Veterinary assistants are responsible for a wide range of duties within a veterinary hospital. These can range from animal restraint to administering anesthesia. One of the most common duties associated with working in the veterinary field is knowing how to draw blood from both cats and dogs and from multiple locations on the pet. What makes this task somewhat challenging at times is aggression on behalf of the patient, a patient's inability to sit still, and some patients having long fur (making it difficult to see or locate the vein). Depending on the volume of blood needed, the most common blood draw sites are from one of the front legs and the jugular vein. If a technician is drawing blood for, say, a heart worm test, only two drops are needed and the most appropriate site to draw blood from in this scenario would be from one of the front legs. If, however, a more extensive panel is required, such as a kidney/liver panel, then the technician would need approximately 2-3 ml's of blood (enough to fill two blood tubes), making the draw site from the jugular vein. The jugular vein is a great area to obtain blood samples from because there are less nerve endings and because you are almost guaranteed to obtain a sample fairly quickly.
Hi Sarah, Thanks for the update...I hadn't ever really thought about how blood was drawn from animals. My dad worked in a lab with rats as I was growing up, so I had a lot of experience with medical procedures on rats (sounds gross, but it was pretty cool!). Seems like this actually follows the way we would take blood from rats (different areas depending on quantity needed). Super cool. Thanks!
Veterinary assistants are responsible for a wide range of duties within a veterinary hospital. These can range from animal restraint to administering anesthesia. One of the most common duties associated with working in the veterinary field is knowing how to draw blood from both cats and dogs and from multiple locations on the pet. What makes this task somewhat challenging at times is aggression on behalf of the patient, a patient's inability to sit still, and some patients having long fur (making it difficult to see or locate the vein). Depending on the volume of blood needed, the most common blood draw sites are from one of the front legs and the jugular vein. If a technician is drawing blood for, say, a heart worm test, only two drops are needed and the most appropriate site to draw blood from in this scenario would be from one of the front legs. If, however, a more extensive panel is required, such as a kidney/liver panel, then the technician would need approximately 2-3 ml's of blood (enough to fill two blood tubes), making the draw site from the jugular vein. The jugular vein is a great area to obtain blood samples from because there are less nerve endings and because you are almost guaranteed to obtain a sample fairly quickly.
Hi Sarah,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the update...I hadn't ever really thought about how blood was drawn from animals. My dad worked in a lab with rats as I was growing up, so I had a lot of experience with medical procedures on rats (sounds gross, but it was pretty cool!). Seems like this actually follows the way we would take blood from rats (different areas depending on quantity needed). Super cool. Thanks!