Key Points
- All dogs should have a blood test at their first vet visit to screen for diseases and establish a healthy baseline.
- Blood tests can help vets diagnose or rule out conditions like kidney disease or diabetes in your dog, allowing for quicker and more effective treatment.
- The Pumpkin Wellness Club can help you plan ahead and save up to $360/year on routine wellness visits, blood tests, and more, plus perks such as access to discounts on top pet brands.*
Blood work isn’t anyone’s favorite part of seeing their doctor, but it’s an important part of checking up on your health. The same goes for dogs — that’s right, your pooch should have their blood drawn and tested at least once a year.
Whether you’re at the vet’s office for a routine check-up or a sick visit, a blood test will reveal a ton of information that the vet can’t get from simply looking at your pup. Even if your dog is healthy, preventive blood testing helps the veterinary team establish a baseline for future blood work.
Plus, Pumpkin just introduced a new program called the Pumpkin Wellness Club to help you plan ahead and save up to $360 per year on your dog’s preventive care and other perks like discounts on top pet products. As a member of the Pumpkin Wellness Club, you can get cash payments for your dog’s annual vet checkups, routine blood tests, and more preventive care services your dog needs.
When does a dog need a blood test?
Blood testing helps the veterinary team plan ahead for your dog’s health needs at every stage of their life. As your dog gets up into their golden years, they can benefit from more frequent blood tests to manage any existing health conditions and monitor for indicators of disease.
Here’s when you can expect your dog to need blood testing throughout their lifetime:
At the first veterinary visit, the veterinarian will recommend routine blood testing to establish a baseline of your dog’s blood cell health and internal organ function. If you have a puppy that needs a spay or neuter procedure, the vet will likely check their blood work before their spay or neuter to make sure they can safely undergo anesthesia.
At annual wellness exams, the veterinarian may recommend routine blood tests including a complete blood count and a biochemistry panel (internal organ function testing), depending on your dog’s age and health needs.
As your dog matures (from 6-8 years old and onward), your vet may recommend increasing the frequency of blood testing to twice-yearly, depending on the health of the dog. This helps them catch early signs of age-related disease.
If your dog needs surgery, your veterinarian will order blood tests to ensure your dog can safely undergo anesthesia.
Pet Pro Tip: If your dog takes medication regularly, your vet may require annual blood work to determine the drug is working and not causing any problems with internal organs.
At any point, if your dog is acting off — this could mean changes in appetite or behavior, or loose poops without a clear cause — you can take them to the vet to figure out what’s wrong. If a physical exam doesn’t reveal the problem, the vet may order a blood, urine, or fecal test to learn more.
Keep in mind that dogs with special health needs may need more frequent blood testing. If your dog has diabetes, for instance, they will need regular testing to check on their blood glucose levels.
What to expect during your dog’s blood test
Blood tests are relatively simple diagnostic screenings that veterinarians commonly use to check a pet’s health. While your dog might not love being poked,, it’s really a quick and non-invasive way to rule out or diagnose many health problems.
If your dog needs a blood test, a veterinary professional (likely a technician) will help restrain them and hold off the vein while another team member draws blood from a vein either in the leg or neck.
Depending on the blood test, your dog’s blood work results will be ready for you anywhere from 30 minutes up to a week after the appointment. The length of time it takes to get results depends on whether the blood tests can be run in the hospital or if the blood has to be sent to a lab.
Depending on your dog’s age and health status, your veterinarian may recommend one or more of these blood tests:
Most common blood tests for dogs:
- Complete blood count (CBC): A CBC checks on the number, size, and type of your pet’s red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. It can also detect blood parasites.
- Serum biochemistry profile: A biochemistry profile, also known as a basic metabolic panel (BMP), checks your pet’s internal organ function, electrolyte levels, blood sugar, and certain enzyme levels.
- Heartworm Testing: Dogs need heartworm testing at least once a year, or more often if they show symptoms or miss a dose of heartworm preventive medication. The vet will test your dog’s blood for proteins associated with adult heartworms, or with a microfilariae test that detects heartworm larvae in the bloodstream.
- Thyroid panel: A thyroid panel checks your pet’s thyroid function. Thyroid problems are more common in senior dogs, so a veterinarian may recommend this test as your dog gets older.
- SDMA: Symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA) is a sensitive biomarker for kidney function that can detect kidney disease much earlier than older tests.
- ACTH Stimulation Test: This test is one of the easiest ways to detect Cushing’s disease, a fairly common hormonal disease in middle aged dogs.
Additional blood tests for dogs:
- Bile acids testing: This test checks your dog’s liver function.
- Gastrointestinal (GI) panel: This test can detect abnormalities in the blood associated with diseases like pancreatitis.
- Genetic testing: Genetic testing can reveal your dog’s ancestry and determine whether they have any risks for genetic diseases.
- Allergy testing: Blood tests are also available to help show the environmental substances that may be causing a pet’s allergy symptoms. However, skin testing is recommended first as it is more sensitive and specific.
- Tick-borne pathogen panel: If your dog has been bitten by a tick or is exhibiting symptoms that correlate with tick-borne disease, then your vet may recommend running this test for Lyme disease, Ehrlichia, and a few other tick-borne illnesses.
Understanding your dog’s blood test results
Blood testing is important not only for establishing your pet’s baseline vitals, but also for getting a head start on diagnosing and treating common conditions that can make your dog sick.
Your dog’s blood work holds a ton of key information about nearly every organ in the body, so the results may be overwhelming for pet owners unfamiliar with medical terminology. Don’t panic: The veterinarian or their team will walk you through the most important findings and make recommendations for treatment.
What does a blood test show for a dog?
With that being said, here are some common indicators of health issues that might show up on your dog’s CBC panel (the standard blood panel).
- Anemia: indicated by a low red blood cell count
- Infection, inflammation, stress, or cancer: indicated by a high white blood cell count
- Bleeding condition, autoimmune disease: indicated by a low platelet count and low red cell count
Interpreting CBC results is fairly simple, at least compared to other blood panels. There are normal reference levels for dogs, just like there are for cats, humans, and other mammals.
For other blood tests — those that measure thyroid hormone, blood sugar, or other indicators of organ function — the veterinarian will look at your dog’s past results to identify any significant changes over time. This is one of the reasons why blood work is a key part of preventive care for dogs: understanding your pet’s baseline when they’re healthy makes it easier to tell when they’re sick.
Baseline blood testing helps the veterinary team establish what’s normal for your dog. The idea here is to get a full overview of your pet’s internal chemistry. While your dog might seem like the picture of health on the outside, analyzing their blood is a surefire way to rule out any hidden illnesses or early signs of diseases.
How much does blood work cost for dogs?
Blood tests can vary greatly in price, depending on whether your dog needs routine blood work or a specialized panel. Routine blood work, which includes a CBC and biochemistry panel, typically costs between $100 and $200 depending on where you get it done.
More specialized blood tests — like a thyroid panel or heartworm screening — can range between $35 for a heartworm test and $150 for a thyroid panel. Depending on whether the test is diagnostic or preventive, it may or may not be covered by pet insurance.
Traditional pet insurance plans can help you cover the cost of diagnostic blood tests if your pet gets sick or hurt in the future. But for preventive bloodwork, you might want to consider a program like the Pumpkin Wellness Club to help you save on costs. Members can get $50 per year for routine blood testing, plus more cash to put towards vaccines and other wellness care.
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