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How often is bloodwork necessary?

Kinda freaks me out that they charge $20 for a fecal. YEARS ago when I first started work it was $5!!! Don't times change.
 
You definately got a bit more things done Joanne. :) I cant' believe it's so bleepin expensive for everything.. It's kind of mind blowing to look back at that kind of stuff, isnt it!!

Critter - you were around when fecals cost $5? Then were you around when an ice cream cone cost 5 cents? :lol::lol::lol:
 
We couldn't afford ice cream cones, Sara. Actually, I don't remember how much ice cream was, but I do remember buying gas for my VW Bug and filling up the tank for 25 cents!!

Say it loud, I'm old and I'm proud!! I have survived!!
 
If the vet says he's doing a 'wellness screen' to determine what's normal for the dog before they get sick or old they are pulling a fast one. It's the same for humans, there are normal limits for health which the lab will provide for any blood test and the individual dogs results will be compared against these. They do not need to determine this for every dog, in fact the dog might not even be genuinely healthy at this point so what can they then compare against? Unfortunately most vets know very little about the science and rationale behind pathology testing, to be fair they are GPs and even human GPs are often found wanting in this area of knowledge. No self respecting lab would provide a test without a reference interval for a healthy population unless it was a novel research parameter. Admittedly there is always the exception such as the platelet issue in cavs which can be overcome with a one off baseline test but in reality unless the dog is symptomatic or bleeding then it would be reasonable to assume a congenital thrombcytopenia if a low platelet count is an incidental finding. It is useful to know if the platelet count was previously normal but not essential for a differential diagnosis.

I have heard of lungworm (on this forum) being an incidental finding of a routine faecal....priceless in my opinion and my Oscar gets at least monthly faecals for lungworm.
 
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Lisa, you must have sensed my soap box coming out before you metioned the platelet count in Cavaliers! Because of my experience with Wallis that is something that I would suggest having checked on the breed; otherwise my background taught me to encourage people to have blood work done as pre-surgical until the animal is geriatric, at which time we suggested yearly checks. I envy your education in this area. (I still have all the results here to copy and send to you; I just haven't been at home to do it!)

I respect your vigilance regarding the lungworm, too. The fecal exam required nothing more than taking a small sample of poop to your vet, so it isn't doing anything invasive or potentially harmful to the dog.

Speaking of the bleeding, we are suddenly having trouble with ticks. And of course more are getting on Wallis than on the other two dogs. We found 5 on her over 2 days time. I thought I had another one but upon further investigation (fingernails and reading glasses) I realized that I had scraped the top off a scab and made it start bleeding. You can believe I kept an eye on her to make sure it stopped fairly quickly!:lpy:
 
Ah Donna, how we love our platelets! If the bleeding after a scab scratching stopped quickly that's a great sign of good primary haemostasis (blood clotting) in which platelets are a major player. Excellent sign that even if they are in lower numbers they are still doing one of their major jobs:rah:
Occasionally I get to inflict a cut on a patient and time how long the bleeding takes to stop....I'm such a popular girl when I explain that to them.
 
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I have heard that the pharmaceutical industry is coming out with a machine to check clotting time at home, somewhat like checking the sugar level in blood. But I almost think I'd rather have a needle stuck in me than try to stick myself!!
 
There is already one Donna http://www.coaguchek.com/landing/ it has a pen like retractable piercer, it doesn't really hurt much at all and is a very reliable machine as long as you can get your lab to compare results with it once in a while for a quality control check
 
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