Elevated ALT but everything normal?

[BayouLady]

My girl, Alexis, 9, normally had good bloodwork, but in April for her annual, her ALT was elevated. Her eating and activity had not changed, but I am not comfortable with this. She had the xray, ultrasound and today was a biopsy. We did go see the holistic vet that helped Beck with sarcoma, have some liver complex and a powder with probiotics and more to add to her food. Bloodwork with the holistic vet in two weeks to make sure there is some positive changes. Was not too happy with our vet, she wants to take a wait and see approach. When she said that, I felt like asking if she wanted to wait and see when Alexis was considered clinical Glad that we have an alternative for care.

Has anyone have to deal with elevated ALT ?

[gingerK]

Had to google ALT to know what you are talking about; never dealt with this. This was one site I found but sounds like you probably already know all this.

http://www.nativeremedies.com/petalive/ ... -dogs.html

Good luck and let us know what you find out.

[AlmostThere]

I recently had this happen to my pug when they did his bloodwork before his teeth cleaning. He was put on meds for 2 wks and rechecked. No change in elevations and my vet said that since this is the first time he had been tested for ALT that this may be his "normal". He seems perfectly fine so they went ahead with the cleaning and he did great.
I did talk with my friend who is a naturapath and owns 6 dogs of varying breeds, and she suggested changing his food. He now eats Solid Gold brand ( name reflects the cost, as well). He does love the food but only eats such a small amount a day that the cost isn't an issue for me. Some day I may get the test redone just to see if there is a change.
Hope you find some peace of mind with your Alexis.

[BayouLady]

Thank you Ginger, yes, I do know but always looking to learn more.

Almostthere, unfortunately this was not her first time so we know this isn't normal, it can be a factor with her age, but I think it jumped too high to be considered normal regardless. I'll have to check Solid Gold, do they have that at Petco? Mine get Nutro Grain Free, but I found out it doesn't have enough protein, so an egg is added to each of their dinners.

Peace of mind would be a good thing, I do have that somewhat seeing being normal, but I'll feel better when this gets back in the normal range.

[monik7]

I don't know if there's any correlation with the ALT test in people vs. dogs so I'll just throw this out for your consideration. I have rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and because of the medications I take orally and by infusion I have to have my blood tested every 2 months. On several occasions, the ALT reading has jumped way up with no apparent reason why. However, each time, when the next test was done 2 months later it would be back in the normal range. In those 2 intervening months I did nothing different to try to get the reading back to normal. My dr. was not concerned because the pattern was always that it went back down. So the point I'm trying to make is that perhaps you could do another test in a number of weeks and hopefully it will be back to normal. Just a thought. I hope you can find a solution.
Sandi

[AlmostThere]

I didn't buy the Solid Gold at a Petco, but did see it offered in one.

[BayouLady]

Sandi, thank you, we do have an appt in two weeks for a recheck and believe me, we are praying for better numbers.

[Bethers]

I did a lot of reading after your initial post and it seems it's not unusual - for dogs or people to have occasional elevated ALT numbers. Hopefully this is the case here. That said, it's always scary when it's one of OURS who has the "bad" number. Hoping your next test proves to be better.

[BayouLady]

Hoping your next test proves to be better.

Thank you, I hope so too and I'm glad to see this is helping you and maybe others learn more on this because it can cross over for people as well. Before Beck was diagnosed with cancer, the only thing I knew to look for on my own bloodwork was glucose, but now I have a much better understanding of the rest.

[BayouLady]

High Paws go to Dr Segera, Holistic Vet that has brought this down from over 700 to 150. We have one more followup in a month, normal is 10-130 so we need to get in that range.
Not to happy with our vet, two round of pills at $80 each did NOTHING, on top of her ALT being elevated for six weeks is not healthy. ! Dinovite, which is good for all dogs because it helps things move properly through the intestines and liver complex, made all the difference.

Reasons for elevated ALT would include exposure to toxic chemicals, I believe this all started because of a neighbor that sprayed Roundup along my fence. He has had a good talking to because he had no business doing that considering we have a street between us. Vinegar and water are the best all around cleaning mix, for the yard, we use ECOSMART and it smells great too.