Southern California's #1 Referral Hospital

X-rays, often referred to as radiographs, are produced by sending light waves, not visible to the human eye, through tissue much like an ultrasound sends sound waves. X-rays pass through the body and different tissues allow different amounts of the wavelength to pass through, creating a different appearance between bone, skin, air, and other organs when the x-ray is produced.

At the ACC&IM veterinary hospital, we use digital x-rays instead of x-ray film. Not only does this prevent contaminating the environment with harsh chemicals and metals used during regular x-rays processing, but it allows us to store the images digitally, send them by email, and even zoom them and change the darkness/contrast and other settings after the images has already been collected. This allows us to take only one image in most cases, preventing repeated x-ray exposure to your pet trying to ‘get it perfect’ – we can use our single image and make it perfect later! Digital x-rays can also be sent and reviewed by a specialist in veterinary radiology as the need arises.

X-rays are considered a noninvasive diagnostic test. This means that your pet may be placed on his or her side for one view, and on his or her back or belly in a comfortable foam trough for a front-to back view. We rarely need to provide sedation for collection of radiograph images, but if you pet is and remains nervous even after being comforted by our skilled technicians, your pet’s doctor may offer to provide your pet with a mild sedative to allow the experience to be a pleasant one.

Ultrasound is a non-invasive imaging method used to study the internal body structures such as the abdominal organs, the heart, the tissues right under the skin such as a mass, or even the eyeball. Ultrasound works by sending out high frequency waves of sound (high enough that our human and animal ears can’t even hear them, thus the name “ultra-sound”) into the tissues using a ‘probe.’ The harmless waves of sound are either reflected off of the tissues as they hit them, or travel through them at different speeds depending on the density of the tissues. The sound or “echo” that returns to the probe is converted by the ultrasound machine into an image, with each tissue type having a different appearance than its neighboring tissue.

Tumors, areas of infection, or even just a subtle change from the ‘normal’ appearance of an organ or tissue may lead the ultrasounding doctor or emergency vet on your case to reach a faster conclusion to the problem at hand, or may warrant further testing.

Since ultrasound produces only images, an abnormality identified by ultrasound is most often confirmed by a more definitive diagnostic procedure (examples: biopsy of a mass, endoscopy of intestinal wall abnormalities, blood testing to confirm pancreatitis, urine culture to confirm a bladder infection, etc.)

“Sonogram” is another word for ultrasound, and literally means “sound (sono)”  “image (gram).” Heart ultrasounds are traditionally called “echocardiograms” or “echos.”

To have an ultrasound performed, our pet patient is placed in a comfortable position that allows the area of interest to be exposed. When the scan involves the abdomen, the patient is laid comfortably in a padded, foam trough so that he or she may rest or even fall asleep during the scanning procedure. An echocardiogram is performed with the patient lying comfortably on his or her side.

The area to be ultrasounded is commonly shaved, then ultrasound gel and alcohol are both applied to the skin surface so that the sound waves can travel directly from the probe, through the gel and alcohol surface, and into the tissues, producing a clear image.

The images produced by ultrasound are printed out, kept in your pet’s file, and can be transferred to a CD or DVD, or emailed to your pet’s primary veterinarian for review. The images are stored in our computer system to allow for comparison to new images acquired by ultrasound at a later date.

IV catheters are one of the most common and routine procedures performed at all emergency veterinarian hospitals. IV catheters are a means to give medications and fluids directly into the vein.  This allows for the medications to enter the blood stream immediately instead of being absorbed through the intestinal tract (if given by mouth) or by other routes of injection. Once in the blood stream, the intravenous medication, fluid or nutrition can be dispersed throughout the body rapidly. IV catheters also allow us to collect blood samples for analysis without repeatedly requiring a needle stick.

IV catheters are often placed either in the front legs or back legs, or sometimes in the neck area, depending on the patient’s size, conformation, and medical condition. The area is shaved and then prepared using sterile technique, then the IV (meaning intra (into) venous (vein) catheter is placed and the catheter is taped in place so as to not fall off or be easily pulled out by the patient. Most patients do not even notice that the IV is in place!

At the ACC&IM animal hospital, in-house laboratory services include blood sample analysis such as blood gasses, complete blood counts, electrolyte evaluation, blood mineral levels, lactate measurement, chemistry panels (organ function evaluation), coagulation testing (bleeding times), urine and fecal examinations, hormone level testing, testing for common viruses, and various other tests.

Since all of these tests are performed in ACC&IM’s in-hospital laboratory, the turnaround time for many tests is rapid enough to allow the doctor – often acting as an emergency veterinarian – to make life-saving decisions within minutes. Other tests can be made available while you wait, should the need arise. Still other tests require a bit longer run time, but can be returned within the day.

Some samples, like biopsies or certain specialty tests, need to be sent to our nearby reference lab, or may be Fed-ex’d to the laboratory for analysis.

Fluoroscopy is a “live action” or “real-time” x-ray, differing from a digital x-ray only in that the screen shows us your pet moving in real time, allowing us to evaluate the cause of problems that are dynamic (occurring over time), such as problems breathing, swallowing, urinating, etc.

This “real-time” footage can be viewed at a later time as the footage is saved digitally, and can be sent for review by a specialist in veterinary radiology as the need arises.