Diagnostics

Proper diagnostic testing saves lives.

Diagnostics

Proper diagnostic testing saves lives.

In-House Diagnostic Testing

At Black River Veterinary Hospital, we are very proud of the in-house tools we have to reach a diagnosis for your pet. Our goal is to get your answers as quickly as possible and allow your pets to feel better even sooner. We offer state-of-the-art veterinary technology. We also stay on top of the newest developments in veterinary medicine so our patients can be diagnosed quickly and efficiently. We always want our patients to receive the best care available because they deserve it!

We offer many diagnostic tools including digital x-ray, ultrasound, and a comprehensive in-house laboratory. X-ray and ultrasound allow us to receive same-day imaging of your pet’s internal structures. And our in-house laboratory allows us to run bloodwork and urinalysis that aids our doctors in getting you and your pet the answers you need.

These in-house tools allow us to diagnose your pet today, instead of in a few days. In some cases, our doctors may recommend sending specimens to an outside laboratory for further testing, but they are always happy to review options with you.

Diagnostic Procedures Include

Here at Black River Veterinary Hospital, we are excited about digital radiology and what we can do with it for our clients. It has always been our goal to give our clients the very best care. To do this, we are constantly learning new things and working hard to keep our equipment up to date. One way we give your pets the best care is with digital radiology. It is quick. We can often see the images seconds after we take the films. It also saves time because we don’t have to repeat films if they are too dark or too light. We can simply change the contrast!

When your pets are not feeling well, we might recommend radiographs. They allow us to see what is going on inside your pets without surgery. We are able to get amazing pictures using digital radiology.

Here at Black River Veterinary Hospital, we are proud to offer ultrasonography for our patients. It is our goal to offer our patients the very best care that veterinary medicine has to offer. We only use state-of-the-art equipment so we can diagnose and treat your pet as quickly as possible. Because of this, we offer ultrasounds as a way to quickly and efficiently diagnose your pet.

Ultrasounds are quick and painless. They are usually better than radiographs because the machine does not give off any harmful radiation. Ultrasounds use sound waves to look inside your pet, allowing us to diagnose him or her. The images are better than radiographs and there are several conditions that can only be diagnosed with an ultrasound.

We are delighted to be able to offer this service since not many hospitals have the option. Instead, they have to rely on radiographs to help diagnose their patients. Lucky for us, we are proud to be able to offer this service. It just helps us to achieve our goal of helping our patients as quickly as possible.

Here at Black River Veterinary Hospital, we are proud to be able to offer blood work on our patients. Blood work is necessary to keep your pet healthy. By performing routine blood work, we are able to monitor any changes to your pet’s kidneys, liver, blood cell counts, and much more. We can learn a lot of information with a little bit of blood. It is our goal to catch any problems early by doing regular blood work. When caught early, many problems are easier to diagnose and treat. It is hopeful that many pets will recover or, at least, have a better life with treatment. It is also helpful to have blood work to compare to, if your pet ever becomes ill.

Whenever you pet is not feeling well, you should be prepared to run blood work. There are a lot of diseases that all present the exact same way. With in-house blood work, we are able to diagnose your pet’s illness fairly quickly. We also have a laboratory where we can send more complex testing. We may want to re-evaluate your pet’s results by sending it to the laboratory. We may also want to run thyroid tests, blood clotting factors, cultures, and much more. All of these these tests need to be performed at an outside laboratory.

Here at Black River Veterinary Hospital, we are proud to run cytology exams. Cytology is the study of cells under a microscope. We run cytology tests on many things. We do ear cytologies to figure out if your pets have bacterial or yeast infections. We look at diarrhea under the microscope to see if there is anything abnormal. We also run blood cytologies to look for any cell changes.

However, most cytology exams are done on lumps. Typically we use a needle to get a sample of the cells, which we then place, on the microscope. This can be quite informative, telling us what types of cells (normal cells, fat cells, or cancerous cells) are there. This can be quite diagnostic. We also run cytology tests on fluids if your pets have fluid in the abdomen or chest.

We also routinely check cytologies of your pet’s lymph nodes if they are enlarged, which can be a sign of cancer. If we are unable to get enough information from the cytology, we may decide to send it out to the laboratory for more information. If we still don’t get enough, we may have to send out a biopsy of the tissue.

Your pet’s skin is the largest organ of its body. Allergies, parasites, infections, autoimmune diseases and cancers can all affect your pet’s skin. We offer specific diagnostic tests like allergy testing, fungal testing, cultures and biopsies, along with the most cutting edge treatments to ensure the health of your pet’s skin.

Here at Black River Veterinary Hospital, we would be glad to run an urinalysis for your pet. Urinalysis is run on urine, whether you catch it mid-stream or we are able to get a sample off of the table or floor. We are able to check for blood, glucose, bacteria, and much more. If we have enough urine, we also spin it down in a centrifuge and look at it under a microscope. If your pet has an urinary tract infection, we often can see the bacteria on the slide, differentiating between types of bacteria.

Running an urinalysis can be quite helpful. Not only does it test for urinary tract infections, but it can give us information on the functioning of the kidneys. Sometimes, it is the first indication of diabetes.