When you place you pet in our hands, you trust us to provide the best possible medical care. So that we can make the best medical decisions, we may recommend certain tests when your pet is having a medical problem or a surgical procedure:
If your pet is going to be placed under anesthesia, we strongly recommend pre-anesthestic testing. Anesthesia is extremely safe for healthy pets. But, if your pet is not healthy, (and sometimes it is hard to tell), complications can occur both during and after anesthetic procedures. We can minimize potential risks and proceed with confidence when we know the health status of your pet before administering anesthesia. Although performing these tests cannot guarantee that complication won’t occur, it can significantly reduce the risk to your pet and provide you peace of mind.
Diagnostic testing can identify hidden health problems. For example, a pet can lose up to 75% of kidney function before showing signs of illness. Animals instinctually tend to be rather stoic about pain, and they can’t tell us when they don’t feel well. Over time, you may not be alert to subtle symptoms and clues that they are ill. The doctor may recommend specific diagnostic tests or a general health profile based on results of your pet’s physical examination. Diagnostic tests are also especially helpful when your pet just isn’t feeling right and symptoms are hard to define.
Diagnostic blood testing may also be utilized to monitor recurrent or chronic conditions such as liver or kidney dysfunction, endocrine abnormalities, or conditions involving the immune system. Patients on long-term medications such as arthritis medications, seizure medications, insulin, or hormone therapy may be required to be tested periodically to determine the effectiveness of the treatment or developments of potential complicating side effects.