Blood work pre-neuter/spay?

Ellipsis

Did you get blood work done before you neutered or spayed your dog? Why or why not? The 2 vets I am looking into are pretty much identical except for this. Is it just to test for anesthesia issues?

PolarBearFans

We did for all 3 cats. It's just safer. It can reveal issues that would make anesthesia a bad option. Any time your pet or even people go under anesthesia there is also a risk that they may not come out of it. Not to be all grimm about it but with the money already being spent its worth it to spend a little more to help improve the odds.

Mryan209

It ensures your dog is healthy enough to be put under anesthesia and can also provide good baseline numbers for your vet to have on hand in case later bloodwork needs to be done.  I would absolutely have it done. 

Niffa2003

My vet doesn't require it for dogs under 7 but I had it done anyway.  I'm glad I did, I found out Charlie had at one time had a tick-borne infection/illness.  I opted to have the additional bloodwork done to make sure it wasn't active (it wasn't thank god!!).  I'm pretty sure he had gotten the tick bite from the lady we got him from (she had a farm besides rescuing dogs and a lot of woods around it).  The bloodwork wasn't too expensive since it's all routine.

kristinanddan

I would definitely have it done. A friend brought her dog in to be spayed, and the bloodwork revealed something (I can't remember what for the life of me), that was bad enough that the vet said he wouldn't spay the dog.

kellbell1919

I would definitely do it, its to make sure they don't have any underlying issues that would make surgery risky.  I'd also make sure they have heart and blood pressure monitoring during the surgery.  

Our dog has had clean bloodwork in the past two years, went under a general sedative for a routine procedure and stopped breathing.  It's an awful experience and I would definitely take this one easy step to limit the likelihood of complications for your pet.

groovingirl

I didn't for one of my dogs, but did for my puppy because there was a possibility he was born from a mill dog and we just wanted to make sure he didn't have any issues. 

Ellipsis

Thanks for the info, I'll make sure our vet knows we want blood work done!