Click here to go to the Photo Tutorial on Drawing Blood.
Check here for Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory’s current fee schedule, prices are subject to change.
We needed to draw blood to test our does for CAE. I have never drawn blood but had studied one webpage with photos and read about how to do it, plus asked for advice from goat email lists that I’m on. And my mother is a trained phlebotomist who says her instructor told her she was a “natural” so maybe I inherited the talent. 
I asked my son to take pictures so I could create a tutorial for others who need to draw blood for testing. Today we are drawing blood from Brooklyn to test for CAE (Caprine Arthritis Encephilitis). There are several other tests that require blood for testing. For CAE, you will need 3cc’s of blood.
We shipped our samples to WADDL (Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory). For CAE testing: If you live out of state (Washington) the charge is $10 to accept the samples (assession fee) and $5.25 for each tube (animal) being tested.
PART ONE: Items needed
First, let’s run through the list of items you will need on hand for drawing blood; gather these all together ahead of time:
- Rubbing Alcohol
- Paper towels or cotton balls
- Needle syringe that will hold at least 3cc’s
- Needle tip measuring 3/4″ x 20A way to tie your goat in place or someone to hold him/her still
- Vacutainer Blood Tubes ( “red-top” clot tube or serum separator tube)
- Sharpie Marker to label the tubes
Needles and syringes can usually be purchased from your local feedstore, or they can be purchased online from sites that cater to livestock owners. Jeffers, Valley Vet, etc.
The Vacutainer Blood Tubes were a little harder for me to locate. When I was looking for them online I was unable to find them, but when I did a search just now actually using the correct term for the tubes “Vacutainer” there were lots of hits. Some folks get theirs from their veterinarian, if you are close to a dairy they may sell you some. To give you an idea of price range, I was able to purchase mine (100 tubes) for $14.99 plus shipping/handling. A woman in my state found hers locally for $24.99. A friend of mine sent me this information for purchasing the Vacutainer tubes through PBS Animal Health. Or go to http://www.pbsanimalhealth.com and search for Monoject Blood Collection Tubes. $17.49 for 100 tubes plus shipping.
Label the tubes with the name of each goat.
PART TWO: When you have all your supplies together, you are ready to draw the blood, see photo tutorial page.
PART THREE: Shipping your samples to the laboratory.
ITEMS LIST FOR PACKAGING YOUR SAMPLES
- Paperwork for Laboratory (Assession Form)
- Animal Identification Sheet from WADDL for multiple animals (this is the sheet which you identify the tubes and state which tests you want done). On this sheet you will match the numbered tubes to the corresponding lines.
- Plastic bags
- Paper towels or newspaper
- Cardboard Box
- Clear packaging tape
HOW TO PACKAGE YOUR SAMPLES PROPERLY
- Write the number of each tube to correspond with the Animal Identification Sheet. For example, I wrote Brooke on Line 1 of the form, and wrote a 1 on the tube with her blood in it.
Or perhaps you choose to list your animals with a number as shown.
Whichever way you do it, be sure to keep your own records of whose sample is in which tube. We also sent milk in to be tested for mastitis and I forgot which tube had milk from which side of the udder. So I had to call the laboratory and ask — they were very nice but it was a little embarrassing that I didn’t keep better records.
- FedEx may want to examine the way in which you have packaged your samples so do not fully seal the box.
- Wrap each tube carefully in its own paper towel, then place each singly wrapped tube in a plastic sandwich bag and sea
- Then place all the tubes, each in their own paper towel and inside a baggie, into a larger sealed plastic bag. This way you cushion each tube carefully and if somehow it got broken or leaked it would only contaminate the contents of its own bag.
- Then package the large baggie of tubes into more paper towels or newspaper inside a cardboard box.
- Use an ice pack if you are shipping in warm weather and if it will take several days to ship. If you ship overnight, your samples should be there in less than one day.
- Go to WADDL’s website and get the assession form to include in the box with the Animal ID Sheet.
ADDRESSING THE BOX
- Write your return address on the box in the left hand top corner.
- Address the box to WADDL: WSU-WADDL, 155N Bustad Hall, Pullman, WA 99164-7034
- Use WADDL’s account number #2112-4551-4 on the box and on the air bill, and specify “Standard Overnight Service.”
- Do not send payment. WADDL will bill you for the cost of shipping, plus the laboratory fees for testing after testing is completed. They will send you an invoice due on receipt.
- WADDL tests for CAE on Thursday morning so you might want to draw blood on Monday or Tuesday, ship overnight by FedEx so it will be there by Tuesday or Wednesday.
WADDL does CAE testing Thursday morning. We drew the blood on Friday morning and drove into town to have it shipped by FedEx only to find they don’t do overnight shipping on Friday, they do a Saturday shipping which costs twice as much. I called a friend who told me the samples should be okay if the FedEx place could refrigerate them over the weekend and ship on Monday morning. She said that when the lab receives samples before the testing day they just refrigerate the samples. So you want to plan your drawing of blood and shipping accordingly. It takes up to one week to get back your test results.
Saanendoah has a good page on CAE and testing here.
OUR TEST RESULTS: We are happy to report that Brooke tested negative for CAE. I understand that we should test again in six months and then test yearly.
Links to CAE articles:
Blood Drawing Information Sites:
How to Draw Blood and Blood Test Your Goats
Originally written October 2008