Advanced Diagnostics: Excellence Through Consistent Care and Skill
Advanced diagnostics technologies allow the team at Travelers Rest Animal Hospital to track your pet’s health, identify health issues, and develop a treatment plan when needed.
A skilled diagnostics team is helpful in two ways:
- By seeing your pet regularly and having baseline health information, potentially serious health issues can be identified early and treated before they become serious.
- By having skilled staff and the best equipment available we can diagnose and treat any illness quickly in order to get the best possible outcome for your pet.
During your pets regular wellness check-up, we will take a small sample of blood in order to check kidney and liver function. Our laboratory service allows us to perform these tests quickly and we can often give you results within hours. We will make sure your pet is heartworm-free and not suffering from diabetes.
We will also test your pet for internal intestinal parasites during this visit and treat them if they are present. These tests help us establish a baseline for your pet, which can help detect problems as your pet ages.
Diagnostics for Seniors
At approximately 7 years old—or sooner for some breeds—we will begin running more comprehensive blood work that also checks the thyroid, pancreas, and other vital systems. Most dogs and cats are entering their senior years by 7 years old and need to be monitored more closely.
Along with blood work, our veterinarians have the ability to utilize advanced procedures to diagnose your pet when there is trouble. Digital x-rays and ultrasonography are all available to give our veterinarians the ability to look inside your pet and determine what is going on quickly in order to begin treatment and get your pet feeling great again as soon as possible.
Radiology
State-of-the art digital x-ray equipment allows our veterinarians to quickly look at the internal structures of your pet to determine if there is a problem. Digital x-ray uses very low levels of radiation and is very safe. It can even be used on pregnant pets and very young animals with no negative effect.
Digital x-rays are noninvasive and painless and are useful for looking at internal organs, structures and bones. Typically, pets can be x-rayed without sedation. If the pet is very fearful, in pain, or squirmy, sedation will be needed to get a clear picture. If your pet needs to be sedated to take an x-ray, a technician will monitor their vitals throughout the process.
Ultrasonography
Ultrasonography utilizes directed sound waves to painlessly create an image of your pet's internal organs in real time. This means that we can actually watch the heart pump blood, the stomach digest food, and view other important processes in your pet's body.
Ultrasound technology also gives us clear images of the liver, spleen, gallbladder, and kidneys. It can also be used to diagnose and determine the stage of certain cancers. We can use ultrasound to determine the stage of pregnancy in breeding animals, as well as the number of babies in the litter.
Because ultrasound does not use radiation at all, it is completely safe to use on all pets. Most pets do not require any sedation for an ultrasound. The technician will likely have to shave a small patch of hair over the area to be examined.
Electrocardiography
As part of our continuing effort to offer our clients the absolute best in diagnostic technology, we now have the ability to offer in house electrocardiography. An electrocardiogram produces a readout of the electrical functioning of the heart.
This procedure is completely painless and noninvasive. It can be extremely useful in determining how effectively the heart is functioning, or if there has been damage to the heart muscle in the past.
Call us today or submit a request online to schedule your pet's next appointment.