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Pre-Anesthetic Testing

A physical examination is an excellent method of diagnosing existing disease conditions. This is performed on your animal every year when they are presented for vaccinations and is also done before any anaesthetics are administered. A thorough physical exam however can not reveal certain diseases which have not yet started to show signs. Some of these diseases are sugar diabetes, over active thyroid glands, early heart, liver or kidney diseases, slow progressive viruses such as Feline Leukemia Virus. In animals that are very young and that have a normal examination, the chances of the above problems are low so often testing for these conditions is not warranted. However when the animal reaches middle age, the chances of having any one or more of the above diseases, increases. Since these conditions may result in increased anaesthetic risk, it is always a good idea to run these tests prior to any optional anaesthetics.

What Is Involved:

A complete panel of tests may always be medically indicated but often cost concerns limit which tests may be run. As a result, when budgetary concerns are present, a step wise approach is used which consists of several screening blood tests to see if there are any concern areas. If there are any clues of heart disease, an electrocardiogram(ECG) and chest radiographs may be needed to determine the nature of the problem. If there are clues of liver or kidney problems, further blood tests and/or urine tests may be needed.

January 29, 2009

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