Details of Lab Results

OK, I'm going to summarize some of the lab results from Auburn. I'm not going to list everything or try to upload everything, just point out what aspects of the results pointed us in this direction. As Dr. Gillette said, most of the tests that we ran could be run by any vet. So, I'll try to go through the lab results according to the basic technology.

ECG - Looked good at all time points

Urinalysis - Was not too unusual:
1. Specific gravity a bit high throughout
2. Red blood cells observed in all her urine samples
Explanation - probable urinary tract infection

CBC and Differential - Mostly normal:
1. Neutrophils dominate the diferential WBC count
2. MCHC (mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration) was low in a few samples
Simple observations, not sure that they mean anything

SuperChem -
1. Triglycerides - consistently low
2. Na+ and K+ - occasionally low
3. Mg2+ and P - occasionally low

Special Blood Tests - Done specifically to rule out possibilities that would change everything:
1. Thyroid - Normal
2. Insulin - Consistently low; Gillette has observed this in performance dogs pretty regularly
3. Cortisol - Consistently low; Gillette has observed this in performance dogs pretty regularly
4. Estrogen - Normal for a spayed female
5. Progesterone - Normal for a spayed female
6. Testosterone - Normal for a spayed female
7. Creatine Phosphokinase - Normal

Blood Gases - Lots of anomalies here (collected venous blood and blood gases)
1. pH - consistently low (less than 2 SDx low)
2. Lactate - very low at rest, increased 10X in 10 minutes with work to be very high
3. HCO3- - consistently low
4. pCO2 - consistently low                

As Drs. Gillette and Barrett hypothesized, we were able to measure metabolic anomalies without collapsing Gata. In fact, we were pretty sure we would see things as soon as we ran the first blood gas reading after the initial resting blood draw.

I'm not trying to interpret these beyond what Drs. Gillette and Barrett explained to me during our phone call. They will not be providing a written report or anything like that, so I don't really expect to get additional information on any individual readings. There are certainly more than 1 possible explanation of these anomalies, taken individually or together. However, we will start with changing her diet, the easiest potential issue to address, before we go any farther.