Did you know: here at the clinic we have a laboratory with blood machines. This means we can run certain blood tests in-house and have results within 10-15 minutes.
What is involved when running bloods?
We start by giving your pet a full general health exam. We then clip off a small amount of fur from either the neck or front leg – this is to give us access to the vein. An alcohol swab is applied to this area to clean the skin and then we take the blood sample using a needle and syringe. Most do not mind this procedure as it is all over very quickly. We then place the blood sample into a special tube – we can then use this sample to run our tests.
What are you looking for when you run these blood tests?
We have two different blood machines at the clinic. One is a haematology machine. This allows us to look at the number of each type of blood – red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. Haematology allows to pick up conditions such as anaemia, infections, certain types of cancer, clotting disorders or an internal bleed.
The other machine we have here is a biochemistry machine. This allows us to look at the internal organs and can show us if they are over or under producing certain enzymes. Biochemistry allows us to pick up things like kidney disease, diabetes, liver failure and certain types of cancer.
My pet is healthy – why should I run bloods?
Many conditions go undetected because they do not show any clinical sign until the animal is very sick. Kidney disease is a good example of this – an animal will have lost up to 80% of it’s kidney function and appear to be completely healthy and normal. There is simply no other way to detect these things than a blood test.
This is especially important when an animal is about to go undergo an anaesthetic. We recommend that ALL our patients have a basic pre-anaesthetic blood profile before any surgery. This helps us to assess your pet’s organ function, and so allows us to pick the most appropriate anaesthetic protocol. Running pre-anaesthetic bloods is the best way to ensure a lower-risk anaesthesia for your pet.
How much does it cost?
This month, we are running a special offer where you can get a pre-anaesthetic blood test, PCV and urinalysis run on your pet for €27.
