Imaging our patients is very important for us to be able to reach a diagnosis and plan treatment. Imaging enables us to see what if going on inside our patients, and we use two main types:

X-rays

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Radiography (X-raying). X-rays enable us to image bones and soft tissues. We will use x-rays to investigate heart and lung problems, abdominal problems such as intestinal, bladder, kidney as well as bone and joint problems.

Sometimes an X-ray is the only way of determining the cause of a problem.

At Leonard Brothers we have a modern powerful X-ray machine, a dedicated lead-lined X-ray room and an automatic developer. This equipment is very important but not as important as the expertise of the people using it. Reading X-rays is an important skill and all the vets here have done additional training courses that cover this.

Want to have a go yourself?

Case A:

Dog with blood in urine.

Case B:

Vomiting dog.

Case C:

Lame Dog

For each of the cases work out what is the abnormality in the xray.

Answers at the bottom of the page.

Case A:

Dog with blood in urine.

Case B:

Vomiting dog.

Case C:

Lame Dog

Bladder Stones

Ball in stomach

Arthritis

Ultrasound

The Answers

Diagnostic Ultrasound uses high frequency sound waves to get a picture of what is going on inside an animal. It gives us very different information to X-rays. Unlike X-rays, scans are a moving image so we can see how moving organs such as the heart are performing.

Ultrasound scans can be performed on animals without the need for general anaesthesia, although wriggly patients may require mild sedation.

As in humans, we use ultrasound to diagnose pregnancy in our patients, ideally this is done 4 weeks after mating.

This means we have the option to take X-rays, perform a scan or do both depending on how much information we need to make a diagnosis.