How often do you have blood work done?

[lisalee]

Sash just turned 12 and had his annual yesterday with blood work. I was kinda sorry I did though since the vet asked me. Sash is usually pretty good there, he was horrible this time, hissing and growling. They had to put a muzzle on my poor boy.:( I felt horrible and was so worried about the stress it caused him. I usually have his blood work done once a year, I'm seriously afraid to next time now. My mom never had blood work done each year. Do most of you do this once a year with older cats? I know they suggest twice a year.

[jenluckenbach]

None of my cats are over 10 right now. So I do not have blood work done regularly (yet), I had Lucas and Monte done once each. Monte was before dental work, he will be due again soon. Lucas was just done this year as his first Senior profile. I do not think I will do it yearly until they are OLDER unless there is reason for alarm.

[Uabassoon]

I wish I could offer some advice. Both of my cats are young, Corkscrew is 3 and Tibby is 2. I've had bloodwork drawn on Corkscrew once when he was sick, but so far I haven't needed to with Tibby. I do think that when they older I would like to get it done one a year, but I guess it would also depend on how healthy they were and how well they reacted to the stress of getting it done.

[Grace]

Our cats are 1.5 - 2 - 3 - 6 and 8.
We just recently started getting maintenance blood work done every year - for each of them. Not a one has seemed to mind it. They all get more upset about having to go in the crate for the ride to the Vet.

[Craftlady]

Everyone is young in our house 2 to 5 yrs (even Mom is young at heart :) )
Only through illness has blood work has been done so far to date.Unless there is something specific I would not put them through annual bw for routine.

[krazyaboutkatz]

I had to have bloodwork done on both Storm and Sunny before their dental cleanings. I don't have it done annually though and I only do it when I have to.
Now that Storm is getting older, he'll be 9 in Jan., I may need to have his done annually. The rest of my furkids are still quite young. Sunny is 4 and both Sky and Cirrus are 2.

[slick]

Both myself and Debbie (Tubby and Peanut's Mom) have older kitties. My Speckles is 17 and Max is 11. I do NOT have bloodwork done every year. I believe it is not necessary if kitty is peeing, pooping, eating and drinking normally and generally acting normal. I think it's a waste of money ($100 Canadian each time). However, I do not hesitate in getting it done if they show any signs of sickness or before dental sir jury.

Speckles had her first geriatric blood work done in December 2002 just when I joined Pet Talk because she started drinking excessive amounts of water. The tests revealed that her kidney's were starting to fail and she needed to be switched to a low-protein diet. I did not retest her again until recently when she had a few consecutive days of cronic vomiting and diarrhea. Turns out she's OK.

[jazzcat]

Ripley is 12 1/2 and has only had it done before his dental and once when he was extremely sick. My vet has never mentioned having it done annually but when I took my Dad's cat to their vet this year they wanted to do a whole "senior workup" on her and she's only 8.:confused: I didn't do it because it's dad's money and if my vet doesn't feel Ripley needs it then I'm going with his opinion over the other vet.

[boscibo]

I tend to get bloodwork done on my older animals every six months. I consider over ten years to be older. It costs around $85, and I'm not rich, but for my peace of mind it is worth it. It also gives me a baseline to see potential problems by comparing earlier bloodwork with current results

Sometimes I feel I'm a paranoid worry-wart person...

[Logan]

Mimi is 15. I have never requested bloodwork to be done on her. She has an annual checkup from our vet and so far, except for a few isolated incidents over the years, has been quite healthy and still is. Trips to the vet are very upsetting for Mimi and my vet has not suggested that we do extra testing in her senior years. We just take each day, one at a time, and of course, if something were to seem strange in her behavior or eating habits, I would have her there in a second!

Logan

[Tubby & Peanut's Mom]

Slick and I are running a geriatric ward called Feline Foggies. :D

At the US division of Feline Foggies, Tubby gets his blood tested every 6 months. He's 18 1/2 now and he got his first blood test when he was 15. I had taken him in then first of all, just because he was 15 and it had been years since he'd been to the vet, so I took him in just for that reason. But he was throwing up a lot too, so I figured it's time for the old guy to go. They diagnosed him as being in the early stages of kidney failure and suggested I bring him back every 6 months for a check up blood test to keep monitoring his kidneys. So far so good, and I could probably skip it once or twice, but he still throws up a lot, which makes me worry, which makes me keep the 6 month appointments. They had been doing a "complete" work up on the blood, which cost over $200.00 every 6 months! :eek: But when I took Peanut to a different vet and her test cost less than $100.00, and it basically gave the same info, I finally questioned the vet on the "complete" work up. I mean really, they were testing him for FELV, etc every 6 months, even though he's an inside only cat! I told them that was ridiculous and I wasn't paying for that anymore, so they supposedly are now doing some sort of "modified" work up, which still monitors the kidney levels.

So anyway, not that you've got an entire book on Tubby's semi-annual visits........

[lisalee]

Thanks for your replies everyone. I'm not so sure I will have it done again unless it's nescessary. I just can't put my boy thru that stress again, I just never knew he would behave like that since he's had blood work done the last few years and was pretty good about it. I'm just such a worried mom all the time and want to make sure my boy's ok. :)

[catfancier]

I hope that it was just an isolated incident for Sash. Provided money was no object I would get yearly or twice-yearly blood work done on my pets, it gives the vet a baseline to help them determine a change in my cats physiology, and as I have a Siamese, they are more prone to kidney problems because of their teeth and breath. I'm thinking about it in a graphical sense - detecting changes in an animals physiology/metabolism from being seemingly healthy to old age, you would be able to plot how much of a decline was happening, how fast it was occuring and how effective any treatments are. Makes sense to me.