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Canine Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA & IMHA) - High SGPT in 3 yr old Yorkie
| My Yorkie has recently had blood work done the her SGPT came back at 271 which the vet said was pretty high, they have not started any treatment yet and I wonder if anyone has any idea what our plan of attack should be. My vet said she needed a couple of days to look at some options and I want to have a plan. Please help! |
| Lori Ahart Midwest US |
| Lori, I am sorry to hear about this high number and that you feel so alarmed. SGPT is Serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase. It is an enzyme that is released into the blood when there has been damage to something like the liver or heart. It is the same thing as ALT alanine aminotransferase. You are probably giving high doses of prednisone or some other glucocorticoid to your Yorkie right now? This is a side effect of these high doses. The liver does respond this way. There are good things that prednisone does, in this case stopping the self damage to the blood cells, and there are not so good things, like damage the liver. The really good news is that in most cases the liver repairs itself quite well after the dosage of prednisone is reduced. To give you an idea of how high these numbers can go, Chance had an ALT of 8650 (high normal is 212) at one point in his prednisone treatment. A few weeks ago that had come down to 360. It took a few months for us to get it down, but he is doing fine now. It is a good idea to give some kind of support to the liver during this time to help it withstand the insult from the prednisone. There are several things you can give. When Chance's ALT was really high we used a veterinary product called Denamarin. This is a combination of Sam-e and the essence of milk thistle called silymarin. It is dosed according to weight. Your vet can get this for you. It is somewhat expensive. The other alternative, and what we are using now, is to buy the Sam-e over the counter and use Liver Support Factors by Country Life. This product has silymarin in it with other things to help support the liver. You do need to match the dosages of these two things to the dosage in the Denamarin. For small dogs this is more problematic because the Sam-e only comes in certain doses. I am not sure, but I believe the lowest is 200mg. Dr. Dodds recommended Sam-e to me right from the beginning. The best thing to do is run this by your vet or the specialist if you have one. You might ask them if you can try the Denamarin to start and then from there figure out the doses of Sam-e and Liver Support Factors to use. My best, Patrice |
| Patrice New York State |
| Thank you for responding. I think the reason I am so alarmed is that we have not been treating her for anything I just noticed that her breathe started to smell really bad and she had never had that before. I took her to the vet to have her teeth checked, thinking that was what was causing the bad breathe. After her examination her teeth were fine, I told the vet that she hadn't been acting normal but it wasn't bad enough for me to bring her in. The vet wanted a urine sample just to she if anything showed up and the urine indicated a problem with the liver. So I ordered a blood test and that is when the high # came back. I have know idea what to do next, the vet hasn't gotten back to me and just setting around doing nothing is driving me crazy. Thank you again and any other information you feel would help is greatly appreciated. |
| Lori Iowa |
| Lori, Please don't worry abouth this right now. You won't be able to get these numbers down immediately. You can't stop giving the prednisone at the moment, not until your vet decided it's appropriate to start decreasing it. Your Yorkie will feel uncomfortable. She may not feel like being handled or petted at the moment. She may not be able to get up on furniture anymore because soft surfaces just seem to make them feel worse. I put down soft towels on the floor in a couple of places for Chance with fans running to keep him cool and comfortable. His liver was pretty swollen. How much prednisone are you giving her now? And for how long? Are her cbc workups showing any improvements? What is her hematocrit or packed cell volume now? (pcv) Patrice |
| Patrice NYS |
| Hi Lori, Has your dog been diagnosed with aiha? |
| Teresa va |
| Hi again Lori, sorry about that...my computer did something really strange and posted my response before I finished typing. From your original post you had asked about the sgpt number but didnt mention anything about aiha. That number can also be elevated from non hepatic (liver)related reasons such as GI disorders, cardiac problems, and aiha. Is that the only number that is high? Was everything regarding the kidneys normal when they did the urinalysis? Also, if they have not done so you might want to have them do a chemistry panel to check the liver and kidney values. Bad breath can be a sign of kidney problems. It will have an ammonia smell to it. Hope this helps some. |
| Teresa va |
| I never seen the lab results myself the vet jusst told me everything else came back normal, but her SGPT. Her bad breath really doesn't have an ammonia smell to it, it literally smell like she has "crap" in her mouth. She is not on any medication and hasn't been that is why I am so concerned that her number is high. |
| Lori Iowa |
| Hi Lori, Since the teeth checked out ok, it could be something gastrointestinal. Best wishes to you and your pooch. |
| Teresa va |
This thread was discussed between 12/02/2008 and 13/02/2008
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