Why Lab Work?

Annual blood work is very important for your pet’s health. Blood and urine tests are extremely useful tools for assessing the health of your fur baby. By running labs a veterinarian can learn if your pet is diabetic, has kidney, or liver disease, or an infection. Many of these ailments cannot be observed during a physical exam, but if caught early can be successfully treated or controlled providing your pet a longer life and a better quality of life. Urine analysis labs allow us to check protein levels

Even in young, otherwise apparently healthy pets, blood work may be beneficial to determine a normal baseline for your pet or to provide early detection of underlying health conditions. Wellness Profiles are often used to screen for general overall health of organs such as thyroid, liver and kidneys, and include electrolytes, glucose and a complete blood count as well as the heartworm parasite in dogs.  Some medications, including those used for anesthetic purposes are processed and eliminated from the body by the liver and/or kidneys.  Decreased organ function can complicate or eliminate the body's ability to process such medications which may endanger the health of your four legged friend.  Health conditions such as diabetes and/or kidney failure may also be detected prior to your pet developing noticeable outward symptoms.  Remember this is a snap shot of your pet's health at that given date, so blood work should be completed on a minimum of an annual basis for continued monitoring.  Consider the fact that one year of your life is equal to seven years of your pet's life, so a sample taken one year ago from your pet would be like a sample taken seven years ago from yourself.

For senior animals, lab work should ideally be done at least yearly and possibly more frequently based on lab results. If your pet is 6 years or older, it would be a good idea to check with your veterinarian about doing senior lab work. 

Early detection can make a tremendous difference in adding years to your pet's life. If detected early,   75 % of common diseases in dogs and 63% of common diseases in cats can be prevented by dietary modifications alone over a one-year period.

Yearly blood work should be performed to detect infections and diseases, helping us to detect disease early.  In many situations early detection is essential for more effective treatment.  The type of blood work will be determined specifically for each pet depending on his or her individual needs.  This annual blood test is convenient to do at the time of your pet's annual heartworm test but can be done at any time of year.