We offer imaging x-rays, an ultrasound of the abdomen, and an echocardiogram of the heart. If we feel like we don't have all the answers, we could refer to a specialist. We could also try a test dose of medication. If we feel like we know what may be going on but can't exactly diagnose that without a doubt, we can test with medications to see if your pet responds to that. And sometimes you have to do that because the client can't afford the MRI or the CT scan, something like that. There might be times when we take follow-up images. That could be done if we might not see the problem today, like if your pet is vomiting, if they have something that's hurt, or if their breathing is not good. If you are very in tune with your pet and you've called this early, there may not be many changes that show up in the imaging. Then we may say, we're going to follow up with you in a week or two weeks or whatever that time period may be, and we'll repeat those images. That's a really good tool because, again, we may have what was today and compare that to what is later to see those changes that could be more obvious or different.
The effectiveness would depend on the quality of the image we get. Some of that could be the technology used. We use very advanced technology here, with newer ultrasound and our digital diagnostic x-rays and images. Digital versus the film, which can be very outdated. It also depends on the pet's position and willingness to cooperate during that procedure to get the best image. We want to do all our procedures with as little stress as possible. If we are stressing a pet out, we might say, okay, we're going to stop for today, and then come back on some calming medication, if that's an option for the pet, or maybe do it in a couple of sessions versus trying to get everything done in one session.
It can help us to know how to treat your pet. If we take an x-ray and we know we are treating, for example, a chronic problem over an acute problem, chronic being continuously going on. Again, pets are great at hiding things. So if we x-ray a dog that comes in for, let's say, lameness of the rear leg, we sometimes see radiographic changes that indicate it didn't just happen this week; this happened months ago. You may not have observed or known about it, and your dog may not have shown you that. But that would carry a different treatment and recommendations than if we did not see long-term changes. This was more of an acute injury, meaning that it was an accident or something traumatic suddenly happened recently. Also, that would weigh in on prognosis. The prognosis of a sudden change might carry a better long-term outcome than if this has been going on for a while. Not that it couldn't have a good outcome, but we would expect there to be some lingering things, and we may want to implement supplements or treatments to help the pet long term.
Depending on the type of image that we're looking at, for instance, x-rays, we would specifically look at the problem we are x-raying. If it is lameness, we might be looking for any type of bone abnormality or arthritis that's settling in. That would be something that would be fairly easy to see on an x-ray. If we are using ultrasound for diagnostic imaging, we look for fluid, mass, or just an abnormal organ that may not be functioning the way that it should because the ultrasound is a little more specific at looking at the organs.
They may, especially if any type of sedation is required. That would be the one time I would think, yes, for sure they would. We would want to do some blood work or lab testing, depending on what we are looking for. A baseline blood screen would be right up there with the baseline imaging or x-rays. That can provide additional information for you.
Baseline diagnostic images are basically just what it says. It gives us the baseline of what is normal versus what may be abnormal. They're important in certain situations, like if your pet comes in for a wellness exam and we diagnose a heart murmur, but the pet is not clinical, meaning they're not breathing hard or coughing, and they're not having any exercise intolerance. We may recommend what we call survey x-rays of the chest or even a survey echocardiogram. That is because we can look at the lungs and get a baseline of what is normal for this pet later down the road. When they're experiencing symptoms and clinical signs, we have that as a comparison.
So you can see a progression or not a progression. The other reason why we might consider baseline imaging would be that our patients tend to hide their problems. What we feel might be nonclinical or non-symptomatic, we might actually find a problem in the early stages of a disease that would carry a better prognosis if we started treatment early.
The x-ray frequently comes first because it's more available in general practice. It's also generally less expensive than advanced imaging or even ultrasound. So that may come into play if we feel like that will give us a high yield for less cost. We would also use that primarily for the big picture, like if we want to look at the whole abdomen or the whole chest, and we're not looking at a specific organ. For lameness or suspicions of trauma with fractures, that's where I feel like x-rays would kind of trump the others.
