Dr. Dan Meakin
Have you ever wondered why your veterinarian recommends bloodwork on your pet if they aren’t showing signs of illness? This article is designed to demystify that recommendation and help you better understand how important lab work is to our cherished pets and family members.

Pets, unlike ailing humans, are masters at hiding signs of illness for long periods of time. There are many reasons for this beginning with the fact that they cannot talk to us and communicate minor issues. In the wild, animals that appear weakest are first attacked by predators so, in order to survive, animals mask their weakness/illness. Because animals mask their pain/sickness so well, a seemingly healthy pet could be hiding a deadly disease. 

We know from human medicine that early detection/diagnosis is often the key to survival.  Bloodwork plays a huge part in the early detection of disease.

Blood values often change slowly over time when diseases are just beginning. Kidney function is an excellent model of this behavior.  Cats don’t typically show outward signs of kidney disease until they have only around 30 percent of their kidney function remaining. Often one blood panel can’t tell the whole story; a cat or dog may have kidney disease but their kidney values can be in the normal range. What that one blood panel can’t tell you is that six months ago the values were lower than this time. And six months from now they will be higher.  This change over time can help diagnose kidney disease before losing 70 percent kidney function. We call this trending. With multiple blood panels we can evaluate trending and diagnose disease much earlier; leading to a longer, happier life. Many times a diet change can prevent a disease from becoming a chronic condition. The bottom line is that bloodwork can show what pets hide so well. Blood panels combined with urinalyses are effective at early disease detection. At All Creatures we frequently recommend a blood panel that includes a thyroid level, chemistry, CBC, and urinalysis, giving us a very good picture of your pet’s overall health.

In summary, here are the benefits of bloodwork:

1. Establishing baseline values: Knowing your pet’s normal blood values will allow a veterinarian to easily identify changes thereby making early detection a simple comparison.

2. Early identification of unseen disease: Early diagnosis increases the likelihood of a positive outcome as well as lessens the overall cost of treatment.

3. Prescription of safe medication: Some medications cannot be used when certain other conditions are present. Bloodwork allows veterinarians to prescribe medications which are safe for your pet’s health status.

4. Pre-anesthetic screening: Regular blood testing is important for procedures requiring anesthesia. This is especially true as pets get older and develop skin and dental problems.

Dr. Dan Meakin is the owner of All Creatures Animal Hospital, 1894 Ohio Pike in Amelia. Call 513-797-PETS (7387).