Veterinary Hospitals of the Past - am I remembering wrong?

My cat Willow had his blood drawn on Monday I believe it was, to check for hyperthyroidism. Still haven't heard back from his vet. It also took a while (10 days maybe?) for me to hear back from his vet regarding blood work he had done the week prior too. I know they use an outside lab for some of their tests at least, and some of the tests were specialized and needed to be sent out.

I haven't had to have any blood work done on pets within maybe a decade, up until now. But back then I swear I was given the results of a basic chemistry profile at least, if not while I waited, at least by that afternoon.

Am I remembering wrong? You would think they could run at least basic tests such as a chem profile & CBC right there in their office. This is really starting to irk me, and I'm worrying that if this is 'technological advancement', this is what I'll be facing no matter which vet I take them to see in this area.

Some vets have the equipment and some don't. I suppose you could call around to ask if any local vets have the ability to run in-house chems.

But 10 days is too long even if they have to send it out. Give them a call and see what's going on.

That's what I thought, especially when his last labs came back abnormal and I still had to wait that long for a call back. I'm switching vets anyhow, but I am going to call tomorrow to see what the hold-up is and to request a copy to take elsewhere. Thanks!

My vet sends blood out and she gets the results back the next day.  Unless it's some very specialized test it shouldn't take 10 days.  I remember 3 years ago she sent blood to Texas A & M for a test and it didn't take 10 days to come back.

That's why I'm thinking this vet doesn't care. Or maybe she is only there a few days a week, but then shouldn't another vet there be calling me with 'abnormals'? These were abnormally elevated cardiac & liver levels. You would think they'd call me immediately so that I could decide my next step.

When I get bloodwork done, more so on the dogs than the cats, if the results aren't done before I leave I expect a call by the end of the day. I understand if they had to send something out it taking a day or so, but blood samples have to be overnighted so more than 3 days is too long.

Depending on the test, most vets have in house lab equipment but if the tests are specialize they send them to an outside lab which takes 2 days TOPS to get results back unless it's something like a culture where they have to wait for the culture to grow.  I agree 10 days is a little ridiculous.  Maybe they have the results but you have gotten lost in the shuffle of the day to day runnings of the clinic.  I know where I work as soon as we get the results back from the outside lab (usually the next day), one of our vets reviews the test and calls the client immediately.

I'm guessing that a thyroid test might be specialized, and most likely the cardiac profile was. But even for these more specialized tests, I have to agree that 10 days is too long. They must have a courier that picks up the blood specimens and takes them to the lab that's running the test. I worked as a phlebotomist years back and that's what we had so that samples wouldn't sit too long. I can't imagine it would be much different for animals.

tailzzz24 said:

 
I'm guessing that a thyroid test might be specialized, and most likely the cardiac profile was. But even for these more specialized tests, I have to agree that 10 days is too long. They must have a courier that picks up the blood specimens and takes them to the lab that's running the test. I worked as a phlebotomist years back and that's what we had so that samples wouldn't sit too long. I can't imagine it would be much different for animals.

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Yes we have a courier who usually picks up the blood the same day as it is drawn.  Then it is taken to the lab for analysis.  Some vets have machines that can check Thyroid levels, some don't. 

Denice said:

 
My vet sends blood out and she gets the results back the next day.  

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This.  For both dogs and cats.  I think this is a standard practice.  

My now sadly passed on cat Holly had lost a lot of weight very quickly and took her to my vet. He thought it was hyperthyroidism, did a blood test and gave me an appointment 2 WEEKS later for the results. By the time we got to that appointment she had lost even more weight. He confirmed it was indeed hyperthyroidism and gave her tablets. 2 days later while giving Holly her tablet, she collapsed and died in my arms. Her heart was damaged by the massive weight loss and I often wonder if she would have survived a bit longer if diagnosed sooner. She was 14 and a half but I still think I could have had a few more months with her and not die the way she did

At our vets - both the cat-only vet I see in the city,  and at the vet in a rural area where my dad lives,  which is a  large animal / small animal practice,  they DO run those basic tests in house and you get it while you're there.   Other things need to be sent out.

The only reasons I can think of for why test results could take 10 days or more are 

 * if it has to be sent to a lab that does that test only  a certain day of the week,  and they just barely missed the day so had to wait a week.

*  or if the test itself took that long,  for example a  culture & sensitivity

The only lab work I've had done which required anything more than 2 days to get the results back was a PCR test and a culture & sensitivity.  The PCR took about 7 days and the C&S took about 2 weeks because they had to grow the bacteria and then test the meds on it.

My vet called today with the results. (Thyroid low normal.) The impression I got since she seems to call with results on Saturdays just after they close is that she is just so busy she doesn't have time to call before then or I'm low priority with her since I tend to ask a lot of questions and sometimes challenge her judgment. Still, when there is indication of serious liver and heart abnormalities like my cat had, you would think that another vet would be available to handle those calls. My cat did have some PCR testing done on some stools prior to these tests, and yes, I expected them to take a while. My sister works in a microbiology lab and told me that for those sorts of tests they need to wait until enough patient samples have accumulated to avoid waste (chemicals? reagents? not sure).

Because of this vet calling on a Saturday so late, I am going to have to wait until Monday to pick up my cat's meds - an antibiotic. So if antibiotics turn out to be what he needs right now, he will have to remain listless until Monday, thanks to this vet.

So poppysmummy, I know exactly how you must've felt. I am so sorry that you had to go through that with your beloved Holly.