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Heidi,

I don't know the difference between serum and whole blood tests.  II was trying to figure out the difference found this (I know it deals with camels, not horses but I figured the idea was probably the same):

"Measuring the serum selenium shows you the adequacy of the present diet of the camel for selenium. The whole blood measurement shows you how much selenium the camel had in his system when the red blood cells were formed -- up to three months ago. Thus, the whole blood levels may be a more accurate measure of long-term selenium status."

Is this how it works for horses too?  So if you have been giving your horse more selenium lately, the type of test  would really make a difference if the red cells could have been formed up to 3 months earlier, wouldn't it?  When you get the lab test results, how do you know what type of test they gave?  Since they draw blood for the test, does that mean it is automatically a whole blood test?  Or is this a request we should be making when they draw the blood?  This is confusing if you are not a chemist or a vet!

 

Thanks,

Mary