Hi John. You’re right – it is unusual in dogs to diagnose cancer from a blood test alone, as most lymphoid tumours are solid tissues, not in the bloodstream like leukaemia. I’m sorry for your loss.

don’t know if its rare to diagnose cancer from a blood test, because your not mentioning it in your list.
She was diagnosed stage 4 lymphoma _leukemia, in her spleen and blood, and got very bad in less then a weeks time from first symptom (fever). Didnt eat, had a hard time walking normally and started breathing heavy. Tragiclly We were forced to let her go because of anemia.

Hi Leone. If your dog is under a year of age and healthy, you can consider blood testing as optional. It’s not common that are problems found that would change or delay the anaesthetic so the risk of missing something is reasonably low. As for the cost of the drip, you will probably find that other vets include this as a standard in desexing – I certainly think that if you really believe something is necessary it should not be an option.

Hi Chrisanne. Although I can only guess from this distance, the episodes you are describing sound most like focal or partial seizures. You can find information on them in our page on seizures. If I am right, they usually don’t show up on a blood test, aren’t easily treated, and may in fact not be like regular seizures at all. What you are doing sounds sensible and given that they only happen every few months (and I hope only happened for a few minutes each time) I think your approach is quite suitable.