancreatitis...we will keep her on the reduced fat diet which surely can't hurt anything. |
Yes, those things can be overwhelming. She probably had an elevated amylase and lipase which can be indicative of pancreatitis. As for the in house test, they may be referring to an in house snap cPL which definitely can be a good measure for pancreatitis....but, again, even with that it can be wrong. That said, I would not put a dog under anesthesia with a high risk like that either. Your vet sounds like a very thorough and good vet. As for the teeth brushing..that is great but it will never totally eliminate having to do dental cleanings at the vet....but will reduce frequency.