You know your pet’s normal better than anyone. You know how excited they get for dinner, how much water they usually drink, and whether sleeping until 10 a.m. is completely normal or a little suspicious. But some health changes can start before there is anything obvious to notice at home.
That is one reason bloodwork can be such a helpful part of veterinary care.
At The Scottsdale Veterinary Clinic, we may recommend bloodwork for a healthy pet, a pet who is not feeling well, before a procedure, or as part of ongoing care for a medical condition. How often your pet needs it depends on their age, health history, medications, and previous results.
So, does every dog or cat need bloodwork every year? Not necessarily. Here is a simpler way to think about it.
What Does Pet Bloodwork Actually Check?
When we talk about bloodwork, we are usually talking about tests that give us a look at what is happening inside your pet’s body.
A complete blood count, or CBC, looks at red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. A chemistry panel gives us information related to things like kidney and liver function, blood sugar, proteins, and electrolytes.
Depending on your pet, we may recommend other tests too. Senior cats may benefit from thyroid testing. Some pets may need infectious disease screening. A urinalysis can also give us important information that bloodwork alone cannot provide.
The goal is not to run every test available. It is to choose the tests that make sense for your pet.
Puppies and Kittens: Does Bloodwork Start This Early?
Sometimes.
A healthy puppy or kitten usually does not need a full blood panel at every vaccine appointment. But there are situations when we may recommend it.
One common time is before a spay, neuter, or another procedure requiring anesthesia. Your puppy may be bouncing off the walls and your kitten may be climbing the curtains, but that does not tell us what their red blood cell count or organ values look like.
Pre-anesthetic bloodwork gives us additional information before the procedure and may help us make safer, more individualized decisions about anesthesia.
We may also recommend bloodwork if a young pet is not eating well, has ongoing vomiting or diarrhea, seems unusually tired, is not growing as expected, or is showing another sign that something may be wrong.
Healthy Adult Pets: Why Run Bloodwork If They Feel Fine?
This is one of the most common questions pet owners ask, and it is a fair one.
If your dog is hiking, playing, and inhaling breakfast every morning, or your cat seems completely normal, why look for a problem?
One reason is to learn what normal looks like for your pet.
Bloodwork comes with reference ranges, but your pet also develops their own history. When we have results from different points in their life, we can compare them. A change may be worth watching even before it becomes a major abnormality.
For healthy adult pets, your veterinarian may recommend periodic bloodwork as part of preventive care. The timing can vary. Age, breed, lifestyle, previous results, and medical history all matter.
Senior Pets: When Bloodwork Becomes Even More Helpful
As pets get older, we tend to pay closer attention to changes happening below the surface.
Senior dogs and cats are more likely to develop conditions involving the kidneys, liver, thyroid, blood sugar, and other systems. The tricky part is that pets do not always make those changes obvious.
A cat may lose a little weight but still finish dinner. A dog may start drinking more water, but the increase is gradual enough that it is easy to miss. A pet may slow down and everyone assumes it is simply part of getting older.
Bloodwork can help us investigate whether there is more going on.
Some senior pets may benefit from bloodwork once or twice a year. Others may need a different schedule depending on their health. There is also no single birthday when every pet officially becomes a senior. A large dog may reach that stage earlier than a small dog.
When Should You Have Bloodwork Done Sooner?
You do not need to wait for your pet’s next wellness exam if something changes.
Call your veterinarian if you notice:
- Increased thirst
- More frequent urination
- Unexplained weight loss
- Vomiting
- Diarrhea
- Reduced appetite
- Weakness
- Unusual tiredness
- Pale gums
- Collapse
- A significant behavior change
Bloodwork may help us narrow down what is happening and decide what should come next. Sometimes that means additional testing such as urine testing or imaging. Other times, the blood results give us the information we need to begin treatment or monitoring.
What If Your Pet Takes Medication?
Some medications require regular bloodwork.
We may want to make sure your pet’s body is handling the medication well, check whether treatment is working, or monitor values that can change over time.
That might mean testing shortly after starting a medication, after changing a dose, or periodically once your pet is stable.
If we recommend a recheck, it is not just another box to check. Those results can help us decide whether to keep the treatment exactly the same or make an adjustment.
Does My Pet Need Bloodwork Before Surgery or Dentistry?
We commonly recommend bloodwork before procedures requiring anesthesia.
A physical exam tells us a lot, but it cannot show us everything. Bloodwork gives us additional information about your pet’s overall health before anesthesia.
If something unexpected appears, we can decide whether we need another test, whether the anesthesia plan should change, or whether it would be safer to postpone an elective procedure.
Normal results are useful too. They give us information for the procedure and create another baseline we can refer back to later.
So, How Often Should Your Pet Have Bloodwork?
There is no perfect schedule for every pet.
A healthy three-year-old dog may have very different needs than a 13-year-old cat. A pet taking long-term medication may need bloodwork much more often than another pet the same age.
At The Scottsdale Veterinary Clinic, we look at your pet’s age, health history, medications, lifestyle, symptoms, and previous results before making a recommendation.
If you cannot remember the last time your pet had bloodwork, ask us at their next visit. We can review their history and let you know whether testing makes sense now or whether it can wait.