My dog's blood work is elevated, but he shows no illness. Why?

Question

My dog had blood work done prior to having his teeth cleaned. His ALB, ALKP and ALT were elevated. The vet put him on Denamarin for one month. He just had a recheck and still elevated. There are no signs of any illness. Any idea what could possibly be the cause of these elevations? What would you recommend at this point? Just looking for a second opinion. Pet's info: Dog | Multi-Colored Poodle | Male | neutered | 10 years and 6 months old | 17.4 lbs

C. Rathjens, DVM · Accepted Answer

There are many different causes that would include hepatitis (which can be bacterial or sterile), cancer, or an issue with his gallgladder. The next step I would recommend is an abdominal ultrasound with fine needle aspirate (FNA) to try to get some information about what is going on in the liver, and possibly a biopsy of the liver after that. The other courses of action is to try treating him to various medications to see if anything helps -- however this doesn't really make sense if he has no signs of illness. Or finally, doing nothing and checking again in 2 months to see if they are rising or staying the same. Sometimes we decide not to get to the bottom of something when there are no clinical signs.

My dog's blood work is elevated, but he shows no illness. Why?

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