Consolidated Statements Of Income - USD ($) shares in Thousands, $ in Thousands	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2017	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
Revenue:
Product revenue	$ 1,176,115	$ 1,070,973	$ 974,933
Service revenue	792,943	704,450	626,959
Total revenue	1,969,058	1,775,423	1,601,892
Cost of Revenue:
Cost of product revenue	446,449	416,810	360,208
Cost of service revenue	425,227	383,177	351,414
Total cost of revenue	871,676	799,987	711,622
Gross profit	1,097,382	975,436	890,270
Expenses:
Sales and marketing	354,294	317,058	299,955
General and administrative	220,878	207,017	182,510
Research and development	109,182	101,122	99,681
Impairment charge			8,212
Income from operations	413,028	350,239	299,912
Interest expense	(37,225)	(32,049)	(29,239)
Interest income	5,254	3,656	2,468
Income before provision for income taxes	381,057	321,846	273,141
Provision for income taxes	117,788	99,792	81,006
Net income	263,269	222,054	192,135
Less: Net income attributable to noncontrolling interest	125	9	57
Net income attributable to IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. stockholders	$ 263,144	$ 222,045	$ 192,078
Earnings per Share:
Basic	$ 3.00	$ 2.47	$ 2.07
Diluted	$ 2.94	$ 2.44	$ 2.05
Weighted Average Shares Outstanding:
Basic	87,769	89,732	92,601
Diluted	89,567	90,884	93,649