New Vet With No Gh Experience

[charbess]

After 20 years with the same vet he pulled up stakes and opened his own practice far and away from us. The new vet we saw Monday is not experienced with greys and alerted me to some iffy numbers on Cooper's Wellness Workup. Doing my due diligence here so can someone please give their opinion?

Coop will be 7 in January 2017 and the two readings that came back "high" according to Antech Diagnostics are ALT (SGPT) 147 and Creatinine 1.8.

The vet recommended a recheck in a month but if these are within the normal range for greys I may skip it.

 

I have printed out some info from www.greyhoundhealthinitiative.org and a couple of articles by Dr. Suzanne Stack and delivered them to his office with a request he confirm his suggestion for a recheck.

 

Any opinions appreciated, thanks.

Edited November 3, 2016 by charbess

[turbotaina]

I don't know much about ALT levels, just that they can indicate liver issues and I think there's some sort of connection with both it and elevated creatinine. Someone better versed will have to respond to that. That being said, the creatinine isn't markedly elevated. My greyhounds have always run a 1.6-2.0 there. Turbo's normal was 1.8-2.0 with no kidney issues, so I wouldn't be overly concerned. Do you have earlier numbers? Maybe worth giving milk thistle and rechecking? I just don't know what normal ALT levels are.

[charbess]

I don't know much about ALT levels, just that they can indicate liver issues and I think there's some sort of connection with both it and elevated creatinine. Someone better versed will have to respond to that. That being said, the creatinine isn't markedly elevated. My greyhounds have always run a 1.6-2.0 there. Turbo's normal was 1.8-2.0 with no kidney issues, so I wouldn't be overly concerned. Do you have earlier numbers? Maybe worth giving milk thistle and rechecking? I just don't know what normal ALT levels are.

That is the question I need to find an answer to...the vet just called me and thanked me for all the info I dropped off but he doesn't have the answers on ALT either. I appreciate the fact he admitted to not knowing something but I hope he educates himself on greys. He still wants to see her in a month to see if these values are anomalies. I have the uneasy feeling that this is the blind leading the blind but that may be my cynical evil twin voicing her reluctance to educate the vet.

[krissy]

Creatinine is a kidney marker. In some greyhounds it can tend to be slightly elevated. I am unsure about exact numbers to help you because I am unfamiliar with the American units.

 

ALT is a liver enzyme that elevates when there is increased liver cell death. It is unrelated to creatinine and is not appreciably different between sighthounds and non-sighthounds. Again, I can't tell how elevated that is because I don't know the American units. With Canadian units we typically become concerned around the point of 2x elevation or higher, but I don't know how that translates to American.

 

I would do the recheck bloodwork in a month as recommended, because of the ALT elevation.

[tbhounds]

The AST can run higher in ghs but, no mention of the ALT running higher. The creatinine can also run higher than 1.6--my own dog runs 2.0-2.2 normally (but, with a normal bun). One thing you can do is check your dogs specific gravity on a first a.m. urine sample. The urine should be the most concentrated at that time of day-if the kidneys are functioning well the USG should be at, around or above 1.030.

I would just recheck bloods in a few months to recheck the ALT.

Do you have this already???

 

http://www.greyhoundadoptionofoh.org/Library/2010-greyhound-medical-packet.pdf

[lothianjavert]

I can't help you with the ALT but Sully was always around the 1.8 to 2.0 range for creatinine but with normal BUN. Rook was 1.8 last time, normal BUN.

[Houndtime]

I haven't had a greyhound yet who didn't have slightly elevated creatinine levels.

[charbess]

The AST can run higher in ghs but, no mention of the ALT running higher. The creatinine can also run higher than 1.6--my own dog runs 2.0-2.2 normally (but, with a normal bun). One thing you can do is check your dogs specific gravity on a first a.m. urine sample. The urine should be the most concentrated at that time of day-if the kidneys are functioning well the USG should be at, around or above 1.030.

I would just recheck bloods in a few months to recheck the ALT.

Do you have this already???

 

http://www.greyhoundadoptionofoh.org/Library/2010-greyhound-medical-packet.pdf

I did not have this in its' entirety. I am running a copy right now for my file and one for the vet. Thanks so much for this.

[charbess]

Creatinine is a kidney marker. In some greyhounds it can tend to be slightly elevated. I am unsure about exact numbers to help you because I am unfamiliar with the American units.

 

ALT is a liver enzyme that elevates when there is increased liver cell death. It is unrelated to creatinine and is not appreciably different between sighthounds and non-sighthounds. Again, I can't tell how elevated that is because I don't know the American units. With Canadian units we typically become concerned around the point of 2x elevation or higher, but I don't know how that translates to American.

 

I would do the recheck bloodwork in a month as recommended, because of the ALT elevation.

I will do that, thanks very much for your insight, Krissy.

[charbess]

I emailed Dr. Guillermo Couto with this question and he very graciously answered me:"Thanks Jean; that creatinine is normal, and most Greyhounds have ALTs that can go up to high 140s to low 150s. However, we do not know if that is normal for Cooper. I would consider repeating it in 6-8 weeks. I am attaching a brochure with services in case you are interested in additional info."

 

Sure feel better knowing Dr. Couto is available if needed and that he actually reads his emails!

[tbhounds]

Not only does he read his e-mails he responds lighting fast--<3