Dental pre-op bloodwork (janobonano)

Since hes young and healthy I would do the BUN if I was to give my 6 yr old a dental. When Bug was 10 yrs I did the Panel 12 because she was older, see what others say tho because that was the only time I had a dental done on my dogs.

I would go with the cheaper one.

I completely understand not wanting to spend the extra money -- but if I can play the "old broad" card -- I wish I could tell you how many times I've kicked myself in the butt LATER for never having taken the opportunity (or MADE the opportunity) to have a full panel drawn "on a healthy dog".

Because whether you need it in 6 months or 6 years knowing THEN what was "normal" for this dog when he was healthy?  You never do.  When his ALT and AST cross the line to "high" later on -- is it BAD or has it always been thus?

Even as recently as we got Tink -- and we spent a LOAD of money on her when we got her (and you remember that, I know) ... but we never did a blood panel (cos we didn't want to spend the extra money)

but a year later when she still didn't completely resolve from the demodex and then we did bloodwork and found WOW -- the ALT and AST were *very* high -- errr ... was it recent?  was it something she's going to be prone to?  was it wrong??

David and I now have a new "rule" -- everbuddy's gonna get bloodwork occasionally.  A newbie is GONNA get bloodwork.  Just plain **because**.

Simply because later on you can't ever capture that moment again.

And ... there ARE the times when that "healthy dog" really has something borderline going on that it would have been REALLY nice to have known about earlier.  And it would have cost a whole lot less had we known earlier and just been able to "monitor" it than to have had to gone thru a ton of diagnostic crap later on.

He's six.  He is now officiall a "senior".  To be perfectly honest?  I'd get bloodwork done and have the vet highlight it as "senior".  IN fact, if you ask them MOST vets/labs run a senior "special" -- and it may not cost a bunch less but it may include other stuff that will be nice to know (like a full urinalisys -- Antech's senior panel includes a bunch of stuff like that).  It's mostly a full panel with a couple of exceptions but you will at least have a baseline on a healthy dog.

Yeah -- Merry Christmas Rupert!

Will he die without it?  No.  But I'd hate to spend $13 and essentially have it be wasted than the $60 and have it really tell you something solid (and frankly a panel 12 is probably something your vet is doing in-house anyway so there may not be much of a "deal" there)

I'd raise the issue of his age and discuss with your husband what you can do.  Like I said -- he's not going to be desperate without it -- but it could provide a big answer sometime in the future.  But that's simply you learning at the expense of my hard-earned mistakes.

Just my opinion, but the way I see it, if your going to put your dog through the trouble of drawing blood then it's best to get everything out of the test as possible all at once. It's stressful enough on the dog to draw blood and be put under anesthesia, so why put him through that pain if your not going to take advantage of it?

Even if it's only for something as routine as a dental. I would want to take full advantage of the opportunity to make sure he has a clean bill of health. In my experience in animal care, I've seen "perfectly healthy" dogs come up with test that are rather unusual. Better to find out now then if or when he's really sick.

Also, say IF something was to happen later on where he did become ill, a vet could look back on his records to to help pinpoint what's going on and determine when it all started and how to go about handling the issue. I know there are a lot of IFs but I think it's better to be proactive then not know at all if fiances allow for it.

I'm biased (Pirate's vet warms up the blood machine when we walk in the door LOL.) but wanted to wish Roopy good luck tomorrow!!

 Thanks for the input, everyone!

Janice, I'm pretty sure that the creatinine level is important so you know how well the kidneys are functioning.  But, I definately hear ya on the not wanting to spend so much. 

 I'm up late working. Poor Rupey wants some water. But the vet said no food or water after 10 pm. Sorry buddy!

Awe, yea I remeber Bug asking for water and treats before her dental, seems like yesterday but it was 7 years ago I believe.

Good luck and I hope all goes well and the blood tests show a healthy visla boy with shiney white teeth!!

Good luck Roooopey!

Thanks everybuddy! I ended up just doing the BUN.

They said he did great. I almost cried when I left him, though! I made the good bye short and sweet, and walked out. I peeked back in (glass doors) and the tech was trying to get him to go in back. He was facing the door, with his lil butt planted firmly on the ground, front legs slightly splayed. I felt so bad! I could hear him saying, "Mama! Wait! You forgetted ROOPY!"

She said he might be groggy and it's normal if he doesn't want to eat, but he demanded his kibblez as soon as we got home. lol I took a quick peek in his mouth and everything looked great. 

Janice, I cannot even look at Willow as they walk her down the hall for bloodwork.  I know if I see her walking with her head turned looking at me I will cry. 

I'm so glad Rooooopert did so well.  We will need pictures of his beautiful teeth now.