Most pet owners understand the importance of appropriate annual vaccinations for their pets but not the value of annual blood work. Several standard blood tests are recommended during your pet’s wellness screening, because they provide you and your pet with innumerable benefits. 

Wellness screening tests are essential for assessing your furry pal’s overall wellbeing. Depending on your pet’s age, species, breed, current health status, and potential risk, their tests may include:

  • Complete blood count (CBC)
  • Blood chemistry profile
  • Fecal exam 
  • Vector-borne disease screening
  • Urinalysis
  • Thyroid hormone levels
  • Blood pressure reading
  • X-rays

While regular wellness screening tests are all important, we are focusing on the value of annual blood work. Here are five reasons why you must not skip your pet’s wellness screening blood work.

#1: Annual blood work provides an internal look at your pet’s health

A nose-to-tail physical exam is a key aspect of your pet’s annual wellness screening. However, a physical exam provides only an overall general assessment of your pet’s health and barely scratches the surface of their total wellbeing. During your pet’s physical exam, our veterinarian evaluates their major body systems through auscultation, palpation, and visual examination, which allow us to pick up on many abnormalities, including heart murmurs and arrhythmias, respiratory issues, abdominal changes, skin problems, and dental disease.

While the physical exam findings can indicate that more advanced diagnostic testing is required, annual blood work delves deeper and can also reveal the cause of exam abnormalities. Wellness blood work—typically a CBC and chemistry profile—looks at your pet’s internal health and provides a great deal more information than a physical exam.

A CBC breaks down the cellular components of your pet’s blood, quantifying red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, and the various cell types. Changes in these values can indicate anemia, dehydration, infection, inflammation, or clotting disorders.

A blood chemistry profile evaluates organ function and assesses enzymes, metabolic waste levels, blood glucose, proteins, electrolytes, and various chemicals in the body. While alterations in these values do not always identify the cause of a health issue, they can guide us toward an accurate diagnosis.

Overall, annual blood work is critical for looking closely at your pet’s health and body system functions to ensure everything is in tip-top shape.

#2: Annual blood work establishes a baseline of your pet’s “normal”

Each blood test has a range of values for “normal” results, but pets don’t read the book about being normal, and sometimes test results will fall outside the “normal” range. The result has no rhyme or reason—it’s simply that pet’s “normal,” especially if the value remains the same and your pet shows no evidence of illness. Annual blood tests allow us to monitor unusual results and detect subtle changes when they occur.

#3: Annual blood work catches disease early

Cats and dogs instinctively hide signs of pain, illness, or chronic disease, so spotting problems early can be difficult. In some cases, such as with chronic kidney disease, your pet likely will not exhibit clinical signs until they have lost about 75% of their kidney function. But, with annual blood work that includes a specialized test (i.e., SDMA test) to evaluate kidney function, we can diagnose kidney dysfunction much sooner, when as little as 25% of function is lost. When we detect illness and chronic disease sooner, your four-legged friend has a better prognosis.

#4: Annual blood work helps prevent significant medical expenses

Although spending money on diagnostic tests when your pet appears perfectly healthy may seem counterintuitive, annual blood work is designed to catch diseases in their earliest stages, when treatment is more cost-effective. Spending a little each year on screening tests can help you avoid a large bill because a disease was so advanced before being detected and required more expensive treatment.

#5: Annual blood work provides peace of mind

You can’t put a price on knowing that your pet is healthy. Annual blood work is invaluable for providing peace of mind when you know you are doing everything possible to ensure your four-legged friend’s continued good health.

Give our Advanced Veterinary Care of Pasco team a call to schedule your pet’s annual or biannual wellness appointment. We will explain the blood work your pet needs at their life stage, and you will know you are providing them with the best possible care.