How To Draw Blood From A Cat Jugular
How often accept yous heard, "Cats are non pocket-sized dogs?" Nosotros have paid lip service to this concept for the duration of my nearly 50-year career. However, the ground for it is very real in many scenarios. Collecting blood for chemical science panels and consummate claret counts (CBC) is one of them.
The true cat has small-scale veins, oftentimes smaller than the corresponding veins of dogs because the cat's body size is then minor. Collecting enough claret for a chemistry console and CBC can exist challenging to the point it can serve every bit a deterrent to properly diagnosing our patients' ailments. If it is difficult to practise, it ofttimes does not become done.
The jugular vein is often used. However, doing so in the presence of cat owners creates some serious client relation issues. (This has non been an upshot, of class, during the no-clients-present norm of the pandemic.) True or not, it appears quite savage. If hair is shaved, the bare peel serves as a reminder for 2 to three months.
An alternative to jugular blood collection is to take the cat to "the back" – that black pigsty where you practise things you lot do not want your clients to run across. During the time it is happening, your customer is imagining multiple worst-example scenarios. If whatsoever true cat in the hospital cries out, the owner assumes it was her true cat doing so and is being mistreated.
In my opinion, the best approach is to use the medial saphenous vein, sometimes called "God's gift to the feline practitioner." It is normally large plenty for a reasonably sufficient blood draw, and information technology is on the medial side of the leg. If pilus is shaved, the bare skin is far less visible than the jugular furrow.
Nonetheless, the medial saphenous vein has limitations in many cats. Information technology is often and so modest that 1-2 milliliters of blood cannot exist collected, and, if it is, clotting oftentimes occurs in the syringe. Below I volition share how I have conquered this feline problem.
Many years ago, I developed a strong desire to accept answers quickly. Waiting a few days or even until tomorrow was making information technology hard to diagnose seriously ill patients and to monitor them when they were in the infirmary. Therefore, I purchased Abaxis (now Zoetis Diagnostics) chemistry and hematology machines. It was astonishing how this improved patient intendance and client relations.
However, there remained more obstacles. The post-obit technique was validated in a recently published paper.1
Challenges and resolutions
Obstacle No. i and its solution. We were taught to use a 20-judge needle for claret collection because the use of smaller ones often results in hemolysis. This process is based on using vacuum-containing collection tubes, and is the standard of care in human being medicine.
Photos courtesy Gary D. Norsworthy
However, I am non using a tube like this considering the amount of the vacuum often collapses the cat's small veins. Rather, I use a iii-cc syringe with a 25-guess needle. Blood is drawn steadily and relatively slowly to avert hemolysis of the sample. If a ho-hum draw occurs, the speed of collection is further slowed.
Obstacle No. ii and its solution. Because blood collection tin be slow from the medial saphenous vein, clotting of the sample often occurs in the syringe, rendering the sample unacceptable for the chemical science machine and hematology machines.
The solution is the bead in the lithium heparin (LH) tube used with the chemistry car. I take the bead out of the LH tube and put information technology in the syringe. (Effigy one) Although its stated purpose is to assist proper mixing of the claret sample, the bead has enough LH on information technology to anticoagulate the blood equally before long as information technology enters the syringe. (Effigy 2) With this approach, even the slowest of blood draws still yields an anticoagulated sample suitable for the chemistry auto.
Obstacle No. 3. Typically, the manufacturer's instructions state one should put ane.three ml of claret in the LH tube to take the proper ratio between the blood and the LH; however, only about 0.25 ml are actually used to perform the test. Although some cats take medial saphenous veins that menstruum well, many do non. In some cats, collecting more than 0.5 ml of blood is non possible.
Obstacle No. iv. The manufacturer's instructions state only ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA) treated blood is to be inserted into the hematology machine.
Solutions to No. 3 and No. 4. Claret is collected with a three-cc syringe and 25-gauge needle. If I can get about 1.3-ml of claret, I do. If I tin but go 0.v-ml, our written report shows that is also acceptable.
The indicated rotors are loaded straight out of the syringe. The residual of the blood is placed in the EDTA tube fabricated for the hematology automobile. The tube is placed in the motorcar, and the sample is run. Within about xv minutes of claret drove, I have results of a chemical science profile with electrolytes, a total T4, and a CBC. I am now ready to talk to the owner about the cat'south diagnosis and/or treatment plan.
Obstacle No. 5 and its solution. We accept been taught heparin will change the morphology of the white claret cells, so blood smear interpretation will be inaccurate.
Half dozen blood smears were made on the samples from each cat in the study. 3 slides were made from claret immediately after the blood draw; it was non exposed to any anticoagulant. Three were made after being exposed to lithium heparin, plus EDTA. Each was stained with a Romanowsky-type rapid claret stain. They were read past a board-certified veterinary clinical pathologist. Even so, he was blinded as to the source of the blood smears. He was specifically tasked with observing for morphology changes that would brand jail cell identification difficult. None were found, and all slides were deemed of sufficient quality for interpretation.
Overall effect
If you do this, what is going to happen? First, you volition utilise many more chemistry rotors and hematology reagents than in the past. 2nd, yous will likely find the increment in volume will crusade you to consider the purchase of one or more additional machines. (I have six chemistry machines and two hematology machines.) 3rd, your patient intendance will amend, because you are doing more than blood-based diagnostics. Finally, your do will abound as more and more satisfied clients tell their friends about the amazing care their cats received at your practice.
Annotation: This technique was validated for the Zoetis Diagnostics chemistry and hematology machines. Using it on other machines is not recommended until similar studies are performed on those machines.
Note: The only analyte that was adversely afflicted was the platelet count. It tin be falsely increased or decreased. Therefore, if the platelet count does not seem valid, ane should examine a stained blood smear.
Considering of this technique, nosotros perform blood tests on over l percent of the cats that we meet. We average 337 chemical science profiles and 139 CBCs per month in our iii-medico feline practice. In addition, we also average 148 thyroid panels (TT4 + cholesterol). Imagine what this technique could do for your do.
Gary D. Norsworthy, DVM, DABVP (feline), is the possessor of Alamo Feline Health Heart in San Antonio, Texas. He has been in private practice for 48 years, including 23 in feline-simply practice. Dr. Norsworthy lectures frequently on feline diseases and is the editor and major author of seven feline textbooks. He is a board-certified feline specialist (i of just two in South Texas) and an adjunct professor at the College of Veterinary Medicine, Mississippi State University, and the Western University of Health Sciences. He received the 2022 Distinguished Career Achievement Honor by the Texas Veterinary Medical Association.
Reference
i Norsworthy, GD, Cook, AK, Lanier, CJ. Impact of preheparinization and sample volume on routine hematology findings in healthy cats. J Fel Med Surg. 2022;23(ii); 79-85.
Source: https://www.veterinarypracticenews.com/challenges-in-feline-blood-collection/
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