Newbury Animal Hospital

96 Hanover Street
Newbury, MA 01951

(978)465-2777

newburyanimalhospital.com

Newbury Animal Hospital - Newbury, MA

What is Wellness Screening?


"Lottie is fine! Why would we run blood tests when there's nothing wrong with her?  Wellness tests are blood tests performed to ensure the health of your pet. These blood tests allow us to anticipate any problems before the illness becomes apparent and intervene to modify the disease process.  Early detection of a disease process can slow or stop it before necessary treatment becomes more extensive and more costly.  

Note: Please check our Specials Page for heavily discounted lab packages available for patients to get a baseline picture of what is normal for your pet. The goal is to be able to discern changes over time.


Pets are great at hiding disease, and often, by the time they look sick,  it is more difficult to help them. The most important aspect of blood work is to monitor changes over time, to ensure that our treatment and management decisions are effective. Wellness screening changes as your pet goes through different life stages.

After surgery

Tests generally include the following:

-Complete Blood Count
-Electrolyte Profile
-Chemistry Profile
-Thyroid Function Test
-Urinalysis

hungry cat

Pre-Anesthetic Testing:


Although anesthesia and surgery today are very safe, some risks still exist. By performing a physical examination and conducting some simple tests before putting your pet under anesthesia, we can minimize those risks even further. Our pets can’t talk to us and tell us when they are not feeling well. Often, the only way we can find out something is wrong is through diagnostic testing. Then, steps can be taken to reduce potential complications. The anesthetic protocol can be adjusted, or treatment for the medical condition can be started before surgery to ensure that your pet is healthy enough for anesthesia.

Testing can identify many pre-existing conditions that may pose a significant health risk to your pet. These conditions include heart, liver, and kidney problems or systematic diseases such as diabetes or cancer. Although procedures such as neuters, spays, and dental cleanings are often considered “routine” they are anesthetic procedures. Where surgery is concerned, preanesthetic testing can help ensure the best outcome for your pet. Preanesthetic testing gives our veterinary team the knowledge to keep your pet safe during the surgical procedure.

We will take a small amount of blood from your pet and run the bloodwork prior to the procedure. We will have the results generally within 20 minutes. It gives us the opportunity to make the necessary adjustments to the anesthesia and monitoring protocols to ensure the best outcome.