Pre-operative Blood Testing
Blood testing before procedural work increases safety for your pet.
A pre-operative blood test measures the level of seven substances normally found in your pet's blood. Abnormal levels can indicate problems with liver or kidney function or diabetes.
Apparently healthy animals can sometimes have a low-grade underlying problem with their liver of kidney function without showing any signs of illness.
Heavy sedation or a general anaesthetic can worsen any underlying liver or kidney problem and result in illness developing sooner than would happen if the anaesthetic had been avoided.
Identifying a problem prior to administering an anaesthetic allows us time to treat any underlying problem or to take additional precautions during anaesthesia to minimise future problems.
At Parkvets we recommend all patients receive a pre-operative blood test. The older your pet is however, the more likely it is to have an underlying problem. Therefore in pets seven years of age and older we would consider a blood test to be of the utmost importance.
Should you have any questions or require more detailed information please speak to your veterinary surgeon.
