Routine blood and urine tests for your pet cat or dog can help to tell a lot about their health. Blood tests for pets can help to make sure that internal organs are functioning correctly and check for signs of disease. Urine analysis can help to look for signs of infections and diabetes. Lab tests for dogs and cats can help to identify early signs of potential health issues.
Let’s look in more detail at what blood and urine tests can tell you about your pet’s health.
Blood Tests for Pets
Your vet will recommend checking bloodwork at least once a year for most breeds of cats and dogs. A routine blood test incorporates a complete blood count (CBC) and examines your pet’s red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets.
A red blood cell count will help to check your pet’s hemoglobin levels. This is essential to make sure that there is enough oxygen getting to all the internal organs in your pet.
The white blood cell count is essential to look for signs of infection or inflammation in your pet cat or dog. Usually, the number of white blood cells change significantly when the body is fighting disease, infection, or has cancer.
Platelets are necessary for clotting which is necessary to help prevent internal bleeding in your dog or cat.
For pet cats, blood tests can also show up hormone levels and check for feline leukemia or feline AIDS.
For both pet cats and dogs, checking blood work will help to look for liver disease, abnormalities in kidney function, and blood protein levels.
Therefore, blood tests for pets help to give a good indication of your pet’s health. Your vet can also order more blood tests to help monitor certain diseases or help identify specific diseases.
Urine test for pets
There is also a lot that a vet can tell about your pet’s health from their urine. In fact, even the color of urine can help identify certain health conditions. For example, urine that is too dark may indicate kidney dysfunction in your pet.
The urine analysis for your pet will also look for things that should not be in pet urine. This can be protein, sugar, or blood. Any one of these substances in your pet’s urine will mean that the vet will have to run further tests to check for diabetes, urinary tract infections, bacterial infections, or kidney stones.