What to Know About Pre-Anesthetic Bloodwork for Dogs and Cats
When your pet is scheduled for a spay or neuter surgery, it is normal to have questions about what to expect and how to prepare.
One option we offer ahead of surgery is pre-anesthetic bloodwork. This bloodwork is not required, and your pet will receive excellent care regardless. Some pet guardians choose it because it provides additional information and peace of mind going into surgery.
What is pre-anesthetic bloodwork?
Pre-anesthetic bloodwork is a simple blood test done before surgery. It looks at several important health markers, including:
- Red and white blood cells
- Kidney function
- Liver function
- Signs of infection or inflammation
These results help paint a clearer picture of your pet’s overall health at the time of surgery.
Why bloodwork can be helpful before surgery
Anesthetic medications are processed and cleared from the body by the liver and kidneys. Bloodwork helps us understand how those organs are functioning before your pet goes under anesthesia.
Even when a pet looks healthy and feels well, there can be internal changes that are not visible during a physical exam alone. Bloodwork gives us information we cannot get any other way.
This added insight can be especially reassuring for pet guardians who want to feel confident they have all the available information before surgery day.
Especially helpful for pets in the middle to senior years
Pre-anesthetic bloodwork can be particularly helpful for pets in the middle to senior stages of life, especially dogs and cats in the seven to ten year age range.
This is a time when we often start to see subtle changes in bloodwork, even though pets may still look and act completely healthy. These changes can appear before any outward signs of illness develop, making them easy to miss without screening.
Bloodwork at this stage can help identify early shifts in organ function or other values while they are still mild and manageable. For many pet guardians, this added information feels reassuring, especially when their pet is entering surgery and there are no visible symptoms to guide decision making.
For older pets, pre-anesthetic bloodwork offers valuable insight that helps support thoughtful care planning, even when everything appears normal on the surface.
A valuable baseline for future health
Even when bloodwork results are completely normal, they still serve an important purpose.
Those results become a baseline reference for your pet’s health. If your pet ever becomes sick later in life or needs bloodwork again, having previous results allows veterinarians to see what has changed over time. This can support earlier detection and more informed treatment decisions.
Excellent care either way
Choosing pre-anesthetic bloodwork is always optional. It does not change the level of care your pet receives before, during, or after surgery.
Some pet guardians appreciate having extra information and reassurance. Others are comfortable proceeding without bloodwork. Both choices are respected, and our clinic team is happy to support you either way.
Questions? We are happy to help
If you have questions about pre-anesthetic bloodwork, spay or neuter surgery, or what feels right for your pet, our clinic team is always happy to talk things through.
To learn more or to book a spay, neuter, or wellness appointment at our clinic, visit peterboroughhumanesociety.ca/clinic.