Here’s what you should know about your pet’s blood work.
Just as we all need to get blood tests to find out why we are feeling sick, we need to do the same for our furry friends. After all, they can’t tell us when they don’t feel well. Blood tests can help our veterinarians, Dr. Katie Berthelot and Dr. Charles Carville, pinpoint problems early on when they are often easier to treat. If your pet is showing signs of illness, we need to get to the bottom of it fast, and one of the easiest ways to do that is through diagnostic testing and lab work.
Why laboratory testing is performed on pets?
It’s important to keep your trusted companion healthy and happy, and by getting routine lab testing performed during their checkup, our veterinary team can spot underlying medical problems that may not be noticeable without this testing. Lab testing allows our veterinarians to be able to catch diseases and conditions early when it’s more likely to be highly treatable.
What are the reasons for lab testing?
There are a variety of lab tests that our veterinarians offer. We perform:
- Complete blood cell count (CBC) blood work: This test allows us to check the count of your pet’s blood cells to determine if there are any signs of infection, diseases, anemia, and even a wide range of chronic conditions present.
- Blood chemistry testing: This test is performed to evaluate how your pet’s organs are functioning. This will help us detect certain endocrine disorders, electrolyte imbalances, and blood sugar levels.
- A heartworm test: This test is performed to check for heartworm disease. This condition can have a profound effect on a pet’s heart and unfortunately, it can take years for symptoms to appear. Therefore, by performing this test we can often catch the disease early on before it causes serious damage to your pet’s heart.
- Parasitic tests: If we suspect that the symptoms your pet is displaying such as diarrhea could be caused by a parasite, we will perform certain tests to identify the type of parasitic infection.
Along with blood work, we may also perform a urinalysis. By collecting and analyzing your pet’s urine sample we can detect a wide range of issues, from urinary tract infections and kidney problems to diabetes and blood disease.
The benefit of turning to our veterinary team here at Carville Veterinary Clinic is that we offer in-house diagnostic testing and lab work, which means that we can provide you with fast and sometimes immediate results. We know that the last thing you want to do is to wait for days or even weeks for a diagnosis. We provide our patients with peace of mind by doing in-house blood testing. Fewer trips for you and your pet and also less worry.
Do you have questions about the diagnostic and lab testing we perform right here in our Plaquemine, LA, office? If so, don’t hesitate to call Carville Veterinary Clinic at (225) 687-7387.