Serum triglyceride concentration, which is now on all of Antech's Superchem and VetScreen profiles, is valuable in assessing lipid disorders in dogs and cats. Differential diagnoses for elevated fasting (8-12 hour fast) serum triglyceride concentration include: idiopathic hyperlipidemia, pancreatitis, diabetes mellitus, hypothyroidism, hyperadrenocorticism, and nephrotic syndrome. Marked hypertriglyceridemia will cause serum to become lipemic (turbid). Idiopathic hyperlipidemia can be distinguished from the other causes of fasting hypertriglyceridemia or fasting lipemia list above by performing the serum triglyceride level. Such patients can usually be successfully treated by feeding a fat-restricted diet, with the goal of achieving a fasting serum triglyceride concentration of < 500 mg/dl. Lipoprotein electrophoresis has not been documented to be useful in evaluating dogs or cats with fasting hypertriglyceridemia.