Diagnostics

Diagnostic testing enables our team to pinpoint the underlying cause of your pet’s symptoms, diagnosing their condition(s). We want our pet parents to be involved in the decision-making process, and we thoroughly discuss the diagnostic testing we recommend for your pet and their diagnostic test results. Personalizing your pet’s diagnostic plan ensures we avoid unnecessary tests and procedures while leading us to a more personalized and effective treatment plan.

Diagnostic Overview

Trypsin-Like Immunoreactivity (TLI), Cobalamin, and Folate Testing

Your Pet Health veterinarian will recommend the Trypsin-Like Immunoreactivity (TLI), Cobalamin, and Folate test profile for pets with chronic gastrointestinal signs such as vomiting, weight loss, diarrhea, and decreased appetite. This profile helps diagnose exocrine pancreatic insufficiency and small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, determine the absorptive function of different parts of the small intestine, and determine if vitamin deficiency exists. TLI is a measurement of the pancreatic enzyme trypsinogen in the blood, and it is the preferred diagnostic for exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI). Folate and Cobalamin are essential nutrients involved in many cell processes in the body. The advantage of this test is that it provides a non-invasive way to help confirm the presence of intestinal disease before pursuing more invasive diagnostics, such as surgical biopsies. It is also highly sensitive and specific for EPI.

For intestinal diseases, this profile can provide additional information to help diagnose and treat conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease or intestinal lymphoma in cats, which may have vague or non-diagnostic findings with other preliminary tests such as bloodwork, radiographs, and ultrasound. However, changes in folate and cobalamin levels only indicate that intestinal disease is present, and additional testing is often necessary to determine or confirm the diagnosis of the underlying disease. Also, pets with normal folate and cobalamin levels can still have underlying disease present, making these markers not very specific.