Annual blood work for guinea pigs

Guinea pigs are prey animals and as such they tend to hide disease. In the wild, showing signs of weakness or disease makes them vulnerable and an easy prey. They keep this instinct in captivity and try to hide disease. As time goes by, the disease process continues and they reach a point where they cannot hide it anymore. As days/weeks pass by, the guinea pig becomes very sick and the disease process can be significantly advanced. For this reason, it is important to perform blood work once a year. It allows us to recognize diseases at an early stage when we can still help your pet guinea pig overcome the disease. Obtaining a blood sample is easy and it takes about 20 minutes to get the results. Then our doctor will go over the results with you and will make recommendations as needed.

Some of the diseases we can identify through blood work include:

• Anemia
• Dehydration
• Polycythemia
• Kidney disease
• Liver disease
• Bone disease and abnormalities on calcium metabolism
• Gall bladder disease
• Signs of inflammatory disease

If you have questions about this test or how it is performed please contact us and we will be happy to answer all your questions.