The entire veterinary team here at the Foxboro Veterinary Hospital are dedicated in providing top of the line care to your pets. This includes pre anesthetic blood work. Surgery is a major stressor on the body and we want to make sure it is strong enough to withstand the medications, the surgical procedure and the recovery. Pre-surgical blood include the following components:
Complete Blood Cell (CBC): This test looks at both the red blood cell and white blood cell line. Red blood cells are responsible for carrying oxygen to the body, something that is obviously very important. If there are too few red blood cells then the patient is considered anemic and may not be able to undergo anesthesia until that is resolved. This also where we can see how many platelets are circulation. These guys are responsible for clotting; that is to stay halting of bleeding. It is especially important that we check that these cells are well within normal limits to prevent any unnecessary bleeding and possibly on being unable to stop. The white blood cells are our body’s defense system again viral and bacterial infection. For obvious reasons we do not want to stress your pet with surgery if they are also fighting of a disease.
Blood Chemistry: This particular test looks at the health of the internal organs, notably the liver and the kidneys. We are able to identify early disease, developmental (congenital) abnormalities or infections in these organs when we run this type of blood work. Given that these organs are responsible for metabolizing a large amount of the medications required to be put under general anesthesia it is important to know that they are in tip top shape prior to surgery. Sometimes we are able to manage these abnormalities by starting your pet on fluids prior to surgery or alter the medications we are going to use.
Here at Foxboro Veterinary Hospital we are committed to providing the very best care we can to our patients and have therefore decided to implement mandatory bloodwork for all patients undergoing general anesthesia, no matter the age or species. If you have any questions regarding this change for better medicine do not hesitate to contact one of our veterinary health team members.
