The biggest difference between a veterinarian and a human doctor is our patients cannot tell us what’s wrong with them. Naturally, if your pet has a problem that can be seen by the naked eye, it often makes for an easier diagnosis. But if your pet has problems that can’t be seen, we rely on diagnostic tools to help us find what’s wrong.
Meadow Hill Veterinary Shoppe has diagnostic equipment to analyze blood in-house if we need to get immediate results when your pet’s life may hang in the balance. We also have access to the best labs in the country who can run highly specific tests that we may not be able to run on-site, or when time is not critical.
Performing routine diagnostics is a standard of care that gives us great insight into your pets current health standing. Even for your seemingly healthy pet, it’s important to do blood work on an annual basis. Since your pet ages at a much faster rate than we humans do, slight changes in their blood work may tip us off to potential conditions down the road. Several conditions can be caught and treated early when we are allowed to do blood work on an annual basis. These conditions include, but aren’t limited to:
- Cancer
- Heart disease
- Liver Disease
- Kidney Disease
- Cushings Disease
- Thyroid Problems
- Anemia
When we do blood work routinely, we can compare your pet’s results to previous results. We’ll study the reports closely, and if there is anything that is abnormal, we can quickly develop a plan to return them back to normal, or as close as possible.