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One of the most exciting and promising tools for improving the care of your
pet is ultrasound! This painless technique provides the possibility of diagnosing
potential problems before there are emergencies as well as the ability to "look" inside of
your pet and see the pathology without surgery or prior to surgery. With ultrasound, or a
sonogram, we are able to look at the internal organs of your pet. The procedure seldom
requires sedation and generally you can be present. What does this mean as far as your pet is concerned? It means we can take better care of your pet because we can see what needs to be treated. What can a sonogram see? Using a sonogram, a doctor can see heart problems. If there is a heart murmur, we can see or listen to where the noise is coming from and what is causing it. We can see if there is a pregnancy if it is done after 24 days from the last breeding. We can see if there is disease or tumors in the liver, slpeen, heart, kidneys, gallbladder, bladder, adrenal glands, lymphatic system, thyroid, prostate, testicles, or mammary glands. We can look at tumors and see how involved they are so an accurate prediction of surgical outcome may be given to you. We can look for metastatic areas if your pet has cancer. We can look for kidney, gallbladder and urinary bladder stones. We can look for abcess formation. We can look for abnormal congenital formations of the organs especially in the heart, blood vessels, the kidneys, and sometimes even the brain. What is the cost of this examination? Fees for ultrasound start as low as $55.00. If there are abnormal findings, then there may be an additional fee is you wish a more diagnostic exam performed and an interpretation by a Veterinary Radiologist. Is this safe for your pet? The examination uses high frequency pulsed sound waves. It has been used in human medical applications for over 45 years and the National Institute of Health has not found any problems as of yet. They continue to test and we get better and quicker at the exams so the exposure of the high frequency sound is less. If you have any questions about this test, please ask your veterinarian or the receptionist. They will be happy to give you the answers. If we have not mentioned something that is important to you, please ask us about it. |