Did you know that Fluffy and Sarge are prone to the same health issues that you and I are?  When they get sick, we need to run the same lab tests that your physician  does.  Depending on the symptoms and exam findings, bloodwork or a urinalysis may be recommended.  If your pet is vomiting, bloodwork can help decide if it is due to pancreatitis, toxin exposure, stomach virus or variety of illnesses.  Is your dog weak and has pale gums?  Bloodwork can help determine if anemic and why.   Is your cat urinating more than normal?  A urinalysis can help determine if it is a bacterial infection, crystals in urine or diabetes.    Also, just as your personal doctor wants to do routine monitoring tests for certain long term medicines or bloodwork if you are of a certain age at your routine checkup, so do we.  Animals can’t talk and tell us what is going on, so we can miss early symptoms of age related conditions such as thyroid or liver disease.  Often by the time the pet is showing obvious symptoms, the condition may be more advanced and harder to control.   We often pick up health conditions we didn’t expect!

Our fur babies are living longer and healthier lives due to better health care.  If you have any questions, or would like to schedule an appointment and possible labtests, please let us know. 

CBC/Chem

The baseline blood test. Coupled with a thorough exam, it gives a picture of your pets vital organs and over-all well being.

Urinalysis

Urine can hide secrets about your pet’s health.  Including being able to help detect a urinary tract infection we can also get clues to kidney issues, dehydration, diabetes and other issues.  Urinalysis can be very helpful in diagnosing a condition that your pet is having.

Thyroid Test

This is a pretty common test to check the function of the pet’s thyroid.  Typically we see hyperthyroid (high values) in cats and hypothyroid (low values) in dogs.