The essence of our profession:
Prevention of health problems using the tools of regular check ups, vaccinations, screening tests, a good oral health and dental regimen, good nutrition, and a good parasite control program.
Diagnostics: finding out if our patients are healthy. If not healthy ... why not?
And Treatment: making the problem better through life style changes, medications, and sometimes surgery.
This page is about the diagnostic part of our interesting profession.
When we want to know what's wrong.
Our motto; If you don't look, you won't find.
On Other Pages on this Web Site:
Nutrition by Prescription: Recommendations for pets with allergies, intestinal problems, kidney problems, diabetes, liver disease, pancreatitis, obesity, or heart disease.
And Please visit our pages about:
Revolution Frontline Plus Comfortis Vectra3D Promeris CapStar
Program 6 Month Injection for Cats Sentinel KnockOut House
KnockOut Premise Advantage Multi PrevenTic Collars
Revolution Advantage Multi TriHeart Plus
ProHeart 6 month injection
Inteceptor Sentinel
Panacur ProFender Pyrantel-50mg Revolution Advantage Multi
Inteceptor Sentinel
TriHeart Plus
And The Very Best Products Available For:
ZymoxHC FoxNest Ear Cleaner Mometamax Acrexx MalOtic
Phytosphingosine Hydroxyzine Tris8 Duralactin OFA's
Exotic Diets
Phytosphingosine FoxNest Medicated Shampoo Relief OFA's Zymox
FoxNest OatMeal Shampoo Hydroxyzine The Furminator Exotic Diets Hylyt Shampoo Genesis Spray BioGroom Natural Scented Shampoos MaloKet
Zymox VBG Cream Nolvasan Malotic DermaGel Bag Balm
Fly Repellent Vet Wrap
Biotene MaxiGuard Oral Gel Greenies TD OraVet Kits Gum Vaccine
ProPectalin DigestRite DiaRobe CatLax DiaBac Pancrazyme
GastriCalm K-Pectin
Duralactin Dasaquin SynoviFlex ChondroFlex for Cats Rimadyl Adequan
Tramadol AntiOxUltra
Special Diets Duralactin AntiOxUltra OFA's
Reconcile/Prozac DAP Collars & Plug-Ins Elimiodor Forbid
OFA's AntiOx SAM-e CranVet MultiVitamins PetTinic Milk Replacer
Bottles & Nipples Slentrol Reducing Diet LeanTreats
Prescription Therapy Diets
Urine Off The Equilizer Eliminodor Pet Candles ThioTrol Skunk
The Furminator Shed Guard OFA's Phytosphingosine
AllerPet for Humans MicroChips Pet Insurance Pet Candles Bag Balm
Dog Appeasing Pheromone Feliway Spray PetGuard
On Our Other Web Sites
ARF: Our No Kill Shelter. This site has pictures of the dogs and cats, kittens and puppies that need homes. It has some interesting letters and stories. We discuss the human animal bond. Please visit.
Animal Pet Doctor: our huge, world known web site about what to expect when you go to the vet. I discuss the treatment of most diseases we encounter in small animal practice, talk about a lot of pet related topics, and have an interesting section about the history of veterinary medicine. There's also an interesting page about who makes the pet foods we buy in our country.
Screening Tests
Diagnostic Tools
The cornerstone of modern medicine
Health is like an eggroll. A patient might look great on the outside ... but who knows what's on the inside.
A big part of our profession is finding out why a patient is sick.
Or sometimes we need to make sure a patient that seems healthy on casual inspection really is healthy and not harboring a hidden problem.
The tools we have to find out what's going on in our patients are getting better, cheaper, and more accurate all the time. It's pretty amazing.
We have the important traditional tools of taking a good history, performing a good physical examination, and observation. An experienced doctor can often make an accurate diagnosis with nothing fancier than a good pen light, a thermometer, and a stethescope.
But, in many cases, unless we look a lot harder using modern lab tests or radiographs we completely miss the real problem.
This page is about the lab tests and equipment we have available, and why we use them. I've also listed fees
Let's start with Poop:
Intestinal diseases and intestinal parasites are a common and major problem in aniamls. We can learn a lot about what's going on in the intestines as well as digestion, liver function, and metabolism by looking at the stool. And we do a lot of fecal testing to monitor for worm problems, especially as so many worms have become resistant to control programs.
Microscopic exam of concentrated stool: $14-20
Parvo Testing: $18
Urine Testing:
We recommend urine testing when we need to know whether or not there is a bladder infection, bladder inflammation, sugar in the urine, protein in the urine, ketones in the urine, whether or not the kidneys are concentrating, whether the urine pH is ideal, and whether or not there are crystals in the urine.
Microscopic & chem strip exam of concentrated urine: $20
Specific Gravity Spectometer: With this thingie I can evaluate your pet's kidney function and hydration status with just a drop or two of urine. We also use it to evaluate abdominal fluid. $2
Blood Testing:
We can detect all kinds of different diseases, poisons, drug levels, and problems by testing blood. Here's a list of the more common tests we do.
Preanesthetic testing for diabetes, liver disease, kidney disease, anemia, and low protein: $26
Extensive blood panel for sick pets: $69
Extensive blood panel recommended for senior wellness screening: $69
We also have some great screening tests:
Blood test for Leukemia in cats: $18
Combination Blood test for Leukemia and AIDS in cats: $25
Blood screening test for Pancreatitis $23
Blood glucose test for detecting diabetes: $10
Blood pack cell volume for detected anemia: $10
Blood test for BUN; one of several screening tests for kidney disease $10
Blood test for CREATININE; another screening test for kidney disease $10
Blood test for Thyroid: $15
Heartworm Antigen test: $12
Combination Heartworm, Lymes Disease, & Erlichia test: $15
The above blood test are simply the most common ones we do. There are many other specialized tests available to us.
Excretions of pus, wax, skin, and Tissue Samples
We can also test tissues or anything excreted from wounds, masses, cavities, sinus', and the skin. And we often do.
Cytology:
Microscopic examination of ear wax or skin scrapings for mites: $0-4
Microscopic examination of stained tissues for ear infections: $15
Cultures & Sensitivity Testing:
Cultures tell us what type of bacteria or fungus is present and sensitivity testing tells us which antibiotics are effective at killing this bug. Unfortunately, results take 7-14 days
Throat and other bacterial cultures/sensitivites $40
Ringworm culture: $15
Biopsies:
Done by a pathologist to determine if a tissue sample is cancerous, reactive, infected, inflamatory, or associated with immune diseases. $69
Necropsy (Autopsy) to determine cause of death
Basic: $25-50
Extensive necropsy including screening for poisons by a team of pathologists: Very inexpensive (subsidized), ($20-100) when done at our State lab but the catch is that you have to drive the body to Columbia.
Diagnostic Equipment
Digital Radiography:
We now have a digital X Ray machine and wow. Incredible quality and detail not just of bones but of heart, lungs, abdominal organs, and teeth. And near instantly.
Digital X Rays are the best way to detect heart disease and lung disease. It's the only reliable way to diagnose heartworm disease in cats. (Cats, by the way, are prone to heart disease)
We recommend a screening radiograph for cats and dogs in late middle age to check for heart, lung, and arthritic diseases as well as for any tumors, stones, or spinal problems that show up.
And, of course, we frequently use radiographs to check for fractures, bowel obstructions, bullets, and cancer.
X Ray studies are $75
EKG's
Electro CardioGrams help us detect certain types of heart disease and helps us monitor critical patients. $15
Ultra Sound Images
Not available yet at our practice
