Veterinary Medical Practices: Laboratory Procedures

Introduction to Lab Procedures

1.   Laboratory test are a routine part of veterinarian medicine.

2.   Because laboratory tests provide important and potentially life saving information, veterinarians consider lab tests vital not only to preventative care, but also to the treatment of illness and disease.  potentially lifesaving information, veterinarians consider lab tests  not only to preventive care but also to the treatment of illness and disease.

3.   At the end of the day, we really need _____________ to support what we find TWeVeternarians need a diagnostics to support what is found in a physical exams and help lead us to a proper diagnosis.

 

Blood Examinations

1.   Blood tests, such as the CBC can be used as an exhaustive tool to determine potential irregularities within an animal.

2.   We will add three drops of blood to our sample tube and then we will add four drops of conjugate.

3.   As you can see there is a very dark blue-green dot in the upper left-hand corner of the result window, that is our control.

 

Fecal Examinations

1.   Internal parasites live in an animal’s gastrointestinal tract and can only be detected by a fecal analysis.

2.   A fecal floatation, often simply called a float is the most common used in veterinary clinics.

3.   If a patient has an overburden of some of these parasites, you should be able to see _____________ per view.

  1. We do not ever say that We dont ever say that a fecal test was negative, because we are only taking a portion of the sample.

 

Urine Examinations

1.   Urine can be examined in three ways, physical, chemical and microscopic.

2.   Highly concentrated urine, meaning urine with very little water is a sign of dehydration.

3.   Large numbers of white blood cells could mean there is an infection.

 

Culture & Sensitivity Tests

1.   Sometimes bacterial infections in animals fail to get better, regardless of treatment.

2.   In this instance a culture and sensitivity test should be conducted to identify the strain of bacteria or other pathogen and determine the drug most effective in inhibiting growth of the problem.

3.   Knowing the exact pathogen and list of most appropriate medications allows the veterinarian to determine the most effective method of treatment.