In-House Laboratory
Whitehaven Veterinary Center has the capability to perform various blood tests, pre-anesthetic bloodwork, and other types of testing on site instead of sending samples to an outside lab. This saves time, money, and most importantly, you don’t have to wait overnight for results—meaning your pet gets a diagnosis and needed treatment sooner.
Testing provided in the hospital includes:
HEARTWORM 4DX TEST
This blood test checks for heartworm disease as well as 3 tick-borne diseases (Lyme disease, ehrlichia, and anaplasmosis) simultaneously. We recommend that all dogs (even those on year-round heartworm preventative) receive an annual heartworm test to eliminate the possibility of tick-borne illness. Additionally, if detected early, each of these diseases is treatable. A yearly 4DX test helps to ensure that an infected animal receives the necessary treatment as soon as possible.
SENIOR BLOODWORK
During your pet’s visit, we will use our in-house laboratory to perform a complete and thorough physical examination to try to identify any physical abnormalities. However, there are many disease symptoms that can only be identified through other means, such as blood tests. Dogs and cats age much faster than humans, and their organs systems can deteriorate at a much faster rate. Therefore, we will recommend appropriate testing for your pet at certain ages.
Senior bloodwork can help to . . .
- Establish healthy baseline values. Many patients show subtle changes in their blood values over time. The changes cannot be identified without knowing the normal level for that individual patient.
- Identify unseen disease processes at an early stage.
- Identify an ongoing disease process before symptoms are evident, increasing the likelihood of a successful outcome.
- Eliminate the need to wait for obvious signs of tragic illness.
- Serve as a pre-anesthetic health screen for any surgical or dental procedure.
- Prevent the use of medications that may be unsafe for a pet’s medical condition or health status.
FECAL EXAMS
An intestinal parasite examination is important to help maintain the health of both dogs and cats. The intestinal parasite exam is a simple laboratory procedure in which your pet’s feces are examined under a microscope for the presence of parasite eggs. All that is necessary for this test is a recent fecal sample. We recommend this test be performed on an annual basis.
While we do offer an extensive range of on-site testing, it is possible that your pet may need laboratory work beyond our scope. For those cases, we are happy to send blood work or other testing to an outside lab that will send results back to us.
Schedule A Test For Your Pet Today
For more information on our Davenport Vet Center’s in-house lab services or to schedule your pet for testing, call us at 563-386-9680.
