Lipemia
Key concepts ·Also called: lipaemia, lipemic sample, milky blood, high blood fat
What it is
After a meal, triglyceride-rich particles circulate for several hours and cloud the plasma. A laboratory grades lipaemia on every sample and flags the results it is known to affect, because the interference is optical rather than biological.
Why it matters
Lipaemia can falsely raise haemoglobin, MCHC, total protein, bilirubin and calcium, and it can make a sodium reading fall. That means a milky sample can produce a page of abnormal numbers in a completely healthy animal — which is why a fasted repeat is usually the first response.
What it can point to
- A meal within roughly twelve hours of the sample — by far the most common reason
- An inherited tendency to high blood fats, best recognised in Miniature Schnauzers
- Hypothyroidism in dogs, diabetes, or Cushing's disease
- Pancreatitis
- Certain medications, including steroids
Dogs and cats differ
Persistent lipaemia in a fasted dog raises the question of an inherited lipid disorder or hypothyroidism, and in Miniature Schnauzers it carries a real risk of pancreatitis. In cats it is less common and points more towards poorly controlled diabetes.
Questions worth asking your vet
- How long had my pet been fasted before this sample?
- Which of these results were affected by the lipaemia?
- Should we repeat the panel properly fasted?
Related terms
See this value explained on your pet's own report
Upload the lab report or X-ray and get every value explained in the context of your own dog or cat — in minutes.
Explain my pet's results