Low or High ALT in Dogs? Explained!
What is it?
Low ALT activity in dogs as identified and tested for by Embark is a genetic trait and not a disease. It's a variant in the GPT gene that results in lower, but still within the normal range, activity of the ALT enzyme, which is used to assess liver health. This trait doesn't cause any outward symptoms and doesn't indicate liver damage or dysfunction.
Simple Terms
ALT Activity is a clinical tool and NOT a health result. This result is used to inform you and your vet that your dog’s healthy baseline may be slightly different than the average dog.
A great way to think about it is like blood pressure! It is ideal to know where the normal blood pressure rests.
It does not make a person with normally low blood pressure levels any less healthy in comparison to those who have normal or high resting blood pressure levels. However, if a person who normally has low blood pressure suddenly has a pressure spike to ‘normal’ range, then the doctor knows that there’s something wrong.
In Conclusion
MOST importantly, this genetic predisposition is not a health problem when it shows up on DNA testing. It is also not an ALT blood level result like what a veterinarian would monitor from bloodwork. This clinical tool informs that some dogs may have a low-normal ALT baseline.