{"id":1460,"date":"2024-05-16T13:02:08","date_gmt":"2024-05-16T17:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/?p=1460"},"modified":"2024-05-16T13:02:09","modified_gmt":"2024-05-16T17:02:09","slug":"annual-blood-work-your-cats-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/annual-blood-work-your-cats-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Annual Blood Work &amp; Your Cat&#8217;s Health"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/annual-blood-work-senior-cats.png\" alt=\"Annual Blood Work &amp; Your Cat's Health\" class=\"wp-image-1462\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/annual-blood-work-senior-cats.png 800w, https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/annual-blood-work-senior-cats-768x512.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Preventive Veterinary Care Helps Senior Cats Live Happier, Healthier Lives <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/q2OFAfE_lcU?si=uaBNwnJhnLrzIf2B\">Annual blood work<\/a> is an essential element of your senior cat&#8217;s health. Just as a human&#8217;s doctor will encourage more preventative medicine as a person ages, so will a veterinarian want to be on the lookout for early signs of disease in an older pet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Geriatric blood work panels include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>CBC (Complete Blood Count)<\/strong>: Provides information on red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Major Profile<\/strong>: Measures values for the kidneys, liver and other organs<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Thyroid Screening<\/strong>: Measures the thyroid&#8217;s hormone levels, which are especially important in cats<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Urinalysis <\/strong>(not blood work, but diagnostically useful): Analyzes the microscopic and chemical properties of your cat&#8217;s urine to measure kidney and urinary function\/health<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>All of these tests give your veterinarian a clear picture of your pet&#8217;s organ health and function. They&#8217;ll be able to assess how your cat&#8217;s internal systems are functioning, and if there are any areas for concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">When Should My Cat Receive Senior Blood Work?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The overall health and condition of your cat determines when your veterinarian will first recommend a senior blood work panel. Other considerations include the size of your pet and if your cat&#8217;s breed has any known health issues. In general, you can expect your cat to start benefiting from senior blood work diagnostics from eight to 10 years of age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What Happens After My Cat&#8217;s Blood Work Appointment?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Once your veterinarian has had an opportunity to analyze all the lab work, they will reach out to you with results. Blood work results can have three outcomes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Definitive<\/strong>: The results clearly identify a health problem, and treatment is required. Treatments depend on the disease and may include medications, change in diet or closer monitoring.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Indicative<\/strong>: The results aren&#8217;t quite normal, but they don&#8217;t conclusively show a particular health problem. A problem is indicated, but there&#8217;s not a specific diagnosis yet. Additional diagnostics are required to narrow down what&#8217;s wrong, which may include X-rays or additional blood work.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Normal<\/strong>: When the blood work is negative for any abnormalities, this is the best result! Your senior cat is entering their golden years in good health. Your veterinarian will likely recommend to repeat the geriatric blood screen next year.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>If the results are definitive or indicative and a health issue is found, your veterinarian may find it helpful to repeat the blood work panels every six months, or even every three months. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If your cat is approaching senior years, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/\">reach out to us<\/a> to see about making a senior wellness appointment. See our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/category\/senior-pet-care\/\">Senior Pet Care Resources<\/a> for more information on helping your pet age gracefully and in good health.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Preventive Veterinary Care Helps Senior Cats Live Happier, Healthier Lives [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1462,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,24],"tags":[37,39,73,76],"class_list":["post-1460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pet-health-wellness","category-cats-meow","tag-cat-health","tag-cats","tag-senior-blood-work","tag-senior-cat-health"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Annual Blood Work &amp; Your Cat&#039;s Health | Grady Veterinary Hospital<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/annual-blood-work-your-cats-health\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Annual Blood Work &amp; Your Cat&#039;s Health | Grady Veterinary Hospital\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Preventive Veterinary Care Helps Senior Cats Live Happier, Healthier Lives [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/annual-blood-work-your-cats-health\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Grady Veterinary Hospital\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-05-16T17:02:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-05-16T17:02:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/annual-blood-work-senior-cats.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"533\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Grady Veterinary Hospital\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Grady Veterinary Hospital\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/annual-blood-work-your-cats-health\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/annual-blood-work-your-cats-health\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Grady Veterinary Hospital\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/70d0c87f4948bf5c4e7582885d3beea0\"},\"headline\":\"Annual Blood Work &amp; Your Cat&#8217;s Health\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-05-16T17:02:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-05-16T17:02:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/annual-blood-work-your-cats-health\/\"},\"wordCount\":464,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/annual-blood-work-your-cats-health\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/annual-blood-work-senior-cats.