Bloodwork
Bloodwork
Pre-Operative, Monitoring, or Well Geriatric Bloodwork.
Who Should Be Tested
Any dog or cat who will go under anesthesia or take certain medications regularly, as well as all older pets (over 8 for most cats, over 7 for most dogs - younger for giant breed dogs).
What Kind of Sample We Need
A small amount of blood.
What We Are Looking For
This may vary somewhat from pet to pet, but in general, we're looking at two groups of test values: a "chemistry" and a "CBC".
A blood chemistry looks for chemicals in the blood produced and regulated by your pet's organs and glands; the quantities and proportions we find of each chemical can tell us important things about how your pet's organs are functionings. This, in turn, tells us if anesthesia or medication will be safe. It can also alert us to disease or unhealthy stress even when a pet is showing no symptoms at all.
CBC stands for Complete Blood Count; it involves looking at the blood and measuring the different types of cells in it (you probably know that blood contains red blood cells, but it contains several other kinds of cells too). These different sorts of cells should exist in certain proportions in a healthy animal; if there are more of some or less of others than there should be, this can indicate anemia, infection, or other serious problems.
If your pet is older or has known thyroid issues, we may want to check the thyroid as well - this could involve several tests, but the most common are a "T4", "Free T4", or "T3". These tests all look in different ways for hormones produced by the thyroid gland, which regulates many of the body's basic functions. Because the thyroid is so important, any problems with it are potentially fatal and must be treated. If we're treating with drugs, we need to make sure those drugs are being effective.
Why This Test Is Important
More information is always better; physical examination and observation can tell us a lot, but bloodwork can tell us even more, some of it really critical info. Without knowing the things that bloodwork tells us, we can't completely assess the safety and risk of anesthesia to your pet, the risks and benefits of some medications, or whether certain medications are doing their job. Bloodwork is also the only way to diagnose some conditions common in older pets, allowing us to start treatment and assure we give your pet the best quality of life we can for as long as we can.
How Often We Should Test
Older pets should be tested twice a year. All pets, regardless of age, should be tested before any anesthetic procedure - the closer to the date of the procedure, the better, though we do need to allow a few days for results to come back from the lab. For drug monitoring, the doctor will work out a schedule based on your pet's individual needs and age.
