How many of you do a blood panel once a year (e.g., when you pull blood for a coggins, say) as part of your horse’s annual healthcare? What are you looking for? What am I missing by not doing this?
In NY a negative Coggins is good for the calendar year it is taken and the following calendar year so I only pull blood for a coggins every other year.
My senior horse I did yearly blood work just to make sure all his numbers were still looking good and we were not missing anythinig.
I do the same with my senior dog and my dog that is on daily medications that can have long term affects on some organs.
Other than that I do not typically do a blood panel every year on anything.
1 Like
I don’t unless they are having some other issue that might need to be investigated.
I just lost my best mare last year at 30, once she reached about 26 and started having some old issues we pulled one just to investigate and to have a baseline for the future.
As the other poster stated if I have an older dog who starts acting puny I have one done on them too for the same reasons .
But I don’t do one on anybody every year .
1 Like
I started doing them every other year when my girls hit their late teens, and anytime there’s a questionable health issue
Before then, no blood panels unless medically necessary.
3 Likes
A blood panel is included in my annual wellness program targeted for seniors - my horses are 13 and 17. Not super senior, but old enough that I want to monitor stuff. My 17 yo mare’s panel recently showed signs of muscle inflammation and will have a couple of additional tests.
It may be overkill to some, but I am generally dedicated to preventative care whether it’s my horses, my dogs, or my cars. So far, my dogs have all lived very long and healthy lives and my last car hit 240K miles before I sold it. Fingers crossed for the horses.
5 Likes
No. Not unless it’s necessary.
3 Likes
I have not in the past, but am going to add it when we redo Coggins later this year since it’s not terribly expensive.
It can give you indications of something being amiss before the horse starts showing symptoms/obvious signs. A friend’s horse was seemingly healthy, but developed some behavioral issues under saddle. The bloodwork showed problems in the liver, and the behavioral symptoms went away completely once it was corrected. She is very glad they caught it and didn’t try to just train the behavior out of him.
4 Likes
Lots of you seem to use them in older horses, which makes perfect sense. I’ve been doing similar with my dogs for years. Horse in question is coming 13 this year so maybe now’s a good time to start getting a baseline.
2 Likes
I pull blood to check selenium and vitamin E only, yearly. When Horse gets older I pull a full blood panel once a year, and of course if they are Cushing’s and being treated I checked that every year as well. If Horse starts to lose top line or has any other odd change that could be associated with an endocrine problem I check that immediately
1 Like
You can do it now to get a baseline without committing to every year. Maybe every other year or even not again until 16 or 17 unless you have a specific concern.
4 Likes
Yearly blood work used to be part of my yearly vet plan where you paid a flat rate for “x” care plan.
My senior pony gets blood work 2x a year, the other two get bloodwork 1x a year in the spring.
2 Likes
With teenage Morgans, I do every year to check all the metabolic markers and just add the CBC at the same time. My oldest mare (29 this year) has had blood pulled for Cushings since she was 17, and she didn’t test positive until last year. So maybe it wasn’t worth those blood pulls on paper, but I liked the piece of mind.
I have a 19 year old Morgan mare that came to me last spring out of a neglect situation, and we’ve run a CBC on her 3 time since she’s been here- she’s had some weird findings related to red blood cells that have been inconsistently abnormal, if that makes sense (something is off, but not off in the same way across each test). She doesn’t act like a horse that’s sick, but until we get a better sense of what’s going on with her, she will definitely keep having it done.
Lots of great suggestions. I’ll probably do one this year and she enters her teenage years just to get a baseline, if nothing else, then at least I have it on file.
Thanks all!
I do an annual CBC, CMP, and Cushings and thyroid values. I do the same for my dog and cats (minus the Cushings and thyroid.) I like having baseline values so that if we have a problem we have the animal’s historical reference range.
1 Like
Thanks for the details! Are you testing Cushings and thyroid on a healthy horse? I never thought about getting an ACTH test as a baseline, but maybe that’s not a bad idea (though I think I’m in the wrong season for that). I guess I had been thinking more about a chemistry panel but CMP is not a bad idea, either (horse in question is prone to chonkiness and obesity if not fed/muzzled carefully in warmer months.
I’ve tested these levels almost as long as I’ve had the horse- he just looked like a Cushings horse and I was waiting for the diagnosis. It came 8 years later, but it meant that as soon as he moved into slightly equivocal range, we started him on Prascend because we had 8 years of suspicion and upward trend. I’ve done annual tests ever since to make sure his meds are appropriate.
1 Like
Last year I after talking to the vet we decided to pull insulin and T4 which I plan to do annually. My Fjord will be 6 in April and had a mild case of laminitis spring of 2021 so I want know baselines. I also did Vit E after learning the Vet E in CalTrace Plus isn’t stable for very long and was glad I did, because he was under the low range. I’ll prob do that again this spring to make sure we’re still at an acceptable spot given he is dry lotted.
I may start doing full panels at some point. I find knowing their baselines to be really helpful, esp if something does test out of range.
You all are so smart to be so proactive. Definitely going to talk to my vet about this. Seeing as how Dobbins is systemically healthy (rehabbing from a suspensory injury, hence the qualifier), coming 13 this year, and feels great under tack, now is probably a great time to do it.
Thanks for all the great ideas re: metabolic panels, thyroid, etc. in addition to standard CBC and chem. Appreciate the input!
I will for UL horses, along with base line rads before each season. I also do for older horses. Otherwise, as needed.
1 Like
