You should seek the advice of your veterinarian if your pet is ill as only he or she can correctly advise on the diagnosis and recommend the treatment that is most appropriate for your pet.

It is common practice to take blood samples for analysis whilst an animal is under general anaesthesia, however barbiturates can affect laboratory tests, making interpretation of the results difficult

Barbiturates can significantly affect laboratory test results making interpretation difficult. Tests that might be affected include the following :

• Haematology
  • Increased clotting time
  • Decreased Packed Cell Volume (PCV)
  • Decreased platelet count
• Blood Chemistry
  • Increased Alanine aminotransferase (ALT)
  • Increased Alkaline phosphatase (ALP)
  • Increased cortisol - sometimes
  • Decreased Thyroxine hormone (T4) 

Clinicians should collect blood samples for analysis from animals prior to them being anaesthetised with a barbiturate,, and should take into consideration these possible changes when interpreting the laboratory results from samples collected from animals given barbiturates for anaesthesia or for therapeutic purposes (eg in the treatment of epilepsy) .

Last updated : October 2013