Pigeon whiffle

[ksmith]

Mickey's ALT is still elevated. It's no higher than it was last month, but it's no lower, either.

A major reason for the moderate increase could be an inflammation of the bile duct due to infection. So, Mickey will be put on an antibiotic for 2 weeks, and retested in a month.

Comments

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

So, Mickey will be put on an antibiotic for 2 weeks, and retested in a month.

Gah.

Hope the course of antibiotics does the trick. But how nerve-wracking not to have a clear answer.

Tug on Mickey's ears for me. Assuming he likes ear-tugs, that is...

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Hope the course of antibiotics does the trick. But how nerve-wracking not to have a clear answer.

First of all, I didn't expect them to run the test today--I thought I'd have a reprieve until at least the middle of the week. But because they only needed the single value, they were able to analyze Mickey's blood right there. 15 minutes later, we had the answer. It was pretty much identical to the value they got a month ago.

The vet was calming, which helped. I admitted that I had Googled liver enzymes and read all the alarming possibilities--she said that they see these things all the time. So, not yet an exceptional situation. The number isn't even all that elevated--normal range is 10-100, and Mickey's values were 146 and 147. According to the website I linked to upstream, values 4-5 times normal values are considered mild-moderate elevations.

The only thing is that the degree of the elevation doesn't correlate with the severity of the problem. I take some comfort in the fact that Mickey's results were fine last year, so this is comparatively recent. Also, the vet could see that he looked pretty perky and healthy. Hope that means something.

And I'll stop rambling now. Really, really hope the antibiotics help. If not, it's either xrays or ultrasound.

Tug on Mickey's ears for me. Assuming he likes ear-tugs, that is...


Oh no--he'd grumble. No touching the ears or the paws. But he loves to be scratched under his chin, so I'll do that.