Why might my dog need lab work?
Lab work is a comprehensive term that usually refers to blood and urine samples collected from your dog. These samples are analyzed to assess the internal organ functions. Blood and urine tests are the most common types of lab work used to evaluate your dog's health.
Dr. Noel Lucas
Blue Oasis Pet Hospital
What are the different types of lab work?
The types of lab work depend on the life stage of your dog and the reason for the visit. For younger dogs, annual comprehensive wellness checkups often include heartworm and tick-borne disease screening, known as a 4-DX test. This test looks for various vector-borne diseases. Fecal examinations are also common to check for intestinal parasites. Additionally, a complete blood count (CBC) is done to examine red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets, along with a small metabolic panel to assess core organ functions like liver and kidney health. For older dogs, the same tests are typically conducted, but additional hormonal testing and a more extensive metabolic panel may be included to look for age-related diseases.
Why are routine blood tests important?
Routine blood tests are crucial because they provide a more comprehensive picture of your dog's health. While veterinarians can perform thorough physical exams using their diagnostic tools—hands, eyes, ears, and nose—they cannot see inside your dog's body to assess organ functions or detect diseases. Lab work supplements physical exams by offering insights into the internal health of your dog.
What do the chemistries mean on my dog's blood work?
The chemistries on your dog's blood work are similar to those run for humans, assessing the same metabolic processes. These tests include checking blood sugar, BUN and creatinine for kidney function, and electrolytes like sodium, potassium, and chloride. Liver values such as ALT and the gallbladder enzyme GGT are also measured. Although these terms may be unfamiliar, veterinarians can provide documents explaining each test. If abnormalities are found, your veterinarian will explain them and may recommend follow-up tests to monitor the values over time.
Does a baseline lab test benefit the health of my dog every year?
Baseline lab tests are beneficial for monitoring your dog's health over time. If the initial tests show normal results, they serve as a reference for future tests. Comparing current results with previous ones can help detect trends or abnormalities. Early detection of changes enables timely intervention, potentially altering the course of a disease and improving the chances of maintaining your dog's health. Annual exams and following your veterinarian's recommendations for lab work are essential for early disease detection and effective treatment.
If you still have other questions and you'd like to reach out to us, you can call us directly at (615) 975-2583 , or you can email us at [email protected]. But please do reach out, and we'll get back to you as fast as we can. Don't forget to follow us on social media Facebook, Instagram
Dog Lab Work - FAQs 1
Dr. Noel Lucas
Blue Oasis Pet Hospital
Why is blood work important for my dog's health?
Blood work helps us determine core organ function and how the metabolic processes of the body are functioning. We can't always see these details by just looking at your dog or doing a good physical exam. Blood test results allow us to identify any underlying health issues or confirm that your dog is healthy. This process gives us a sense of well-being for your dog at that time and establishes good baselines to monitor as your dog ages.
How does my vet decide which lab tests to order for my pets?
The most common blood tests that we order for your dog are heartworm and tick-borne disease screening tests. Additionally, we recommend a fecal examination to check for intestinal parasites. These tests are typically part of an annual checkup. Some veterinarians also recommend a complete blood count (CBC) and a metabolic panel to check core organ functions. This comprehensive testing helps us detect any potential health issues early, allowing us to intervene and monitor your pet’s health over time. If diseases like heartworm are detected early, we can discuss treatment and prevention strategies to avoid more severe health problems in the future.
How long does it take to get blood test results back?
For a normal physical or comprehensive wellness exam that includes blood work, the samples are typically sent to a reference lab, and we usually receive the results within 24 hours. However, the veterinarian needs time to review these results, which can take a couple of days if they are busy or not in the office. You should generally expect to receive the results within a week of the samples being collected or within a few days.
If you still have other questions and you'd like to reach out to us, you can call us directly at (615) 975-2583 , or you can email us at [email protected]. But please do reach out, and we'll get back to you as fast as we can. Don't forget to follow us on social media Facebook, Instagram
Dog Lab Work - FAQs 2
Dr. Noel Lucas
Blue Oasis Pet Hospital
Where do you usually get blood from on a dog?
Great question. So we often will get blood from a couple of different places on your dog. The preferred area, if they'll allow us, would be a jugular vein. I know it sounds a little scary, but dogs have beautiful jugular veins and we're taught and trained as veterinarians and healthcare professionals to get blood from that area. If they're a little nervous or a little tiny or super hairy, sometimes we'll get it from their front leg. So we'll get from the cephalic vein and then rarely, but sometimes, especially if a dog doesn't like us to be up around their front legs or their face, we'll get it from a back leg vein. So those are the common areas that we get blood from dogs.
Does it hurt when you draw blood from a dog?
Well, it is a needle poke, so a little discomfort or pain can be associated with a blood draw. We do distract them quite a bit with peanut butter and squeezed cheese and food and snacks and treats and love and high baby voices. We're really trying to encourage them that this is going to be okay. If your dog is really distressed by us trying to hold them or restrain them in a particular way while we're trying to get a blood sample, our team is taught to stop, regroup, reassess. If we can regroup and reassess and get them comfortable and redirect them, then we'll keep trying. If they just won't have it, we will stop. We will prescribe some calming medications and then have your pet come back on some calming therapy and come back for a separate visit just for a blood draw because we think it's that important that we get that sample from your pet because we can't look inside. We need that blood to make sure that they're healthy on the inside as well as the outside.
Do seniors really need lab work done?
So seniors actually need probably lab work done more than any other age group that we have. We love to get blood work on a young adult, but we're really making sure that we have good normal values and we're establishing good trends for that dog throughout their young life. So as we get to their senior life, we know that seniors will acquire more diseases. They get cancers. They get kidney disease. They get liver disease. They get diabetes. They get hormonal imbalances. So we think blood work in that age group is the most important time for us to do blood work.
Will my dog need more than one type of lab test?
So your dog may need more than one type of lab test. That is true. So we're talking about blood tests primarily. So we start with usually just a general metabolic panel and hormonal like thyroid checks and urinalysis. That's so important that we want to see that urine as well. But if we find something abnormal on those results, we might then recommend some additional testing. So maybe a special test like for Cushing's disease or maybe a confirmation panel for a thyroid disease. Maybe we've detected something that we don't like with that liver and maybe we want to do some diagnostic tests like ultrasound or x-rays. Maybe that we want to check a blood pressure. So having general blood work does not mean that your dog's not going to need any more blood work. It simply means we want to look and see and if we find something that might lead us down a different path, we might recommend some additional testing.
Are follow-ups necessary if my dog's blood work shows abnormal results?
Yeah, so follow-ups are really necessary if we find an abnormal result on your dog's blood work. Let's just say we find an anemia. It's really important that we want to verify that's true. Or if we really feel it's true, maybe we want to do some additional testing to see why that dog's having some anemia. And then if we intervene or do something, we want to check and see did that dog have anemia in two weeks, four months? We want to check it again. What if their anemia is getting worse, that we have something else going on that we haven't detected. So follow-up testing determines if the disease process is there and getting worse or if our medications or therapies are working. Or ideally that we've helped those organs and we've resolved the problem and everything's back into normal and we all feel better about moving on, that they feel healthy and we've cured something and everybody is feeling great. So recheck blood work is incredibly helpful, important, and required when we're treating and managing diseases.
If you still have other questions and you'd like to reach out to us, you can call us directly at (615) 975-2583 , or you can email us at [email protected]. But please do reach out, and we'll get back to you as fast as we can. Don't forget to follow us on social media Facebook, Instagram