Internal Medicine
Echocardiogram
An echocardiogram is a non-invasive procedure that can be performed on animals and humans alike and can allow a professional to assess the condition of your pet’s heart. It may also be referred to as an ECG or EKG. A healthy heart is just as important to animals as it is to humans, yet unfortunately, abnormalities and health problems are also just as likely to develop.
An echocardiogram can identify a range of heart problems including, but not limited to:
- Congestive heart failure
- Congenital (present from birth) heart defects that may require treatment / special care
- Cardiac arrhythmias
- Damage to the heart, heart valves, or pericardium
In some instances, we may also recommend that your pet has a chest x-ray to look for symptoms associated with heart problems, for example, fluid on your pet’s lungs would indicate that she may have congestive heart failure. Heart health is very important to us at Beebout!
Abdominal Ultrasound
An ultrasound, also known as ultrasonography or sonographic imaging, is one of the non-invasive imaging modalities that are used in veterinary medicine. The procedure provides images of the internal structures of the body by recording echoes of ultrasonic waves. This means, your vet can look inside your pet’s body without having to perform surgery. An abdominal ultrasound enables your vet to have a closer look at the organs in the abdominal cavity such as the liver, kidneys, stomach, spleen, pancreas, adrenal glands, intestines, bladder, uterus, ovaries, prostate, and lymph nodes.
An ultrasound is generally recommended when X-rays alone won’t provide enough information to help a vet arrive at a medical decision. Pets suffering from chronic vomiting or severe abdominal pain are best evaluated with an ultrasound.
Depending on the results of the ultrasound, we may recommend additional diagnostics, such as exploratory surgery or endoscopy, to confirm an initial diagnosis and clarify ultrasound findings.
Scopes
Endoscopy is a minimally invasive way to evaluate the inside of organs such as the esophagus, stomach, intestines, urinary system, trachea, lungs, and nasal cavity. Additionally, an endoscopy can be performed to evaluate the inside of body cavities including the abdomen (laparoscopy) or chest (thoracoscopy). During endoscopy, an endoscope is inserted directly into an organ through a natural opening in the body or into a body cavity through one or more small incisions. An endoscope is a medical instrument that has a camera, microchip, and light source at the tip, permitting transmission of a high-quality image to a computer monitor for us to view and interpret the condition of the area being examined. In veterinary medicine, endoscopy of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract is the most common type of scope procedure used to diagnose illness or disease.
