Interpreting blood results

Just had a senior panel done for my dog who had a red spot in her eye. The ER doctor said that there was nothing remarkable on the blood work. I see a few numbers out of whack like the globulin and ALKP, as well as a couple of numbers on the low side. Was wondering if I needed to be concerned about her liver? Or anything else?

A blood test on its own doesn’t give as much information as most people think: it’s the blood test in combination with the history and, crucially, the physical examination that makes a diagnosis! In this case I’d be guided by the treating  vet... The specific changes showing up here are a mild lymphopenia (low lymphocytes), a low bilirubin level, and a very slight increase in alkaline phosphatase. Now these may be significant in some cases, but there are good reasons why the vet suggests they’re not in her situation. A mild lymphopenia is commonly part of a stress leukogram; if that’s the cause, it is only indicating that the patient was physiologically or emotionally stressed when the sample was taken. The reference range for bilirubin goes down to zero, so less than 0.1 isn’t necessarily abnormal. In liver disease, I’d normally expect it to be elevated. The ALKP is fractionally above normal; however, in significant cholestatic or hepatic disease, it’s not usually fractional - it’s really obvious. So my advice here is to follow the vet’s thinking, although if you’re concerned, repeat bloods often give more useful information than a one-off year, and you’d own vet will be able to organise those.