How Blood Work Plays a Role in Preventative Care
Much like your own family physician, your pet’s veterinarian prefers to administer preventative care to your pet throughout their life. Since pets age seven to ten times faster than humans, your veterinarian needs to gather all the information he possibly can about your pet’s physical condition in order to determine whether a health issue is brewing. And obviously, they cannot simply ask your pet how he is feeling in order to determine whether there are any detectable initial symptoms of illness or disease. This is where comprehensive blood work comes into play.
If your veterinarian performs blood work on your pet once while he or she is young, this provides a baseline that future blood work can be compared to. Then, as your pet moves through adulthood and enters their senior years (ages five, six and seven, which is comparable to a thirty, forty and fifty year old human), annual blood work can help your veterinarian determine whether there are physiological changes occurring that need to be addressed or detect any signs of early disease.
Details on Comprehensive Blood Work
Comprehensive blood work may include:
- A complete blood count, or CBC, which includes hematocrit, hemoglobin, blood parasite screen, white cell count, a veterinary pathologist review of abnormal cells and a reticulocyte panel for anemic pets.
- A comprehensive chemistry profile, which includes testing of the liver, kidneys, pancreas, blood protein levels, electrolytes, calcium and blood sugar screening for possible diabetes situations.
- Complete thyroid testing for dogs, which is a thorough and accurate test to confirm suspected cases.
- FeLV/FIV testing for cats.
If your veterinarian feels that there are other blood tests your pet would benefit from, they will discuss these tests and their value at that time. Remember that your veterinarian’s primary concern is delivering the absolute best, and where possible, most preventative veterinary care possible. By performing regular blood work, your veterinarian can feel more confident about your pet’s health condition, and more confident about recommending any needed medical treatments. To that end, there are some cases where pets who have already been diagnosed with physical conditions or diseases can benefit from regular blood work in order to monitor their condition and adjust their treatment plan or medication as necessary.