Pre-Anesthetic Testing

[Nene's Daddy]

We are having our BC spayed tomorrow, and our vet recommended some blood tests to determine general health, clotting factor, etc. She is about 6 months old, 35 lbs, and very active. Do you think this testing is necessary? Thanks for any thoughts you can provide. I am also posting this in the general forum.

[Smokjbc]

Hello,

 

I work for a vet, and we recommend a basic pre-op test for all animals going under anesthesia. It does happen, occasionally, that a seemingly healthy animal is actually harboring a serious illness that just hasn't become systematic yet. However, in young animals, problems are not common, especially in relatively healthly breeds. I don't feel anyone should feel badly for not selecting the test- in most cases it isn't necessary for young animals. It really should be done for middle-age and older pets. One other benefit though is that doing the test on a young, healthy animal, gives your vet a "base-line" list of values that show your pets normal values. Just to prepare everyone though, I think the time is going to come that your vet will require the pre-op bloodwork simply to cover his butt from lawsuits. Having that bloodwork done before can prevent problems arising from an undiscovered condition.

 

 

 

[This message has been edited by Smokjbc (edited 11-24-2002).]

[Tassie]

Sounds like a good coverage of the situation from Smokjbc. My pups were neutered in September ? vet didn?t recommend a blood test, but then here in Oz we?re not quite so much into lawsuits ? though I?ve no doubt it will come. A test now would certainly give a useful baseline, but like Smokjbc says, you probably shouldn?t feel bad if you decided not to have it done. The spaying itself isn?t cheap, is it.

 

 

 

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Barb

[JEL]

yes...a friend of mine has a Border Collie that went in for spaying...thankfully they chose to do the bloodwork - it showed a previously undiscovered problem with her kidneys...she has since gone on to have lifelong kidney trouble, barely controlled with a strict prescription diet and I believe, medication.

I guess, just to be devils advocate (and lawsuits aside) you need to ask yourself how YOU will feel if something happens, knowing YOU decided to skimp on the bloodwork.

I can certainly see arguments both pro and con - from a personal standpoint, if I trusted my vet, I would follow his recommendation and opt for all reasonable precaution....

 

Janet

[UpNatEm]

It wouldn't hurt to get the mini "blood"screen they do and it isn't that much more.At my vet it was like $25.Gives you a baseline.Granted at 6 months they shouldn't show even early problems but what the hell.Also give Vit.C after surgery to help.if you have it around.

 

Sue Barta www.bartasborders.com

[Dawn Bailey]

I also work for a vet and have all my dogs pre screened before surgery. I like the fact I have a base line for liver and kidney enzemes in my young healthy dogs. I think it is a good value for the money.

 

Dawn

[mysticalblaze]

I work for a vet also, and as I basically said them same thing the others said. I do pre-op bloodwork on all my dogs before going under. But yes don't feel bad if you decide against it. Most anesthesia these days are a lot safer, than they used to be.

[juliepoudrier]

Well now this is after the fact, but I, too, used to work for a vet, and I come from a different perspective. I do not routinely screen my dogs before surgery. I did not do my 6-month old pup before she was anesthetized to remove tooth root fragments form her gum, for example.

 

Getting a baseline isn't a bad idea, and it certainly can prevent the vet from treating "anamolies" that may be perfectly normal for your individual dog at a later date, but I don't think anyone should feel guilty for not doing it. Yes, a profile can show oddities in liver and kidney function (important for clearing anesthetic and other drugs from the dog's system), but it certainly won't be a guarantee that something won't go wrong when your dog is put under either.

 

That said, most of my dogs do have profiles on record with my vet. The kicker for me was when I had one dog neutered for an ongoing problem. The dog had a profile from less than six months prior and after that had gone through ultrasound and numerous other tests, and yet they still wanted to do a profile before neutering. Sometimes I think things like this are taken too far, and the owner guilt factor is a mjor way of getting people to spend a lot of extra money.

 

Just my opinion, of course.

 

J.

[2 Devils]

Don't feel guilty if you choose or chose against doing the profile. It is only a choice after all and it is yours to make.

 

Of course, I do the blood work just because I would like the vet to have a baseline to go by down the road. I also do hip and knee xrays at around 2 years of age. I do the xrays because my dogs do flyball and I want to make sure that we notice changes as time goes on. I will probably have the hips and knees checked every couple years just so I feel better but that is my choice.

 

Vets and others should not make you feel guilty for not choosing to do the profile and if the vet office does, I would question them. Just call them on it and see what their explanation/reasoning is. That might get them to back off.

[Nene's Daddy]

We decided to go ahead and do the pre-op testing. Nothing out of the ordinary came up, but I feel better knowing we have a guideline for the future. Thanks for all the opinions and thoughts everyone provided.