Surgery Information
Protecting Your Pet With Pre-Surgical Testing 

Like you, our greatest concern is the health and well being of your pet.  Before putting an animal under anesthesia a physical exam is performed.  However, many conditions including disorders of the liver, kidneys, and blood, may not be detected unless blood testing is performed.  Such tests are especially important prior to anesthesia:  

1. It significantly reduces the medical risks of anesthesia and helps to ensures a safe and healthy pet.

2. Even a pet with a healthy appearance can hide symptoms of disease or ailment.  Ex.- a pet can lose up to 75% of kidney function before showing physical sign of illness.

3. If blood test results are within normal limits anesthesia can be performed with decreased risk.  If blood test results appear out of the normal range they are evaluated and the anesthetic risk is assessed.  Dependant upon the results, the anesthetic may be changed and the proper precautions taken for the procedure, or the procedure may be postponed and the illness medically treated.

4. Normal Blood Results also provide a baseline for comparison for reference with future blood tests.

Types of pre anesthetic tests that can be performed: 

Blood Chemistry – Tests the function of the liver and kidneys (how anethetics are filtered through the body). Checks for such diseases as liver disease, renal disease, pancreatitis, diabetes, Cushing’s, abnormalities resulting from long term medications and many more. 

CBC (Complete Blood Count) – Checks for unidentified infection, anemia, parasite infection,  platelet levels that may lead to bleeding disorders, and others. 

Electrolyte Levels (Sodium, Potasssium, and Chloride) – Electrolyte imbalance can be life threatening.  Evaluation of electrolyte levels help in evaluating vomiting, diarrhea, dehydration, cardiac disease and others. 

Thyroid (T₄) -  T₄ is the measurement of a thyroid hormone that circulates in the blood.  Hyper/Hypothyroidism can seriously affect your pet's health and is especially important for pet over the age of 7 years. 

Urinalysis – Abnormal levels can indicate liver, kidney, and urinary tract disease or infection.  It can also indicate diabetes. 

Electrocardiogram (ECG) – ECG detects heart rate and rhythm.  Irregular heart rate, heart murmur, decreased cardiac output, and other abnormalities can have a serious effect on an animal under anesthesia. 

Heartworm Tests – Tests for heartworms that reside in the heart and lungs of pets resulting in compromised heart function by restricting the flow of blood to the heart and causing respiratory complications. 

Felv/FIV/HW Testing - Both Felv (Feline Leukemia) and FIV (Feline Immunodeficiency Virus) inhibit the immune system and could result in a more complex procedure and post-operative care. Heartworm (as in dogs) can cause respiratory complication and compromised heart function.