Regular Check-Up...What To Look/Ask For?

[luckypenny]

I'm taking Ava for a check up tomorrow. I've only taken her to the vets twice since she arrived over 2 years ago. Once soon after she got here for her vaccinations and once last year for a Lepto booster before we moved to our new home.

She's about 5-6-7 years old . I was thinking of asking for a blood test to get a base reading that we can compare future ones to. Is a urine test necessary?

She's very healthy as far as I can tell. She had problems walking longer distances and doing stairs when she first arrived. She also used to growl when anyone brushed by/touched her hip area. After getting her onto a good diet and starting gluco supplements, as well as building muscle in her hind legs, she's no longer grumpy when I'm near her hind area (it's been at least a year since her last growling incident). She runs wild with the rest of them (only tires faster than they do), flies up and down the stairs when they're chasing, and wrestles like a fool . Should I ask for x-rays just in case at this point? Is there anything else in particular I should be asking for from the vet?

You'd think I never went to the vets before . I feel like a pro with our fosters but I've gotten used to our own guys never getting sick ( as I write this).

[Frenchy]

Originally Posted by luckypenny

Is a urine test necessary?

LP , if she's not drinking more , peeing more , having accidents , I would pass on the urine test , and go with the blood test.

[hazelrunpack]

I'd go for the blood test, too.

I'd think about the urine test, but probably pass unless I suspected something was amiss.

We would definitely pass on the xrays. Likely there is some arthritis there, but knowing the extent of it won't help you to treat it, since you typically treat the symptoms not the xrays, if you get my drift. And you're already managing her symptoms.

Xrays now would give you a baseline to compare to if something changes radically in the future, but even in that scenario, you'd still treat the symptoms--knowing how much change there had been wouldn't really be useful to know.

But if the vet had some compelling reason to want xrays, or even the urinalysis at this point, I'd certainly take his advice into consideration (even if we later decided not to take his advice ).

[rainbow]

Yep, I agree and think that only a blood panel should be done at this point.