Blood tests and drips: upsells or best practice?

I have a massive soft spot for what I call "golden oldies". Senior pets basically. Don't get wrong, I still love puppies and kittens, but senior pets are full of character, a life time of experience and just want a warm home to retire to!

A lot of the animals we operate on at work are over the age of 10 which classes them as "senior". I know that doesn't sound old when I've met dogs at the age of 15 and cats in their 20s, but that's all thanks to a well adapted lifestyle and health regime - pets genetically age quicker than we imagine! Giant breed dogs age even quicker!

When handling senior or geriatric health, a proactive approach is best. I always like my 14 year old cat to have a blood screen every 12-18 months so any age related diseases can be picked up in advance if showing symptoms, meaning treatment can be started early with a better prognosis.  For example, did you know a cat can lose up to 75% of their kidney functions before showing any noticeable symptoms?? Their body just copes up to that point. That scares the living daylights out of me. Thats why kidney disease is one of the most prevalent diseases in senior cats. My cat, Lucky, is my angel, the mere thought of her being poorly or old or God forbid, ever losing her, makes me want to cry.

When I suggest blood screening to owners of senior pets without symptoms of illness, I know they think I'm up selling and trying to make money. But its quite the opposite, I just believe in best practice. Anesthetic drugs lower animals' blood pressure to some extent, its a side affect of all sedative/GA drugs, and this is not ideal for any animal. It puts increased pressure on the organs because they're not getting the blood flow they require. If the animal is older, this affect can be very detrimental, even more so if they have a pre-existing condition such as kidney disease. All these factors increase the anaesthetic risk, and it is our job as veterinary professional to take steps to reduce this risk. To counteract this affect of lowering the blood pressure, we test for underlying disease through blood tests and administer intravenous fluids to increase the blood volume and bring up the blood pressure. 

Some people will always see this as un-neccessary, but if you go into hospital for an anaethetic, they will do exactly the same for you, to minimise the risk. And we treat every pet like we would our own, and for my baby, only the best will do!