How to Safely Draw Blood from Your Cat: Tips & Insights

Originally published Jan 28, 2010

This is one of the first posts I did on this website.

Since I wrote it, I now have videos on YouTube that show blood being drawn from Charlie, Caymus and Murphy.  I have posted them all below.

Where does your vet draw your kitty’s blood?

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Getting your cat’s blood taken once a year is an easy way to keep up-to-date on his/her health. Just like it is important for human’s to get a blood panel once a year, it is just as important to get your cat’s blood taken once a year. If your cat has some sort of aliment, then, of course, you will want to get his/her blood taken more frequently. This is especially important because cats take a long time to show that there is anything the matter with them. They show very subtle signs that owners usually don’t recognize or fail to recognize and if you have their blood drawn once a year, it keeps everything in check.

The process of taking a cat’s blood is very easy. I snapped the pictures below from Rags’ draw on 3-14-08.

The vet tech holds the Rags’ head back, exposing his head for easy access to the jugular vein. Since Rags is 18 (equivalent to about 90 years old in human years), his veins aren’t the easiest to get blood from…so they go for the jugular. They then squirt alcohol on his fur and his skin to make sure that there will not be a risk for infection.

Here, Rags’ doc, Dr. Gloor of the KC Cat Clinic, is inserting a needle into his jugular vein.

This whole process took less than 30 seconds. Rags was a little unhappy because someone was holding his head back and he didn’t like not being in control. However, Rags’ minimal amount of discomfort is totally worth the knowledge I receive from this process.

Here are some more recent videos of this process:

Ragdoll Cat Caymus Gets His Blood Drawn March 17 2014 – ねこ – ラグドール – Floppycats

Ragdoll Cat Caymus Gets His Blood Drawn October 2013 – ねこ – ラグドール – Floppycats

Jugular Blood Draw on a Cat – Ragdoll Cat Gets His Blood Drawn at KC Cat Clinic – ラグドール – Floppycats

Ragdoll Cat Charlie Goes to the Vet to Get Blood Drawn and Receive Sub Q Fluids – Floppycats

Check out the other procedures that Rags has received:

• Rags’ Dental
• Rags’ Lymphoma
• Rags’ Enema
• Rags’ B12 Shots
• Administering Fluids
• Rags’ Blood Draw