Hi-tech ‘toys’ for the modern vet have proved a life saver for you and your beloved pets

As I pressed the button last week to send my article in email form, it struck me how much technology has changed over the years.

When I first starting doing this page, for example, I used to pen it by hand in tiny writing, fold up the piece of paper and attach it carefully to the leg of a particularly splendidly plumaged, plump pigeon called Paxton, and he would transport it directly to the printing press to be magically transformed into the finished article.

Come to think it, given the state of my internet service, he was faster and ruffled fewer feathers along the way.

Veterinary practice has embraced the improvements that come about when scientific and technological advances are combined.

Gone are the days when a drop of a patient’s blood would be theatrically placed on a magic strip called an “azostick”.

The idea was that if there were high levels of urea in the blood (as you would see in kidney failure) then the end of the stick would turn green.

The assessment was entirely dependent on the time of day, the lighting in the consulting room, your frame of mind and the presence of red/green colour blindness. In short, they were pathetically inaccurate.

Inevitably we resorted to sending further blood samples by post to a veterinary investigation laboratory for testing.

By the time we got the results our patient was, frankly, dead or better.

Now the toys are so much better. Within 10 minutes or so of our blood sample being taken, so much information is available.

Kidney and liver function can be assessed. Blood counts can monitor for changes to red and white blood cells, allowing knowledge of anaemia or infection or immune response.

Dehydration, diabetes, pancreatitis, hypo- and hyperthyroidism, pregnancy, drug levels, electrolytes, hormones, the list is almost endless.

The benefits to our pets are countless. Routine testing of geriatric patients (and remember this means dogs and cats over the age of about seven) can indicate potential problems long before clinical signs are seen (and normal results can delightfully put your mind at rest).

Apparently fit animals can profit too. A survey of blood samples taken from normal animals before routine anaesthesia, at over 50 veterinary practices, showed that nearly 10 per cent had undiagnosed abnormalities that required alteration of the anaesthetic used.

Furthermore, of this group 36 per cent actually had their surgery postponed to allow treatment of the condition.

Anaesthetics always carry some risk but the hazards can be reduced significantly.

Still, I do miss Paxton.