Blood and urine tests can give us a wealth of information about your pet’s health. For example, from blood tests our vets can work out if your pet is dehydrated, has underlying kidney disease or liver changes, and we can get lots of information about your pet’s red and white blood cells. All of this helps diagnose any underlying health problems and ultimately will improve the level of care we can provide to your pet.

What happens when we take a blood sample?
Most blood samples are taken from the jugular vein in the neck, which is large enough to provide a good sample and allows us to collect the blood as quickly as possible. This is important because blood will start to clot once it is exposed to the air, and this can affect the results.

Most pets are also more relaxed when blood is taken from their jugular vein however, if necessary, a smaller sample can be taken from a vein in the leg.

Once the blood has been collected we place pressure over the vein for a minute or so to prevent any bruising. This can sometimes be hard in wriggly patients!

The blood is placed into tubes appropriate for required tests, most of which can be run at our in-house laboratory. However a few tests require more specialised equipment so we send those samples to an external laboratory.