"Dale Atkin" wrote in message
news:2ctfl.7265$PH1.4653@edtnps82...


"kat" wrote in message
net...
Is it a common thing for vets to not mention that an animal is anemic
when
results indicate it is? Or have we just been really unlucky in our
choice
of vets?

How anemic? What was the blood being run for? Were there any clinical
signs
of anemia?

With my daughter's cat back in September the presumptive diagnosis was
hepatic lipidosis. We didn't find out he was anemic at that time until we
asked for a copy of his records recently. Fast forward to two weeks ago and
my daughter had to rush him to a 24 hour clinic because he stopped breathing
and had swollen lymph nodes. They kept him for five days, ran all kinds of
tests and still didn't have a definitive diagnosis when he was released.
Again they never told my daughter that he was anemic and she didn't find out
until she got a copy of his records to take to still another clinic. That
was two different vets and neither one apparently thought it was pertinent
to tell her.

I also had a dog with CRF and I was never told when she was anemic (also a
different vet). I'm starting to think that this is common practice in our
area!




The thing about interpreting lab results, is the range of values isn't
always cut and dry as far as what 'normal' means. The machine will tell
you
that 'red cells were outside normal range', but what this means is up to
interpretation (its not necessarily indicative of a pathological
condition).
If its only slightly outside the 'normal' range, its not likely
significant
when dealing with many values (different sources will report different
'normal' ranges). By the same token, a 'normal' value might in fact be
significant depending on where inside the 'normal' range the animal is.

With my dog her very first blood work came out slightly outside the normal
range (Hemocrit and Hemoglobin) and when she was finally diagnosed and I
showed her new vet the past blood work she remarked that she was probably
dehydrated at that point.


Was the test run 'in house' or did they send it out?

Sent out in all cases.


Its also possible he
simply didn't believe the results (I've seen blood come back from a
healthy
dog that the lab would have you believe was from a dog on death's door
step). If the blood had clotted a bit, it could certainly mess with the
numbers (and the dog wouldn't be anemic, the culprit would be the machine
lying).

I think the vet should tell the client that and let the client decide what
to do about it.


This can cause a problem if the patient has already left when you
get the results back.

Telephone?


Was there any underlying reason to be concerned about
the CBC?

Yes in all but one out of four cases - which was a routine CBC
prior to dental surgery.

Another example, imagine you took a sample, and the dog was bouncing up
and
down like the Easter bunny. I'm willing to bet that you're likely going to
get a mildly elevated glucose. It isn't significant (well it is in so much
as it indicates stress, but not indicative of a pathological process,
diabetes mellitus would typically have much higher than 'borderline' under
these conditions).

This is why they pay the vets the big bucks .

Some are better at it than others - that's been my experience so far.



To interpret the results,
not to read back verbatim what the machine spits out
(what I've seen done
more often is the vet will come out with results in hand and explain step
by
step what each thing means, or doesn't, but in a case where the animal has
already gone home, I wouldn't say its unusual to just report 'no
significant
findings' in a case like this).


Please don't do that when you become a vet. I have learned the hard way to
*always* always* always* get a copy of the bloodwork. The first time or two
I didn't think it was that important. Not any more. Frankly I no longer
respect a vet who doesn't give me a copy (or fax me one if I've gone home),
explain the results to me and what he/she thinks it means. The client should
always be made aware of the results whether the vet thinks they are
significant or not. It is up to the client to decide if it is something
he/she wants to pursue.

Kathy