4 Reasons Why Your Pet May Need an Ultrasound

It is highly likely that your pet brings lots of joy to your family. To help them live long, healthy lives, you must take them to the vet for regular checkups. Fortunately, medical advances provide tools to help vets do a thorough checkup. One of these tools is an ultrasound machine.

What Is an Ultrasound Machine?

An ultrasound machine is a diagnostic tool that uses sound waves. It creates images of different body parts that the doctor cannot see with their naked eyes. It shows the soft tissues within the body, unlike the X-ray machine that displays the hard tissue or materials.

The vet places a small probe on the animal’s body. It emits sound waves that create a pattern of echoes with different velocities in different areas. They bounce off the soft tissue that the machine converts into electrical impulses you see as images.

Reasons for an Ultrasound

There are many reasons why your pet may need an ultrasound. Here are four of them.

Examination of Soft Tissue

Ultrasounds examine the soft tissues in the body. They help detect masses and evaluate the body organs for abnormalities. They can gauge the eyes, tendons, ligaments, and thyroid glands. They can also check fetal viability and development. If there is an abnormality, the vet can take samples and send them to the lab for testing.

The vet can take samples using ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration. They will do this while your pet is under sedation. These biopsies are less invasive than surgical ones. 

Heart Conditions

Vets may recommend an ultrasound if they suspect your pet has a heart condition. They refer to these as echocardiograms. They use them to view the structure and function of the heart in real time.

A variety of echocardiography shows the structure of the chambers, walls, and valves. These include the Doppler and tissue Doppler echocardiography. The first helps the vet know the blood’s direction and velocity, while the latter enables them to see the heart wall motion and velocity. The vet can then make a diagnosis and prescribe treatment or medication.

Abnormal Urine or Blood Test Results

Ultrasound will help the vet visualize the internal organs—in this case, the kidneys, liver, spleen, urinary bladder, and lymph nodes. They will determine where the abnormalities causing discrepancies in the test results lie. The irregularities could be tumors, blockages, or kidney stones. From the diagnosis, the vet can determine the next course of action or treatment.

Detecting Foreign Objects

Sometimes, your pet can ingest a foreign object. Some of these objects are not easily detectable using an X-ray machine. That is because they are not hard enough for detection by an X-ray. These objects may include cloth, plant material, paper, or thin plastic. Once the vet detects the foreign object, they can determine whether your pet needs immediate surgery. Otherwise, they can deal with the case by managing it medically. 

Your vet may require an ultrasound before performing a biopsy or treating a chronic infection. 

For more information on pet ultrasounds, visit Woodstock Veterinary Clinic at our Woodstock, New Brunswick office. Call (506) 328-8248 to schedule an appointment today.