Bringing your pet in for their annual and bi-annual check-up is the first step towards a long, happy and healthy life. Just as your hoooman doctor will check for your vital signs, weight, and other conditions, your veterinarian will also want to check vital signs, perform a physical examination, and obtain basic medical information about your pets. However, there are only so many pieces of your pet’s overall health that can be gathered from only looking on the outside during the physical examination.
“Tests should be selected so they give us information that leads to reduced morbidity and mortality.”- Doc Nicole
A tremendous amount more can be learned about what is going on inside the body by performing important diagnostic testing on a routine basis. Some of these further tests could include: heartworm testing for bantay and mingming, feline leukemia (FeLV) and feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) testing, complete blood cell counts (CBC), serum chemistry panels, fecal testing, urine testing, tick-borne disease panels, and even eye-pressure screenings. Just like you and I, dogs’ and cats’ bodies can hide many abnormalities(oh what a long list if you'd ask me!) on the inside while outwardly looking pretty okay naman or feeling great. Getting diagnostic information from the inside helps our veterinarians detect diseases early on (important ito) and allows us to better come up with treatment plan to help your pet remain as healthy as possible. Additionally, the earlier we are able to catch diseases, the more options we have for treatment (early bird catches the worm?)!
We don't "milk" money from pet owners just because we ask for laboratory tests, we just want to make sure that we give the proper treatment and care for your pets making every coin of yours worth it.