My dog's blood test shows high ALP. Are infections the cause?

Question

Hello! 10 year old bull terrier's blood test results showed very high level of Alkaline: 704. Previous blood test was 6 months ago and did not show high level ALP He is currently being treated for a bronchitis + a tooth infection. Can these bacterial infections cause the high level of ALP? I know there can be lots of other causes for high ALP levels. But before doing an ultra sound + another blood test, shouldn't we wait to cure the infections first? and then test again for high ALP levels? Pet's info: Dog | Bull Terrier | Male | neutered | 10 years and 10 months old | 59 lbs

Daniel Fonza, DVM · Accepted Answer

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. Unfortunately ALP is such a vague value and does not tell us much in the way of specific diseases that it is not a very useful value. In older dogs with a high ALP, this may be a normal finding not related to any disease. Cushing's disease can cause an elevated ALP along with many other causes. If the ALP continues to rise or does not resolve, I would consider testing for Cushing's disease and have an abdominal ultrasound performed. Bronchitis and a tooth infection generally would not cause an increase in this value in my experience. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

My dog's blood test shows high ALP. Are infections the cause?

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