- Not a substitute for professional veterinary help.
I hadn’t paid much attention to the annual bloodwork my vet orders for my older cats—until the information from a senior blood panel helped save my cat Zoe from exploratory surgery.
A few months ago Zoe stopped eating and became disoriented. We rushed her to the emergency hospital where they ran extensive blood tests. She perked up a bit after receiving subcutaneous fluids, but the tests showed that the numbers for her liver, gall bladder, and pancreatic functions were all dramatically out of line.
The hospital started antibiotics and the next day ran another round of blood tests. Numbers remained high. Zoe still refused to eat. Two days into this ordeal, the emergency vet called and told me with a sigh that it was probable that Zoe was suffering from serious health issues that had been building for quite some time. Zoe was, after all, a 17-year-old cat. The next step would be exploratory abdominal surgery and multiple expensive biopsies of key organs.
“Wait!” I said. “They just did a senior blood panel three months ago. And all Zoe’s numbers were perfect!”
I found the results of Zoe’s recent tests and read them to the emergency vet. He agreed that three months ago she’d been a healthy cat. As a result, he decided to treat her illness with antibiotics, steroids, and medications for the support of liver functions. It wasn’t a sure thing, but to everyone’s delight, Zoe recovered and is once again a healthy cat—and back to perfectly normal numbers.
What’s a Senior Blood Panel?
You’ll hear blood tests for cats referred to as “blood work,” “a blood panel,” “a blood count,” or “a chemistry panel.” They’re all part of the same thing. If your veterinarian wants to do a general assessment of your cat’s overall health (common if you are adopting a new cat, or your cat is entering old age) your vet may take blood for multiple tests. That group of tests is referred to as a “panel.”
A panel, often done at the same time as routine urinalysis, is likely to include these tests (as listed in the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery‘s 2021 AAFP Senior Care Guidelines):
- Complete blood count (CBC): These measure red blood cells, white blood cells, differential count, and platelets.
- Serum biochemistry panel (chemistry panel): These tests measure total protein, albumin, globulin, alkaline phosphatase, alanine aminotransferase, glucose, blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, potassium, phosphorus, sodium, and calcium.
Blood count and blood serum tests tell your vet how well your cat’s kidneys, liver, and thyroid gland are working. For instance, results from the blood glucose test will reveal if your cat is diabetic or pre-diabetic, while the white blood cell count can signal infection or some types of cancer. Red blood cell counts provide information about anemia, and also unusual types of protein.
The Catnip newsletter from Tufts University’s Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine goes into detail about each of these tests.
Does Your Cat Need a Blood Panel?
Elizabeth Rozanski, DVM, and associate professor of emergency and critical care in the department of clinical sciences at Tufts, says blood work is a good idea for cats entering middle age. “When a cat reaches middle age—seven or eight years old—it’s a good idea to have a baseline test done. After that, it depends to an extent on how the cat is feeling,” she told Tufts’ Catnip newsletter.
After the initial test, a second test could probably wait until the cat is 10 or 11 years old, Rozanski says. But keep in mind that if your cat is having surgery or dental treatment that requires anesthesia, most vets will require a blood panel to make sure the cat is healthy enough to handle anesthesia.
At the minimum, a blood panel for your senior cat gives your veterinarian important basic information about your cat’s health as they enter old age where they are likely to encounter health problems. If two years later, your cat’s kidney values are inching up, your vet can see that your cat has moved from normal to high-normal and can begin taking steps to slow the progression of kidney disease.
Sometimes a blood panel will reveal health problems that need to be addressed immediately and your veterinarian will likely prescribe medications or a change of diet. In other cases, abnormal results from a blood panel may lead your vet to recommend a second level of testing to get more detailed information about a specific health issue, such as thyroid disease.
Blood panels for senior cats can cost as much as $200 for the suite of basic tests (sometimes less if they are bundled with other services). Pricing varies quite a bit depending on the region where you live and the proximity of veterinary testing laboratories. (According to the ASPCA and fetch, some pet health insurance plans cover pet bloodwork, but usually only when related to an accident or illness—not generally for preventative care.)
The bottom line is that you should talk with your veterinarian about when your older cat needs to have a full panel of blood tests.
For me, having Zoe’s result blood results handy as part of her routine senior care made all the difference during her health crisis.