Pre-Surgical, Diagnostic and Routine Veterinary Lab Tests

Catch early problems with laboratory blood screening

Our veterinarians want you to know that having your pet’s blood work checked is important to do routinely as well as when they are sick. Blood work, pre-surgical or otherwise, is usually a combination of a complete blood count (CBC) and a blood chemistry analysis (CHEM) with other tests run as needed, such as thyroid testing or urinalysis.

Pets, particularly senior ones, should have screening blood work checked more frequently, since changes on blood work are often detectable before the pet shows severe symptoms of disease. If a pet is unexpectedly losing weight, drinking more water, urinating more frequently, experiencing chronic vomiting or diarrhea, or even just laying around more they may be trying to tell you something is wrong. After a thorough physical exam by the veterinarian, laboratory testing may be the next step.

Laboratory Screening is crucial in correctly diagnosing many illnesses

We offer pre-surgical blood screening performed before surgery or other anesthetic procedures, to check for underlying abnormalities that could complicate anesthesia. In addition, blood work allows a veterinarian to monitor organ function when a pet is on medication long term such as NSAIDs for arthritis as well as the progression of a pet’s disease and proper dosing after diagnosis, such as for cats and dogs on thyroid medication.

Our clinic offers ON-SITE blood work when urgent test results are needed. Fecal Testing and urinalyses can be run on-site or sent out as part of wellness screening panels. Other laboratory tests that are commonly used to diagnose skin and ear infections can be run on-site including microscopic ear-cytology and ear mite checks, skin scraping, and fungal cultures. These tests are crucial to obtaining the correct diagnosis and thus, prescribing the appropriate treatment. They are also used to confirm that treatment has been successful and that the infection or parasite problem has completely resolved.

If you have any questions about our services, please contact us today at (321) 724-1445.