Pre-anaesthetic blood testing

[AtticusFinch]

New one to me.

4 month old pup going to be neutered. The vet has recommended a pre-anaesthetic blood test (without actually seeing the dog)

Consists of testing for.

Albumin
Blood Urea Nitrogen
Creatinine
Blood Glucose
Haematocrit
Electrolytes

At an additional cost of £53.12

Is this just a money spinner? or a really good idea?

I don't want to mean and begrudge the little fella anything but I hate spending without good reason.

[Marf]

At a guess they want to identify any issues which may cause problems due to anaesthetic. £53 for that sounds reasonable.

[jackthelad1984]

Iv had similar, my dog has to be sedated for a trimming (16 yr old terrier) as he doesnt take to kindly to clippers going near him! He used to just be sedated but twice his breathing/heart stopped so the vet recommended a general aneasetic for his next visit which required blood tests first due to the dogs age etc, blood tests came back all clear, nice healthy old dog so fine to use the aneasetic.

[bexVN]

We usually adv pre bloods on animals 7 and over. Or on any age if we have concerns re health of the individual.

We don't neuter dogs at 4months. So I'm not sure if we'd advise it or not. Possibly because that is a young age for a ha but not convinced we would. For some practices it's part of there ga protocol. It's not wrong, just thorough.

Why neuter so early?

Edited by bexVN on Saturday 8th December 12:47

[AtticusFinch]

bexVN said:

We usually adv pre bloods on animals 7 and over. Or on any age if we have concerns re health of the individual.

We don't neuter dogs at 4months. So I'm not sure if we'd advise it or not. Possibly because that is a young age for a ha but not convinced we would. For some practices it's part of there ga protocol. It's not wrong, just thorough.

Why neuter so early?

Edited by bexVN on Saturday 8th December 12:47

Thanks for the comprehensive reply. I'm sure £53 is good value but is it necessary? No known health problems. As you say I think it's part of the protocol, they have their own Lab on site so from their point of view why not.

He may be slightly older than 4 months, he's a rescue pup with a voucher for neutering which must be done between 4 & 6 months. He's starting to hump things and other dogs/bhes so we thought we would get it out of the way before xmas.

[Thevet]

The cost is reasonable, the principle is less so. We advise PABT routinely, mostly to ensure there isn't a hidden problem which neither you or I would see. It's very much up to you, don't feel you have to do them but don't whinge if anything goes wrong (don't mean that to sound so harsh but we get so many grumps from those that don't follow the suggested path). If it was my pet, I wouldn't contemplate an anaesthetic that wasn't necessary (ie neutering a randy pup) and so would proceed almost without thought, but what if there was an underlying liver/kidney problem that could be ameliorated with either shorter acting anaesthetics or iv fluids?
We don't make much money from blood testing, but we do occasionally advise a different course of action. The choice is yours, and you will probably be fine without PABT, only about 1 in 250 young animals have anything unusual on screening. I hope that gives a bit of useable info.

[AtticusFinch]

Thevet said:

The cost is reasonable, the principle is less so. We advise PABT routinely, mostly to ensure there isn't a hidden problem which neither you or I would see. It's very much up to you, don't feel you have to do them but don't whinge if anything goes wrong (don't mean that to sound so harsh but we get so many grumps from those that don't follow the suggested path). If it was my pet, I wouldn't contemplate an anaesthetic that wasn't necessary (ie neutering a randy pup) and so would proceed almost without thought, but what if there was an underlying liver/kidney problem that could be ameliorated with either shorter acting anaesthetics or iv fluids?
We don't make much money from blood testing, but we do occasionally advise a different course of action. The choice is yours, and you will probably be fine without PABT, only about 1 in 250 young animals have anything unusual on screening. I hope that gives a bit of useable info.

Thanks for the reply. I'll proceed without the PABT.