We use EDTA-whole blood in most cases.  We also accept other samples for certain tests and they may be more indicative of the positivity/negativity.  For example, we can use cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) for canine distemper; abdominal fluid, feces or tissue/organ biopsies for FIP.  Recommended samples are mentioned in the notes on each assay.  Please make sure to ship EDTA-blood (purple-top tubes) instead of untreated blood, which will clot and cause problems during nucleic acid extraction and PCR.  Blood treated with heparin (green-top tubes) for prevention of clotting should not be used because heparin interferes with nucleic acid extraction and PCR.

For undiluted fluid samples, we use 400 microliters for our test, but we can process sample volumes as low as 10 microliters.  So it’s OK if the sample submitted is less than 400 microliters, although that may decrease the sensitivity of the test.  For swab samples, we don’t have a threshold for how much we can accept.  If the sample is too large, we will extract just an aliquot.