Diagnostic Care for Dogs and Cats
Veterinary Radiographs
Radiographs (X-rays) are extremely helpful for diagnosing and monitoring many medical and surgical conditions. X-rays are useful in examining your pet's bones, lungs, heart, abdomen, oral cavity and other areas of the body. An X-ray can spot a fractured bone, detect tumors, help with the diagnosis of heartworm disease or locate an obstruction or foreign body in your pet's intestine or stomach. When used in conjunction with other diagnostic procedures like ultrasound, X-rays can accurately diagnose problems, making treatment faster and easier for your pet--and your veterinarian.
Abilene Veterinary Clinic utilizes the latest digital X-ray technology from Pacific Medical and maintains a close relationship with an area radiology specialist for timely second opinions. Because our radiographs are taken digitally, we can quickly send them for further evaluation and receive second opinions sometimes within a few minutes.
Ultrasound for Pets
Ultrasound is a pain-free, totally non-invasive technique that uses high-frequency sound waves to produce a real-time image of your pet's internal organs. Often considered more exact than radiographs, ultrasound provides a movie of what is happening inside your pet's body.
It is particularly useful in viewing your pet's abdominal organs including the spleen, kidneys, liver, and gallbladder. It can also be used to evaluate heart functions, bladder scans and other areas such as the thyroid glands, testicles and mammary glands.
Ultrasound also works well in conjunction with other diagnostic tools and a wide range of diagnostic procedures. For example, if an X-ray shows a lesion on your pet, an ultrasound can determine the origin of the lesion and whether it has spread elsewhere in your pet's body. Using the ultrasound image as a guide, surgical biopsies can be obtained without major surgery and your pet can often go home the same day. Ultrasounds are typically not stressful for your pet and take anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes to perform.
Abilene Veterinary Clinic uses modern ultrasound technologies and is up-to-date on the latest ultrasound-assisted procedures. In certain complex cases, we can send images to a certified specialist in order to gain timely and highly reliable second opinions.
Our Abilene Veterinary Clinic Lab
Preventative medicine as well as diagnosing emergent internal health issues requires the ability to perform a wide range of laboratory tests on blood, urine, feces, and biopsied tissue. Without timely access to precise laboratory test results--blood testing, biopsies, microscopic examinations, bacterial culture sensitivity, and more--it is difficult to make an accurate diagnosis or assessment of your pet's health.
Abilene Veterinary Clinic maintains a complete in-house laboratory to provide timely access to tests such as full blood and chemistry panels, cytologies, fungal cultures, urinalysis, fecal tests, heartworm testing and more.