• A wellness profile is an easy way for the veterinarian to get an overall picture or the pet’s health

• We strongly recommend pre-anesthetic testing to help determine whether the pet can handle anesthesia and/or medical procedures

• Junior wellness testing is performed on pets 1-6 years of age

• Senior wellness testing is performed on pets 7 years of age and older

• Annual wellness testing not only allows for early detection and treatment of disease, but if the pet is healthy, provides the owner with peace of mind and the veterinarian a benchmark from which to measure if the pet becomes ill

• Symptom-specific diagnostic testing is performed when the pet exhibits signs that there is something wrong or when the breed is prone to certain medical conditions

In a previous article entitled Caring for Your Aging Companion, I explained the types and benefits of geriatric medicine.  One of those recommendations was to have a blood and urine test run on your pet at certain times in its life.  At Dr. Doolittle’s Animal Hospital, we believe that this testing falls into four categories, i.e., pre-anesthetic, junior wellness, senior wellness and symptom-specific diagnostic.

As the term indicates, a pre-anesthetic blood/urine test is administered before your pet is anesthetized for a particular medical procedure.  We strongly recommend pre-anesthetic testing.  While gas anesthesia is very safe for a healthy pet, if your animal is not so healthy, the anesthesia and/or medical procedure can sometimes over stress the pet’s system and cause serious complications during the procedure.  It is not always possible to determine if the animal is in good health solely by means of an examination.  Consequently, although performing these tests cannot guarantee that problems will not arise, they do significantly reduce the risk to your pet.  If you have ever had surgery, your doctor always runs a blood/urine test before the surgery for the same reasons we make the recommendation.

Junior and senior wellness blood testing are similar to the tests your doctor orders for you when you have your annual physical examination.  In some regards they are even more important than the human testing.  Your pet cannot tell you how it is feeling.  The gradual onset of disease in seemingly healthy pets will often go unnoticed by the owner.  Animals are very effective at masking their symptoms because they have a strong desire to please their masters.  Once symptoms do appear, the condition may be difficult and costly to treat.  A wellness profile is an easy way for the veterinarian to get an overall picture of your pet’s health.  Wellness testing can be used to diagnose blood disorders, kidney and liver disease, diabetes, infection, cancer, thyroid disease and other problems.

The difference at our hospital between junior and senior wellness testing is the number of tests run on the blood and urine.  Generally, we recommend the junior test for animals between the ages of one and six, and reserve the senior test for pets over six years old.  Wellness testing not only allows for early detection and treatment of disease, but also, if your pet is healthy, provides you, the owner with peace of mind and the veterinarian with a benchmark from which to measure future test results if your pet becomes ill.

Finally, symptom-specific diagnostic testing is reserved for situations where the animal is exhibiting certain symptoms indicating that something is wrong with the pet or if the animal is a breed that is prone to certain medical conditions.  Schnauzers and other pure-bred pets in general are breeds that fall into this latter category.  In these cases, we often combine a senior wellness profile with other blood and/or urine tests that allow for more in-depth diagnostics.

As many of my other blogs have indicated, there are many elements to a complete wellness program for your pet.  Blood and urine sampling is just one component.  Your pet also needs regular dental cleanings, annual examinations, vaccinations or vaccine titer testing, control of parasites, proper nutrition, regular exercise and a healthy environment.