Thoughts on unexpected blood test results?

[Boxergirl]

This isn't about my mastiff, but my boxer. I had Roy in for his rabies and heartworm test yesterday. When he was a puppy his liver enzymes were elevated at the time of his neuter. Earlier this year my daughter and several of members of her cohort found bilirubin crystals in his urine. I thought it would be a good idea to have a blood panel done and we tacked on a T4 because it's always a good idea to keep tabs on a boxer's thyroid function.

I was very please that his liver and kidney levels were fine. The only two abnormalities were the T4 and his Lipase was elevated. The low thyroid is a complete surprise. We weren't even going to do it because he has absolutely no symptoms. He's a sleek and trim 53 pounds. Normal low is 1.0 and Roy's was 0.4. His Lipase was 844 and high normal is 425. Lipase is generally associated with pancreatitis - something he also has absolutely no symptoms for. I'm completely baffled. I'm going to pick up a copy of his results on Saturday and speak to the vet that saw him this week. The vet I spoke to today had no suggestions or thoughts other than we won't start him on thyroid meds because he's asymptomatic.

So has anyone had results like these that came out of nowhere? Usually thyroid and pancreatitis have pretty specific symptoms. Roy will be five years old on August 25th, 53lbs of shiny and sleek muscle. Here are a few recent pictures. You can see he's not at all overweight, which is common in hypothyroid dogs. He is, however, wearing his very bad ears.

 

[Smokeycat]

I'm no help with the blood test results but I love his ears in the first picture.

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[Boxergirl]

I'm no help with the blood test results but I love his ears in the first picture. Sent from my SM-G920W8 using Tapatalk

Haha, me too. When he's "wearing" those ears we know that he's going to do something funny. He's such a sweet and good little dog. He's also the happiest dog I've ever had. He radiates joy and he makes people smile wherever he goes.

 

[Oscar'sMom]

Those ears!!!

 

[angelbears]

Roy is sooo cute! If it were my dog I would be worried as shit. That is just what we do. Since Roy is not my dog, my cooler head prevails. No symptoms, vet doesn't seemed concerned. I would retest either in a couple of weeks, 3 months or 6 months. Of course I would watch for any symptoms and test if any start.

 

[angelbears]

Damn thing posted before I was through. Big hugs to you and Roy. I wouldn't worry it has been my experience that lab work is suspect at best.

 

[lexinrose]

Wow what a scare. Your dogs beautiful. I just want to send you happy prayers for it hopefully boiling down to nothing

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[NYDDB]

I recently had a full blood panel done for Mateo, and his T4 score came back as 0.8 (range was from 0.8 to 3.5). The vet was a little bit concerned that he was right on the edge of hypothyroid, but since, like yours, he shows no symptoms (weight, energy, et. al were good), he said it wasn't a big worry. After talking it over with a holistic vet friend, she said to think about retesting in 6 months. I may do that.

He is super cute, by the way...

 

[Boxergirl]

Thanks everyone. I'm not terribly worried, I'm just really confused. I was prepared to have abnormal liver or kidney numbers. This is just totally out of nowhere. I may send my daughter in to the clinic today to pick up a copy of the results. I want to see everything. I know it annoys the doctors when you have a parent/owner analyzing everything, but I don't really care. My daughter's endo gets frustrated with me sometimes for asking so many questions, but we're waiting for certain things to show certain conditions and the numbers matter. The sooner diagnosed, the sooner management can start. A normal reading isn't always simply normal. It can be normal/high, normal/low, smack in the middle of normal. Like with Mateo. I'd for sure want to know that precise number since it's right on the low end of normal.

Anyway, I'm rambling. Roy is fine. I'll monitor this for sure. It's handy that I have someone that can just draw blood at home instead of taking him in. I did actually laugh last night. The vet told me that severe and or chronic pancreatitis can damage the pancreas enough to cause diabetes. I swear, diabetes and the risk of it just plague me. And it's not even type 2 which can be reversed, it's insulin dependent diabetes. It's almost funny. So yeah, I want to make sure the pancreatic issue isn't an issue because if there's even a small chance of diabetes happening you can bet that MY dog will have it happen. I just married off one diabetic kid. Maybe someone up above thinks my diabetes cabinet of 22 years is too empty. I'm kidding. Mostly. Kind of.

I'll update after I speak to the vet. I like to put the information out here in case someone else ever has a similar issue.

 

[angelbears]

I'm sorry! The ironies of life can be so unkind. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that everything will be fine. Yes,please post your findings. I always learn from your post.

 

[Boxergirl]

The risk is very slim considering he's not showing any symptoms of anything. But I do want to see his other results just to set my mind at ease all the way around. It was just really ironic that diabetes was even mentioned as a risk.

 

[Lisa P]

Awhile back we had Normans blood drawn and it came back crazy all across the board, drew it again the next day,same thing 3 rd time we sent it to an outside lab and it was completely normal , turned out that the Vets equipment needed a tune up.it was really scary and confusing because the Vet said if they were right he shouldn't be alive.

 

[DennasMom]

Good that you're doing all these tests and being proactive... except... it adds to stress levels.
I wouldn't think anything of it if he's asymptomatic... but... I'd be going back in for a recheck, and if they still come back odd, I'd go to a different vet and/or lab for a third-check, just to be certain. Per Lisa P's example - lab equipment isn't always perfect. If you have the same tech drawing blood per the same procedure, tested on the same equipment... getting the same wrong answer isn't really that surprising.