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Cat Health\",\"Cats\",\"Senior Blood Work\",\"Senior Cat Health\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Pet Health &amp; Wellness\",\"The Cat's Meow\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/annual-blood-work-your-cats-health\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/annual-blood-work-your-cats-health\/\",\"name\":\"Annual Blood Work &amp; Your Cat's Health | Grady Veterinary Hospital\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/annual-blood-work-your-cats-health\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/annual-blood-work-your-cats-health\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/annual-blood-work-senior-cats.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-05-16T17:02:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-05-16T17:02:09+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/annual-blood-work-your-cats-health\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/annual-blood-work-your-cats-health\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/annual-blood-work-your-cats-health\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/annual-blood-work-senior-cats.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/annual-blood-work-senior-cats.png\",\"width\":800,\"height\":533,\"caption\":\"Annual Blood Work & Your Cat's Health\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/annual-blood-work-your-cats-health\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Annual Blood Work &amp; Your Cat&#8217;s Health\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Grady Veterinary Hospital\",\"description\":\"Our Blog\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Grady Veterinary Hospital\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/logo-grady.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/logo-grady.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"Grady Veterinary Hospital\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/70d0c87f4948bf5c4e7582885d3beea0\",\"name\":\"Grady Veterinary Hospital\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bfa0fb4a674b28b9bf775caf8fbf79cfdcd6473e0c00a2564aceff9116b07234?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bfa0fb4a674b28b9bf775caf8fbf79cfdcd6473e0c00a2564aceff9116b07234?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Grady Veterinary Hospital\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/author\/gradyvet\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Annual Blood Work &amp; Your Cat's Health | Grady Veterinary Hospital","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/annual-blood-work-your-cats-health\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Annual Blood Work &amp; Your Cat's Health | Grady Veterinary Hospital","og_description":"Preventive Veterinary Care Helps Senior Cats Live Happier, Healthier Lives [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/annual-blood-work-your-cats-health\/","og_site_name":"Grady Veterinary Hospital","article_published_time":"2024-05-16T17:02:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-05-16T17:02:09+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":533,"url":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/annual-blood-work-senior-cats.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Grady Veterinary Hospital","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Grady Veterinary Hospital","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/annual-blood-work-your-cats-health\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/annual-blood-work-your-cats-health\/"},"author":{"name":"Grady Veterinary Hospital","@id":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/70d0c87f4948bf5c4e7582885d3beea0"},"headline":"Annual Blood Work &amp; Your Cat&#8217;s Health","datePublished":"2024-05-16T17:02:08+00:00","dateModified":"2024-05-16T17:02:09+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/annual-blood-work-your-cats-health\/"},"wordCount":464,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/annual-blood-work-your-cats-health\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/annual-blood-work-senior-cats.png","keywords":["Cat Health","Cats","Senior Blood Work","Senior Cat Health"],"articleSection":["Pet Health &amp; Wellness","The Cat's Meow"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/annual-blood-work-your-cats-health\/","url":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/annual-blood-work-your-cats-health\/","name":"Annual Blood Work &amp; Your Cat's Health | Grady Veterinary Hospital","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/annual-blood-work-your-cats-health\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/annual-blood-work-your-cats-health\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/annual-blood-work-senior-cats.png","datePublished":"2024-05-16T17:02:08+00:00","dateModified":"2024-05-16T17:02:09+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/annual-blood-work-your-cats-health\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/annual-blood-work-your-cats-health\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/annual-blood-work-your-cats-health\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/annual-blood-work-senior-cats.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/annual-blood-work-senior-cats.png","width":800,"height":533,"caption":"Annual Blood Work & Your Cat's Health"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/annual-blood-work-your-cats-health\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Annual Blood Work &amp; Your Cat&#8217;s Health"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/","name":"Grady Veterinary Hospital","description":"Our Blog","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Grady Veterinary Hospital","url":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/logo-grady.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/logo-grady.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"Grady Veterinary Hospital"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/70d0c87f4948bf5c4e7582885d3beea0","name":"Grady Veterinary Hospital","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bfa0fb4a674b28b9bf775caf8fbf79cfdcd6473e0c00a2564aceff9116b07234?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bfa0fb4a674b28b9bf775caf8fbf79cfdcd6473e0c00a2564aceff9116b07234?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Grady Veterinary Hospital"},"url":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/author\/gradyvet\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1460"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1460\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1465,"href":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1460\/revisions\/1465"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gradyvet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}