We can learn so much about your pet’s health from a simple blood test or a few X-rays. At Independent Veterinary Hospital, we know a thorough physical exam may come up short in helping us understand your pet’s condition, especially if they’re seeing us because they feel unwell. When we need more information to answer your questions and guide your companion’s treatment, we have our cat and dog X-ray equipment and in-house testing lab to bolster our efforts. If we need to take an additional step in finding out what’s wrong, we have the tools to help us do so efficiently and accurately.
Even if your pet is healthy, we still recommend annual wellness checkups and blood work. Contact us at (757) 473-8560 or request an appointment online.
Why We Recommend Blood Testing for Dogs and Cats
Animals hide pain and illness out of instinct, and compared to us, they age rapidly. Since it isn’t always easy to tell what’s going on under the surface, the best way to set a baseline and keep tabs on their health is to do routine blood and fecal testing at least once a year. This means if we do find something abnormal in your pet, we can quickly formulate a treatment plan to stop the problem in its tracks. Early detection is a critical part of your pet’s lifetime of care and can help them live longer!
Here in Virginia Beach, we recommend blood and fecal testing to screen for parasites, organ dysfunction, UTIs, anemia, and more. For routine, comprehensive tests, we usually send out to reference labs to get your pet’s results.
Types of testing we offer include:
- CBC (complete blood count)
- Blood chemistry
- Heartworm testing
- Testing for Lyme disease, ehrlichiosis, and other tick-borne diseases
- Fecal testing
- Urinalysis
Digital X-Ray is a Window into Your Pet's Health
Our digital X-ray machine is a powerful tool for diagnosing a multitude of conditions. We can use it to identify bone fractures and other abnormalities or detect diseases of the heart and lungs. Sometimes, we can catch abnormal masses or discover a foreign body in the gastrointestinal tract with X-rays. While we do not recommend X-rays as a routine measure for healthy adult pets, we may recommend them for senior pets, especially if they are living with chronic diseases.