Why Your Pet Needs Annual Lab Work
August 2nd 2022
While most people know that an annual physical exam is important for our furry friends, few also know that annual blood and urine testing is equally valuable.
By doing annual blood and urine testing, we’re able to sneak-a-peak into how the body is functioning.
The most common blood tests are the chemistry profile and the complete blood count. Blood chemistry fills us in on how the organs are doing. Deviations from norm in these values may be early indicators for various diseases, such as kidney disease or hormonal problems. A complete blood count tells us how many of the different blood cells are in the sample. Anomalies in these numbers can indicate infection or anemia, for example.
Urine testing can find crystals, bacteria, blood, glucose, and so much more! This simple test can indicate infection, stones, diabetes, and, along with the blood chemistry, will tell us how the kidneys are doing.
Callie, our clinic cat, recently had her annual lab work done. She is now 13 years old and we wanted to make sure she’s healthy! It wouldn’t be completely unexpected for her to start developing diseases at this age and we want to be able to get on top of them as soon as we can so she can continue bossing us around! Callie also has a history of random vomiting, so we wanted to run bloodwork to make sure everything checks out on that front.
We are very happy to report that Callie’s blood test came back with normal values, so she has been given a clean bill of health! We are very glad we pulled her blood sample!
By doing annual blood and urine testing, we’re able to sneak-a-peak into how the body is functioning.
The most common blood tests are the chemistry profile and the complete blood count. Blood chemistry fills us in on how the organs are doing. Deviations from norm in these values may be early indicators for various diseases, such as kidney disease or hormonal problems. A complete blood count tells us how many of the different blood cells are in the sample. Anomalies in these numbers can indicate infection or anemia, for example.
Urine testing can find crystals, bacteria, blood, glucose, and so much more! This simple test can indicate infection, stones, diabetes, and, along with the blood chemistry, will tell us how the kidneys are doing.
Callie, our clinic cat, recently had her annual lab work done. She is now 13 years old and we wanted to make sure she’s healthy! It wouldn’t be completely unexpected for her to start developing diseases at this age and we want to be able to get on top of them as soon as we can so she can continue bossing us around! Callie also has a history of random vomiting, so we wanted to run bloodwork to make sure everything checks out on that front.
We are very happy to report that Callie’s blood test came back with normal values, so she has been given a clean bill of health! We are very glad we pulled her blood sample!
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