Abnormal blood tests - diabetes or result of recent illness?

BryanAndLarrysMama

BryanAndLarrysMama

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So in another thread I mentioned that our boys both got what the vet thinks was giardia. They had diarrhea, vomiting, low energy. Went to the vet on Friday, got meds, by Saturday their diarrhea was done and they ate chicken/rice for the day, and Sunday they were back to their crazy selves. They're on meds for the week.

The vet decided to do a blood test on Larry because he was the sicker of the two.

His blood panel came back good, with everything in proper range except for four things.

GLUCOSE - 2.8 (low) - Normal is 3.5-6.3
Chloride - 107 (low) - Normal is 108-119
Anion Gap - 28 (high) - Normal is 11-26
Albumin- 40 (high) - Normal is 27-39
MCHC 395.9 (high) - normal is 326-392
And there was a comment "Sample required high speed centrifugation due to gross lipemia"

Clearly many of these are related to diabetes. I'm waiting for the vet to call me to go over everything. Larry is only 2 years old. Some of these are also caused when a dog has been sick for a few days with vomiting and diarrhea. Larry also had tossed up his breakfast before going to the vet, so he was running on empty for a good part of the day and didn't want to eat when we got home, so it could be why his blood sugar was lower.

Ugh. I'm worrying like a mom. I'll report back when the vet calls me. I thought I'd share this in case anyone else has dealt with this and might have some insight. :)

Wish us luck!
 
I would bet the sugar was low because of the diarrhea and not keeping food down. Think positive thoughts until you talk to your Vet. We will keep fingers crossed and say a little prayer in the meantime.
 
Well, everything that's off is just BARELY off. I agree, blood sugar is likely low due to vomiting/diarrhea. The extra fat in the blood sample is a bit more worrisome. Ugh, it's always hard to wait on test results. Hope Larry is fine - let us know when you find out results. :hugs
 
UPDATE ----------------- Everything is considered within the acceptable ranges. Low glucose like that is fairly normal in young dogs, especially if he wasn't feeling well. The highs are related to vomiting and inflammation. The gross lipemia isn't a concern, as he ate within a short time before the test, which can throw the test off. Plus he was given a list of their daily diet and he's not concerned since they eat healthy (homemade meals). So all in all he is pleased that his test was overall great, and he expected to see these odd results considering how sick he was. YAY!

I'm so relieved!!
 
Great news! I’m glad everything was in normal ranges.
I wish vets wouldn’t give the results until they can be there to explain it to the owners...my vet has done this and it makes you wonder and worry unnecessarily!
 
It's so easy now, to make you worry. My Vet uses a program called PetDesk and anything and everything shows up in there first.In the old days he would hand me a paper with the results on it during my appointment .There are times I wish for the old days. I never worried the same way back in the day
Congratulations, on things being okay for Larry, Great News !!
 
Piper's mom said:
Great news! I’m glad everything was in normal ranges.
I wish vets wouldn’t give the results until they can be there to explain it to the owners...my vet has done this and it makes you wonder and worry unnecessarily!
Click to expand...
So true! And of course being the smarty-pants I apparently think I am, I Google and see if I can find answers and then twist myself into a knot worrying about what I think I interpreted. I'm not a vet but I play one on TV, right? LOL What I love about my vet is that he also has a PhD in pet toxicology and all these extra "ologies", and so when he's not worried I'm not worried. BUT that 24hours or so of getting the results and then waiting for him to call me with his interpretation of the results...oh my gosh!

Here's is actual emailed results (he's a vet, not a poet LOL)

the blood work is mostly normal and i am not worried if Larry is back to normal
  • low chloride is due to vomit or losses in diarrheic.
  • low glucose is artifact due to collection error most likely in young dog.
  • Increased MCHC=Artifact due to Hemolysis during blood collection
  • increase anion gap= Artifact due to prolonged exposure of sample to air
  • increase albumin= Artifact: depending on testing methodology, increases may be seen with Hemolysis
So whew!! I think I need a martini! LOL
 
When I’d taken Blueberry to a holistic vet when she was maybe 13 weeks old they did blood work but I didn’t get the results until the vet called me. That way I wasn’t wondering or worried. Of course I still worried when it took several days to get the results lol.
No matter what we worry lol!
 
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