Specific blood tests we run in-house:

• General Health or Illness Profile: This is a group of tests that let us examine in overview a large proportion of your pets’ organ systems. It also examines the cells in your pet’s blood telling us about things such as infection or anaemia
• Thyroid Level: This is to diagnose over or under active thyroids in your pet. Also, commonly to assess the response to treatment
• Phenobarbitone (epilepsy drug) level: Used in our epileptic patients (yes there are a lot) to monitor treatment.
• Pre Anaesthetic Profile: Just like the general profile above only with fewer tests more specifically targeted to anaesthetic risk reduction. Fewer tests also means less cost.
• Canine and Feline Pancreatic Tests: Tests for the likelihood of pancreatitis in either species.
• FIV test: Tests for Feline AIDS/FIV virus.
• FELV test: Tests for feline leukaemia
• Canine Heartworm Test: Used to diagnose Heartworm and to check if it is safe for your pet to start Heartworm preventative medication.
• Parvo-virus Test: Diagnoses parvovirus – particularly lethal for puppies.
• Ear Smear: Any one of you whose pet has had a sore ear will be familiar with this.  After examining the ear, we put a swab down into the canal and collect some discharge which we then stain and examine under a microscope to ascertain the cause of any infection.
• Tape Prep: Used in patients with skin issues, samples are collected from the skin by “waxing” a small area with sticky tape and then staining and examining with a microscope
• Giardia: A simple faecal test for a parasite that affects both humans and our pets.
• Faecal Parasite Test: A small amount of faeces is processed in the lab and then our vets look at the sample with a microscope to identify any parasites that may be present.  Many of these parasites are zoonotic – they can infect humans as well.
• Lump Sample with Needle: You may have heard the team use the term FNA (stands for “fine needle aspirate”).  This is where we suck a few cells out of a lump or a mass with a syringe and examine them under a microscope.  We use this to identify lumps and bumps and to rule “nasties” in or out.