Pre-anaesthetic blood tests
Recently George, a fourteen year ago cat with smelly breath came into our clinic. We checked out his mouth and found his teeth were in a poor state with lots of calculus (brown deposits) on his teeth and gingivitis (inflammation of his gums) present. He had lost a little weight recently and we were unsure whether this was related to the state of his teeth or if he had other underlying problems. We decided to perform a pre-anaesthetic blood test prior to him having a general anaesthetic to have his teeth checked and cleaned. On the pre-anaesthetic blood test we discovered that he was in the early stages of kidney failure and that this was likely to be contributing to his weight loss. With this information we decided to go ahead with the dental procedure anyway, but were able to modify the anaesthetic regime to avoid damaging the kidneys further. These modifications included putting George onto a drip during the anaesthetic to help maintain his blood pressure and avoiding the use of drugs with the potential to damage the kidneys. George came through his anaesthetic and recovery period without a problem and is currently having his kidneys supported with a special diet and medication.
Although pre-anaesthetic blood tests cannot forewarn us of all potential anaesthetic complications, they can assist us in cases where there are underlying problems we are unaware of on examination of an animal. They are of particular use in older animals, where some diseases such as kidney failure do not become apparent until they are at a fairly advanced stage.