Gallbladder/liver issues
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replied to Zande on 20 May 2022, 18:13 last edited by JENGOSMonkey
@zande said in Gallbladder/liver issues:
@jengosmonkey But Greg, doctors licensed to practice medicine on humans are not qualified to work on animals. I am not sure how the law stands if the doctor himself is a dog ?
Can we take it that Logan effected a permanent cure ?
Yes! I'm still amazed by how effective Logan's surgery has turned out. Best part is I'm not a mouth breather anymore. 🤣🤞
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wrote on 22 May 2022, 07:58 last edited by
No experience with gallbladders to add, but I do have a tidbit of info I figured I should mention:
Roux's DNA testing results came back a few weeks ago and she's clear of all 219 genetic issues tested for, which is great news, but it did also find that she inherited a gene variant that may mean her ALT baseline is very low. The recommendation is to alert the vet to her idiosyncrasy because a normal range reading of ALT would mean high for her. I found that really interesting and makes me think about whether other dogs have this variant and the vets and owners just don't know that the testing could be off. -
replied to Roux on 22 May 2022, 16:15 last edited by
@roux said in Gallbladder/liver issues:
she inherited a gene variant that may mean her ALT baseline is very low
I never realized something like this could be related to genetics...
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replied to elbrant on 22 May 2022, 18:02 last edited by tanza
@elbrant - You would be surprised Elbrant if you research the breed... but I have never seen this "gene" issue in Basenjis and not sure that I agree with the results.... Basenjis typically have different levels of blood results compared to other breeds, so I would not say this is could be normal for a Basenji.
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wrote on 22 May 2022, 18:45 last edited by
@elbrant Indeed! It's fascinating! How much of us and our dogs is dictated by DNA!
@tanza You know, I was curious if this was accurate and also paranoid about her health in general, so I had her bloods done (the vet care in Taiwan is very affordable) and low and behold, her reading was below normal at 5! The "normal range" for ALT readings is between 12-120 according to the doc, who also said that this is a common genetic variant in some "old" breeds of dog, like huskies. He has no experience with Bs; I doubt any vet here does, but he was able to explain that she's completely healthy. The low baseline is just a thing to note for future reference so that if she spikes her ALT, it could read as just normal.
Check out this snippet of article: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Association-between-ALT-activity-and-GPT-allele-frequency-by-breed-Mean-lnALT-activity_fig2_287483370 for more info! I just think about how many dogs who have this variant test "normal" or slightly high and then suffer from "mystery" symptoms! Poor pups!@ChanningsMom sorry for the post hijack! I'll start another thread if people seem to be super interested in the GPT allele thing.
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replied to Roux on 24 May 2022, 15:40 last edited by
@roux How did you test for this? I lost all of mines paperwork at some point while moving although I don’t think he had as extensive testing either… I would love to test mine for this
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replied to Roux on 24 May 2022, 15:41 last edited by
@roux This is helpful, thank you!
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replied to ChanningsMom on 24 May 2022, 17:29 last edited by elbrant
@channingsmom I went through Embark actually! They do testing for Basenji specific genetic markers like Fanconi, PRA, PKD, and Spinal Ataxia, but also 215 other possible issues, and also physical traits. Not super expensive considering I was VERY impressed by their kit, ease of use, and website detail. You can even get PDFs or direct send the extensive results to your vet(s) and OFA :)
Embark [link edited]
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wrote on 10 Jun 2022, 21:39 last edited by
Not much of an update but he didn’t have much appetite. Trying other meds, ran blood again- no change. Since lex adjustments appear tire better - however he’s very very picky and what he will and won’t eat changes. He is getting enough to eat that he hasn’t lost weight
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wrote on 10 Jun 2022, 21:39 last edited by
Since med adjustments*
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replied to ChanningsMom on 11 Jun 2022, 11:36 last edited by
@channingsmom said in Gallbladder/liver issues:
He is getting enough to eat that he hasn’t lost weight
That in itself is very good news. It can be very difficult to keep weight on a picky, elderly Basenji. Once they really start to lose it, often there is no putting weight back on.
Good luck !
