Proper anesthetic principles begin long before we administer any anesthesia. Prior to any anesthetic your pet is given a thorough physical exam. The next step involves pre anesthetic diagnostic tests, which will vary depending on the age of your pet, why it is being anesthetized, and of course in our hospital especially, what species. Several tests are recommended by our doctors, either individually or in combination.
This blood sample is performed in our own hospital's laboratory. From the time we take the sample until we get results is less than 30 minutes. It is used for young pets, apparently healthy pets, and for routine surgeries like spays, neuters, and declaws. The total cost is $30.00
Organs that are important for the metabolism of the anesthesia we will be administering are targeted. Five specific areas are monitored:
To run these tests we take less than a teaspoonful of blood from your pet. This blood is put into 2 separate test tubes for analysis. The first set of tests is performed with our QBC machine, the second set with our serum chemistry analyzer.
The first series of tests are run on our QBC machine:
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This is the first tube we put some of your pets blood into. It contains 1 ml of whole blood, the equivalent to 1/5th of a teaspoon. It is called a lavender top tube because it has chemicals (Ca EDTA) in it to prevent clotting of the RBC's. If the RBC's clot, we can not count them. The unclotted RBC's are siphoned from the lavender top tube and placed into a special tube that is used by our QBC machine. |
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The tube filled with blood is spun down in a special centrifuge to reveal these bands. These bands are used by the QBC machine to count the RBC's and WBC's. |
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The special tube is placed in our QBC machine. The process of analyzing your pets RBC's and WBC's is automated by this machine. The end result is greater accuracy and speed. The report is printed out, analyzed by the surgeon, and placed in the medical record. |
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This is an actual report from one of our pre anesthetic tests. The 48.3 is a measurement of the percent of RBC's in the blood stream. The 345 is a measurement of the platelets. The 10.1 is a measurement of how many WBC's are present in the bloodstream. The other numbers break down the WBC's into different components and give us information on the duration of infection (if there is an infection), the type of infection, and if there are any other problems besides infection or inflammation.
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Serum Chemistry Tests:
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This is what the serum separator tube looks like after 5 minutes in the high speed centrifuge. At the very bottom are the clotted RBC's, above that is the separator between the RBC's and the serum, and the fluid that remains on the top is the serum. |
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The serum that remains is placed into a special pipette and put into our VetTest 8008. The VetTest checks what are called "serum chemistries". These are specific compounds in your pets serum that give us a clue to the function of internal organs.
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For our pre anesthetic blood samples we check the ALT (Alanyl amino transferase) for liver problems, and CREAT (creatinine) for kidney problems. We picked these two tests because of the importance of the kidney and liver in the metabolism of the anesthetic we will be giving. |
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This is the report that is printed out. As you can see, this pet passed with flying colors. Its ALT was 33 (the normal range for this species is 0-77) and its CREAT is .97 (normal is .4-1.5). |
The standard blood panel, made up of a CBC (complete blood count) and BCP (biochemical profile), is a thorough test of many of your pets internal functions. It is much more thorough than the in house pre anesthetic blood panel, and consists of over 40 different parameters of internal health.
It is sent to one of our outside laboratories that maintain a high level of quality control by using highly automated and advanced laboratory equipment. The results of any blood panel submitted to this lab are faxed to us within 12-24 hours, therefore this sample must be submitted at least one day prior to anesthesia.
This blood panel is used for pets that seem ill, for older (geriatric) pets, for pets that have a problem discovered during an exam, and when your doctor feels he or she needs a blood panel that is more thorough than the in house pre anesthetic blood panel. In general, this test is one of the most important ones your doctor can order. It gives us a large amount of information on your pets internal status.
This test is used in conjunction with the standard blood panel. Its main goal is to assess the urinary tract (kidneys, ureters, and bladder).
It checks for inflammation, infection, specific diseases (sugar diabetes), and kidney function. It is obtained in our hospital and sent to the same lab that does our standard blood panel. The results are also available within 12-24 hours.
An electrocardiogram monitors the minute electrical activity within the heart. This sequenced electrical activity is what allows the heart to beat in a rhythmic way and continuously pump blood to all cells in the body. The electrocardiogram can help diagnose a heart that is having a problem but appears normal during a physical exam.
It is a painless procedure (the pain is for us trying to keep wiggly pets still for the 5 minutes it takes to obtain a reading) that is obtained with our EKG machine. The results are read by one of our doctors and are available within 24 hours.
The oscilloscope reads measures the electrical activity on the screen and prints out a report for analysis by the cardiologist.
Frequently, we fax the EKG strip to a veterinary cardiologist to ensure the highest quality of medical care. For routine pre anesthetic EKG's, the cardiologist faxes the report back within 1 hour, therefore the test can be performed just prior to anesthesia to increase its relevancy.
X-rays (more correctly called radiographs) of the chest (thorax) are another common pre anesthetic test. They are especially helpful for older (geriatric) pets and those with illness, especially breathing problems or heart conditions.
These are radiographs of a thorax, the most common area we radiograph before anesthesia. This is because this view allows us to analyze the heart and the lungs, both vital organs in regards to anesthesia.
Radiographs are taken in our Radiology Department. Radiographs are a very safe test that will cause no discomfort or harm to your pet. This is because you can not feel an x-ray, along with the fact that negligible radiation is used because of the precision of our x-ray machine and the sensitivity of the x-ray film. All radiation is continuously monitored.
When a significant disease process is present we occasionally need the help of an ultrasound prior to anesthesia. It is used only when one of our doctors deems it is necessary. This test can now be done in our hospital. The results are usually available within 24 hours of the test.
Ultrasounds are especially important in some heart diseases. An ultrasound of the heart is called an echocardiogram. It is very useful for pets that have significant dental disease because it assesses the heart valves that are commonly injured due to bacterial infection.
In this ultrasound picture of a small dog, we are looking at the liver and the heart. The abbreviations of the heart are: LV-left ventricle RV-right ventricle LA-Left atrium AOR-Aorta
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