X-rays and Ultrasound

Veterinary medicine has made many advances in the last 10 years and many local veterinary practices will now be able to perform x-rays and ultrasound examinations.

Your veterinarian can get a lot of information about what might be wrong with your dog or cat from talking to you and examining your pet. Sometimes your veterinarian may need to take a blood sample to test for diseases. X-ray and ultrasound allow your veterinarian to look at the organs inside your pets body without having to perform an operation.

X-rays are like light except they can travel through the body. For an x-ray your cat will lie under the x-ray machine which sends a beam of x-rays through your cat’s body onto a photographic plate (like a piece of film). When the plate is developed your veterinarian will have a picture of the inside of your pet. This is called a radiograph.

Veterinary ultrasound machines are just like the ones used by human doctors to scan babies in the womb. As its name suggests ultrasound is a form of sound. Just as sound waves can pass through solid objects (like doors and walls when your neighbor has a party!), ultrasound can pass through the skin into your pet’s body. The sound waves are directed through the area your veterinarian wants to look at and some of them are reflected back like an echo. These echoes are detected by a special computer that uses them to produce a map of the inside of your pet that your veterinarian can read.

No, it is not possible to feel x-rays or ultrasound. For ultrasound examinations fur will need to be shaved over the area where your veterinarian is taking the picture. The ultrasound machine must be in contact with skin to let the sound waves get into the body. The hair should grow back quickly after the examination.

Taking an x-ray is a bit like taking a photograph of the inside of your cat. For x-ray examinations it is important that your cat lies still as the exposure is made or the final picture will be blurred. Nurses and veterinarians take many x-rays every day and so they cannot hold all the patients or they would also be exposed to the x-rays which can be dangerous over a long period of time.

Ultrasound examinations can take up to an hour to perform. Although your pet can be held by a nurse while the veterinarian performs the examination many cats do not like to be held still for this length of time. Giving them a sedative makes them relax so that they are not worried by the examination.

X-rays, when used to produce pictures of your pet will not cause side effects. Exposure to high doses, or over long periods of time, can be dangerous and this is why your veterinarian cannot hold your cat for the examination.

There is no evidence that ultrasound examinations carry any risk at all.

The risk associated with the tests is that of upsetting a sick dog or cat or one with breathing difficulties by struggling with it, or the risk of the anesthetic or sedation in an ill animal. Your veterinarian will explain the risks to you and if you are in any doubt about the risk please ask your veterinarian to explain why they need to do the tests. In almost all cases the risk of not finding out what is wrong with your pet, and therefore not being able to treat it, is far worse than the risk of the anesthetic.

Although your veterinarian will be able to get the pictures from these examinations on the same day they may want to send them to a specialist for a second opinion before giving you a final diagnosis. Some veterinarians specialize only in reading x-rays and ultrasounds and may be less likely to miss some information on the pictures. Some veterinary practices now have a specialist in the practice or one who visits the practice regularly to perform these examinations.

Your veterinarian will be happy to explain to you why they need to do tests on your pet. If you do not understand the reasons please ask someone to explain the tests to you. If you are interested, your veterinarian will probably be able to show you the pictures of your pet after the examination and explain what they can see.