Preventative Care and Why We Care
Picture this: You bring your pet into On-Site Veterinary Hospital for their annual exam and vaccines. The veterinarian gives your pet a clean bill of health, but then recommends a “Comprehensive Wellness Profile”. This includes a complete blood count, chemistry panel, and a urinalysis. You don’t know what these tests mean, and you question the veterinarian: “Why would we perform this if my pet is healthy?”
When a veterinarian recommends a comprehensive wellness profile for a seemingly healthy pet, the goal isn’t to find problems that are already obvious, but to uncover issues that may be developing below the surface. Many diseases begin with subtle changes internally long before outward symptoms appear. Baseline diagnostic testing allows us to detect these early changes, monitor trends over time, and intervene before minor abnormalities turn into serious health concerns. This is where the complete blood count, chemistry panel, and urinalysis fall into play.
A complete blood count, or CBC, looks at the cells in your pet’s blood. It tells us about red blood cells, which carry oxygen; white blood cells, which help fight infection and inflammation; and platelets, which help with clotting. This test helps us identify issues like anemia, infection, inflammation, immune problems, or bleeding disorders. It gives us important information about how your pet’s body is responding to illness. Frequently, we see changes in these values even before your pet shows signs of being sick.
A chemistry panel is a blood test that tells us how your pet’s internal organs are working. While the CBC looks at the cells of the blood, the chemistry reflects organ function and overall health. It looks at things like the liver, kidneys, blood sugar, proteins, and electrolytes. These values tell us whether organs are healthy, under stress, or not functioning properly, and they can also point to dehydration, infection, or metabolic problems. In short, it gives us a snapshot of your pet’s overall health.
A urinalysis looks at your pet’s urine to give us important information about kidney function and overall health. This test is especially useful for detecting urinary tract problems and kidney disease early, sometimes even before changes show up in bloodwork. It helps us see how well the kidneys are concentrating urine, and it can show abnormalities such as infection, inflammation, crystals, blood, protein, or sugar in the urine.
Performing this Comprehensive Wellness Plan is really beneficial for animals of all ages. We can track the trends in these values over the years, and this can help guide us in diagnosing and treating any conditions that arise as your pet matures into adulthood. By detecting these problems before they grow, we can develop treatment plans that can prevent further impact on your pet’s health and extend their quality of their life.
“Isn’t all this testing expensive?”
Preventive care can actually save you money in the long run! While this may seem unnecessary when a pet appears healthy, it’s truly an investment in their future. Establishing these normal baseline values allows us to detect subtle changes over time, often catching issues earlier when they’re easier and less costly to manage. This proactive approach can also reduce the need for additional diagnostics if concerns arise later, making care more efficient and less stressful for both you and your pet.
Wellness testing helps us be proactive instead of reactive. By investing in preventive care today, you’re helping protect your pet’s health, your time, and your peace of mind. At the end of the day, preventive care is about giving your pet the best chance at a long, healthy life.
If you have questions about wellness testing or what preventive care looks like for your pet, give us a call! Together, we can build a plan that keeps your pet healthier for longer.