Is the sample collection painful for my dog?

Do dogs like needle sticks? Probably not any more than you or I like needle sticks. So is there discomfort? I mean, yeah, they're getting poked with a needle. Do I always use the biggest needle I can? Of course not. No. I try to use a small needle, but it's a compromise. The smaller the needle I use, the longer it takes to get the sample, and the longer I have to restrain the dog and hold them in that awkward position. So there’s a fine line between that. Not to mention, let's also be honest; a lot of dogs are different. Some dogs are very stoic. You can do just about anything in the world to them, and they will just sit there wagging their tail and not even moving. You have other dogs that, if you pinch them, they will act like you did something a lot worse than pinch them. So it just depends on the dog’s temperament, how big of a blood sample we need, and what kind of restraint would be necessary to get that blood sample.

I usually tell my clients that it's a needle poke, so it's like getting a vaccine. We often scratch their ears, we pet them, and we might feed them cheese—something to distract them, and most pets don't tell me that they find it very painful.

You saw us, and I think he forgives us for that. I know they're a little bit nervous, but I don't think that was a great deal of pain. It would just be like if we had blood drawn at a hospital visit ourselves.

It's no more painful than we have our own blood drawn, because we do actually get poked with a needle to get the sample. But once we have the sample, there's no long-lasting pain in most of our patients.