Is Elevated Liver Count in Dog Bad News?
Q. I just took my 7-year-old West Highland White Terrier to the vet. Her blood work revealed that her “liver count was up.” She is going to have follow-up blood tests soon. What do think they are looking for? A. The results of routine lab tests can sometimes come back as abnormal, and this can wreak emotional havoc on dog owners and human patients alike. Although early detection of disease is important to successful treatment, there are often circumstances where one or more of the values are up for no apparent reasons. The result can be expensive follow-up tests, anxiety, and possibly unnecessary treatments that carry significant side effects. If your dog has routine screening tests, it is important to match up any clinical signs, or symptoms, with abnormal test results to help determine if the out-of-range result is significant and warrants follow-up. In the case of liver tests, it is not unusual for one or two of the liver enzymes to be mildly to moderately elevate in a middle-aged d
