Skip to main content

Geriatric Profile Information

“Because We Care”

It is very important that we do all we can to ensure that your pet is always at its healthiest. Because of this, we recommend an annual Geriatric Health Profile for any animal that is 6 years of age or older.

As your pet grows older, we recommend performing basic bloodwork to evaluate your pets’ internal organs. There are many common age-related diseases that pets can suffer from. With early detection and treatment, we are able to manage your pet’s health needs. Some of these common age-related diseases are:

  • Kidney Disease
  • Dental Disease
  • Liver Disease
  • Thyroid Disease
  • Heart Disease
  • Diabetes

By performing the Geriatric Profile, we are able to provide a detailed look at your pet’s health from the inside. There are many conditions that cannot be diagnosed by physical examination looking, touching, and listening. The testing is broken up into four portions: Complete Blood Count (CBC), Chemistry Panel or Prep Profile, ProBNP testing, and T4 testing.

The CBC, Complete Blood Count, test provides us with important information regarding your pet’s Red Blood Cells, White Blood Cells and Platelets. Red blood cells provide information regarding your pet’s oxygen-carrying ability. White blood cells show us information about your pet’s immune system and overall health. Platelets are important to evaluate the ability of blood to clot properly. All of these values can be affected by certain diseases and infections.
The Comprehensive Diagnostic Panel (Chemistry/Chem17) provides useful indicators regarding your pet’s overall organ health. The panel evaluates your pet’s liver, kidneys, and intestines. These are commonly the organs that cause issues in older pets. By monitoring these levels, we are able to identify disease at an early stage, before your pet shows any symptoms. (May include or exclude electrolytes in testing.)
The Prep Profile also provides useful indicators regarding your pet’s overall organ health; however this profile is less extensive than the above Comprehensive Chemistry Panel.
ProBNP testing evaluates your pet’s heart. This test is designed to help detect the early stages of heart disease even in pets without symptoms. By testing your pet’s heart, we are able to determine the need for further diagnostics, including Radiographs, ECG’s, and Echocardiograms. Canine BNP is a send out test.
The Total T4 test provides us with information regarding your pet’s thyroid function.

Each of these tests provides the Doctor with crucial information regarding your pet’s health. If you have any questions regarding any of these tests, please do not hesitate to ask.

The recommended options for these tests are as follows:

  • The best option for the Geriatric Profile includes the CBC, Chemistry Panel, ProBNP, and T4 (listed above).
  • The less extensive option includes the CBC, Prep Profile, ProBNP, and T4 (listed above).
  • You may also choose individually from the options above.