Laboratory Testing

Wooster Animal Clinic performs many laboratory tests in-house. Testing that is not completed in-house will be sent to an outside laboratory chosen by your veterinarian.

To reduce the risk to your pet, our clinic recommends a pre-anesthetic blood testing panel be completed prior to all surgical procedures. The pre-anesthetic panel assesses organ function and can find potentially hidden diseases, concerns that may prevent your pet from otherwise fully processing and eliminating the anesthetic.   Importantly, these tests will also remain a part of your pet’s medical records and provide a baseline for future reference.

We also routinely perform other in-house laboratory tests, including (but not limited to):

• Complete Blood Count (CBC), which provides detailed information about red and white blood cells and platelets
• General Health Profiles, which include the Blood Chemistry and Pre-anesthetic Panels referenced above, offer valuable information for diagnosing a spectrum of underlying diseases
• Electrolytes, which are important when evaluating vomiting, diarrhea, dehydration, and/or cardiac symptoms
• Urinalysis, testing that can be helpful in diagnosing diabetes as well as kidney, liver, or urinary tract issues
• Electrocardiogram, which detects heart rate and electrical rhythm, either of which when abnormal can be harmful to patients undergoing anesthesia
• Thyroid (T4), tests thyroid function by measuring the level of thyroid hormone circulating in the blood and is also helpful in identifying heartworm disease
• Heartworm, tests for the heartworm parasite that can live in the heart, major blood vessels, and the lungs. Left untreated, heartworms can be fatal.
• Tick-Borne Diseases, such as Lyme Disease, Ehrlichiosis, and Anaplasmosis, all of which can be serious illnesses