Pre-anesthetic testing is performed to assess the baseline systemic health of animals prior to sedation or anesthesia associated with a procedure. It is intended to screen for dysfunction and disease and determine that anesthesia is safe or if abnormalities help determine the significance and/or need for further investigation. Kidney are one of the major organ systems screened by pre-anesthetic testing. Over the past 5 years advances in biomarkers, specifically SDMA, has led to additional flagging on preanesthetic profiles. This brief talk will directly address choosing populations for preanesthetic screening, and how to address specific scenarios where SDMA is increased. There are several straightforward paths for action with mild increases in SDMA (15-19 μg/dL) and moderate and severe increases (>20 μg/dL). In pairing with clinical context, patient need, and client personality there are simple steps that can give the surgeon a clear medical direction for most patients’ anesthesia. This webinar is provided by BSAVA Education Partner IDEXX. A collection of IDEXX ‘topic of the month’ webinars is available here.