Laboratory Specimen Collection - Antemortem

• Testing Performed
• Fluorescent antibody
• Culture
• Specimens to Collect
• Lesion Specimens - swabs of lesions, such as oral cavity or draining lymph nodes, using culturette, or lymph node aspirate are the preferred samples, if available.
• Serology - acute and convalescent serum samples of 0.5 ml should be collected at least 14 days apart.
• Pharyngeal Swabs - for suspicion of plague pneumonia. Use culturettes.
• It is preferable to collect specimens for culture prior to administering antibiotics, but samples should still be collected if antibiotics have been given.
• Many more tests are available than are listed here. Basically, any test available for human diagnostics is also available for feline specimens.