Veterinarians are tasked with maintaining pet health and diagnosing problems that arise. A thorough physical examination and history-taking skills can help our Carolina Virginia Animal Hospital team diagnose your pet’s problem, but we cannot see your pet’s internal health. Diagnostic testing, including blood and urine examinations, is a crucial part of the diagnostic process and can reveal a wealth of information about your furry pal’s health. Our team wants you to know why we order a blood panel, what we can learn from the test, and how you can better understand the results.

Why does my pet need blood work?

Whenever our veterinary team needs to know more about your pet’s internal workings, we may recommend or order a blood test. The most common reasons include:

  • Pre-anesthetic — Anesthetic drugs are metabolized by the liver and kidneys. Pre-anesthetic blood tests ensure these organs are working well enough to handle the anesthesia and help our team make adjustments for pets with impaired metabolic capacity.
  • Wellness baseline — Blood tests on a young, healthy pet establish normal values for future comparison if your pet gets sick.
  • Wellness annual — Annual blood tests are compared with the pet’s baseline to watch for trends and changes over time, helping to catch disease in the earliest stages.
  • Illness — Blood testing for a pet who is ill provides clues that can aid in diagnosis or to monitor for chronic disease recovery or progression.
  • Medication monitoring — Some medications have side effects, which our team can closely monitor with blood tests and make any necessary dosage adjustments.

What is included in a basic blood panel?

If you flip through the blood panel offerings from our reference laboratory, you’ll see that hundreds of different, specialized tests for specific situations are listed. Generally speaking, when we talk about blood work, we are referring to a basic blood panel rather than a specialized offering. Most basic blood panels include:

  • Complete blood count (CBC) — A CBC identifies and quantifies white cells, red cells, and platelets in a pet’s blood. The results are double-checked using automated machines and a manual microscopic evaluation.
  • Chemistry — A blood chemistry measures substances dissolved in the liquid blood (i.e., serum or plasma), including enzymes, waste products, proteins, minerals, glucose, electrolytes, and fats. 
  • Thyroid screening — Some basic panels include a thyroid level screening (i.e., T4), which has implications for metabolic and endocrine health.

What is included in a complete blood count?

A CBC can detect issues such as dehydration, anemia, infection, inflammation, and blood clotting disorders. Specific tests include:

  • Hematocrit (HCT) — HCT, also known as packed cell volume (PCV), measures the RBC percentage to detect anemia and assess your pet’s hydration status. 
  • Hemoglobin (Hgb) — This value measures the oxygen carrying pigments in RBCs. Decreased values can indicate anemia.
  • White blood cell count (WBC) — WBCs include neutrophils, lymphocytes, monocytes, basophils, and eosinophils. Abnormalities can indicate issues such as infection, inflammation, and allergic reaction. 
  • Platelet (PLT) — The platelet count assesses your pet’s blood clotting ability. The most common cause for decreased PLTs is due to clumping. Some common causes for increased PLTs can include: inflammation, iron deficiency, steroid induced, and certain endocrine diseases.
  • Mean cell volume (MCV) — MCV measures the average size of the RBCs. Elevations can be caused in response to anemia, but can also be due to artifact (i.e. clumping of RBCs, small sample size).  Decreases can indicate chronic blood loss, liver abnormalities, or iron deficiency.
  • Mean cell hemoglobin (MCH) — Measures the hemoglobin content per RBC. Increases typically indicate an instrument error but can also indicate RBC damage. While decreases can indicate anemia, chronic blood loss, or iron deficiency.
  • Mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) — The calculated concentration of hemoglobin in a specific volume of red blood cells. MCH and MCHC are very closely related to each other.  Typically what one does, the other will follow the same pattern. MCHC shares the same causes for increases and decreases as MCH.
  • Reticulocytes (RETICS) — Reticulocytes are immature RBCs. High levels can indicate regenerative anemia.

What is included in a blood chemistry?

A blood chemistry is a comprehensive test that assesses your pet’s overall health. Specific tests include:

  • Glucose — Glucose is a blood sugar. Elevated levels can indicate diabetes, while low levels can cause collapse, seizures, or coma.
  • IDEXX SDMA — Symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA) is a sensitive and specific kidney function marker that can detect kidney disease.
  • Creatinine — Creatinine is a metabolic waste product that can also indicate kidney dysfunction.
  • BUN — Blood urea nitrogen is also a metabolic waste product. Elevated levels can indicate kidney disease, liver issues, heart problems, dehydration, shock, and urethral obstruction.
  • Phosphorus — Elevated phosphorus levels can indicate kidney disease, hyperthyroidism, and bleeding disorders.
  • Calcium — Numerous conditions, such as cancer, hyperparathyroidism, and kidney disease, can alter serum calcium levels.
  • Sodium — Sodium is an electrolyte that is commonly lost when a pet has gastrointestinal signs, such as vomiting or diarrhea, as well as with issues such as kidney disease and Addison’s disease.
  • Potassium — Potassium is an electrolyte. Decreased levels are associated with vomiting, diarrhea, and excessive urination, and increased levels can indicate kidney failure, dehydration, Addison’s disease, and urethral obstruction.
  • Chloride — Chloride, another electrolyte, is lost when a pet has vomiting or diarrhea and with Addison’s disease. Elevations can occur when a pet is dehydrated.
  • Total protein — Total protein provides information about your pet’s hydration status as well as information about their liver and kidney function.
  • Albumin — Albumin is a type of serum protein that helps our team evaluate your pet’s hydration status. Abnormalities can also indicate hemorrhage and intestinal, kidney, and liver disease.
  • Globulin — Globulin is a serum protein that often increases with chronic inflammation and disease.
  • ALT — Alanine aminotransferase can indicate active liver damage.
  • AST — Elevated aspartate aminotransferase can indicate liver, heart, or muscle damage.
  • ALP — Elevated alkaline phosphatase can indicate liver damage, Cushing’s disease, or active bone growth in young dogs.
  • GGT — Elevated gamma-glutamyl transferase levels can indicate liver disease or excessive corticosteroid levels.
  • Bilirubin — Bilirubin abnormalities can indicate liver disease, hemolytic abnormalities, bile duct problems, and certain types of anemia.

Our professional veterinary team is skilled in interpreting blood test results, which help us to track changes in your pet’s health over time or to diagnose an acute illness or disease. Annual wellness testing at your pet’s wellness visit is the best way to get the most information out of a wellness visit and to help us detect small changes before they become bigger problems. Contact our Carolina Virginia Animal Hospital team to schedule your pet’s next wellness visit and annual wellness blood test, or to learn more about our other wellness services.