Dog Bloodwork results?

maybe this info will be helpful to you.  you might also ask your vet to explain the results.

http://www.petplace.com/dogs/understanding-blood-work-the-complete-blood-count-cbc-for-dogs-2/page1.aspx

 Thank you Jackie!  That site was a lot easier to understand than the others I found.

It sounds like Misty does not have liver cancer but may be slightly anemic.. I will talk to the vet today :-)

Sian -- the biggest thing to rememeber with bloodwork is that no one number can EVER stand alone.

It's all about ratios and "when this is low but this is high" or "if both these are high/low at the same time" -- in other words, the whole packages has to be looked at in comparison with itself.

That does NOT mean you shouldn't try -- but that means you sit down with the vet, or get on the phone and ask them "can you 'splain that??" -- Some vets get (understandably) nervous thinking people are questioning them -- but just be nice and ask questions or ask for explanation and the most vets are really darned nice about helping you "get it".

Anemia is not to be taken lightly -- and you may ask the vet if another PCV (packed cell volume -- which is just done in-house and is typically easy and cheap to do) needs to be done to check her levels today.  A lot of really nasty things that are life-threatening can have anemia as their own real "sign" and catching it early is a big deal.

good luck -- like I said, don't be afraid to ask. 

How often do you feed and what's the diet?

  Hi Sian and welcome to the forum; This is the most comprehensive site I've found for explaining blood work;

Broadway Veterinary Hospital / Laboratory Assessment Descriptions

  I agree with the other posters; discuss your concerns with your vet. This can easily be done over the phone without paying for an office visit.

 We went in and talked to the vet at length and he said he was comparing the different tests to get a whole picture and that one of the several liver enzyme tests being slightly lower when the other were all well withing normal range didn't worry him but that it would be something to watch over the long term.  So I'm satisfied with that. 

Thyroid was 1.1 which is pretty low to me so I asked if we could try giving a tiny dose of drug for that and he said probably not really necessary but shouldn't hurt.  If she gets nervous or shows signs of discomfort from it it can be stopped so I'm going to try that when we have her allergic itching under control which is why we had gone in in the first place.

 Misty started itching all over about 6 weeks ago.  She has a grass allergy and takes a tiny dose of prednisone during the summer months but this started after we'd had snow and it was everywhere on her not just feet chewing.  i thought it might be yeast and switched to a low carb no potato or grain food ( Nutrisca lamb, Instinct salmon; 1 scant cup twice a day dressed with a little Ziwipeak canned. Also salmon oil and acidophilus/pro-enzyme supplement).  Vet said more allergies, probably environmental.  He did a skin test and saw bacteria but no yeast so prescribed a mild round of antibiotics and prednisone and an antibacterial shampoo.  Misty has responded really well and seems to feel great and her red sore feet are a healthy color again and she isn't scratching at all.  So now I'm supposed to wean her off of the prednisone and see how things go.  I've really scrubbed the areas of the house where she spends most of her time as they had gotten really dusty (blush).  I hope maybe the extra cleaning will be the cure but if not we'll go for allergy testing, etc.

Janice, thank you for that link too; I'll study it, it has a lot of information!

Thank you all for the help, does it sound like we're on the right track?

Man - I would *not* be giving pred for allergies -- that is a slippery slope with renal and liver problems at the end of it. 

You might want to check out some alternative stuff -- TCVM (Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine) can be awesome for controlling allergies.  It's not a Chinese vet but rather herbology and acupuncture done in a particular way.  I'm not talking about you 'switching' vets but rather ADDING a vet to help deal with this.  FAR safer than pred. http://www.tcvm.com -- on the left is a locator.  Let me know if I can help you in any way -- been using it on my dogs (particularly my allergy dogs) for many years.

Also -- if you're iffy about thyroid -- it can be really beneficial to send a blood panel to Dr. Jean Dodds in California (http://www.hemopet.org ) --- She was the head of endocrinology at Michigan State Vet school for years and she's the one who originated breed-specific thyroid testing.  It can really help you figure out **for sure** what's going on with the thyroid. (which as, I bet you know, can be HUGE when it comes to not being able to rectify skin problems)

 Hi Callie,

Thank you!  I'm really not happy with the prednisone either and am hoping that when I taper the dosage down I can just stop it altogether.  I've ordered some milk thistle to supplement Misty's liver, too.  I looked on the locator and there is a practitioner nearby and I think I will call her if this flares up gain.  she also treats horses and we went through something similar with our daughter's horse a couple months ago, too, we might try her help with that too if it isn't resolved (we  think it is).

The milk thistle is a super idea --

A couple of things make me go "hmmm" -- having been on pred SHOULD have made the liver readings high, not low.  And the thyroid is a bit whacked out. 

Was that a full-blown chem panel (really wide blood panel) or just a few things?  If it were me, I'd probably be sending a full blood panel/thyroid panel to Dr. Dodds and then also schedule with the TCVM vet (don't just go by one who is "close" -- call and talk to them.  YOu really don't want just the token vet who does some acupuncture at a bigger practice -- you really want someone who LIVES TCVM to get full benefit from it.  Altho if you have horses you may want someone who does both.)

It is honestly NOT typical any more to find a vet using pred for allergies.  It's just way too well known how destructive it can be.  Pred DOES relieve allergy inflammation but typically that will go away when you stop the pred. 

You've just got a couple of things there that **could** be nothing -- or they could be mild signs of something you need to pay attention to. 

Don't sever ties with your vet -- that's not at all the intent here -- but allergies can really be helped with TCVM.