Did you choose to have pre-operative blood work for your cat?

[bodenbiscuit]

My cat was spayed last week and the vet said I could have this done to make the operation safer. It was £48. I chose to have it done but does everyone?

The last time Seniorboy had a GA, he happened to be up for blood work ayway - so Yes, I did have it done. (He doesn't have it done nowadays only because it's impossible to get it from him in the normal course of things so the vet makes judgements on his state by condition, weight etc etc.) It cost a bit more than £48 though.

Maybe one of the vets who post can give you a view on the advisability of having it done. I think I still probably would because a full blood analysis can pick up so much that the eye can't see, even in a young cat. (I always take GAs very seriously though.)

Yes and I am very glad we did. Very early stage kidney failure was picked up. Because it was detected so early, the vet has been able to manage it with a change of diet and medication. Had he not had the tests, we would have been none the wiser and his kidney failure would have got much worse.

I chose to have it done as I felt it was worth the piece of mind. But the vet said some people choose not to if the cat is young.

I can understand that actually. Blood work isn't cheap especially when added to an op and people often think of only older cats as having major or systemic health problems. (Although my own idea of 'older' is a bit different these days to what it might have been a few years back; Seniorboy is now well over 20.) Unfortunately, while that may be largely true it's not invariably so.

As with many things for cats, it's a call people have to make. Watto's post is salutary in that regard.

We had the bloods done, I think it cost us £60. But MadFruCat is a 'senior adoptee' to us (possibly about 7 or 8 yo), so we had no idea about his health. Bloods came back fine . But, now I think about it, the vet said that if they didn't come back OK, then they wouldn't do the Op.

I feel much happier having had it done.

We're going to have to do it soon with DozyFruCat (also a 'senior adoptee', but about 5 or 6 yo), who also needs a non-urgent GA Op soon.

The previous owners seemed to have been a bit laissez-faire about the cats' health .

Nobbut teenagers, the pair of them!

The vets offered us it before neutering but pretty much said not to bother so we didn't. Would have been £120 extra for two cats so I went with their opinion.

You're right, cozie, and they're damn well acting like teenagers at the moment