Services
Making a diagnosis
Medical equipment has become increasingly sophisticated but all the shiny machines cannot replace a careful and competent examination, clinical experience and in some cases, intuition. Having said that, we use technology many times every day to help make our diagnoses faster and more accurate for the cases that we see at Wyndham Hill and Swan House.
The best known of our imaging aids is the x-ray machine, now indispensable in the practice as we can take excellent pictures of even the largest dog and smallest bird. Hip dysplasia screening for the Kennel Club scheme is done routinely at both clinics and only sedation is required for the vast majority of dogs, especially if their owners can stay nearby during the few moments it takes.
Although x-rays are chosen for helping to solve some problems (broken bones, bladder stones) they have limitations and diagnostic ultrasound is now almost as familiar to many people. Using only sound waves it has no side-effects and gives a "real-time" image that owners can see. Ultrasound is good for visualising soft tissues but not bone, making it the ideal companion for the x-ray.
Well-known to some (poor things as it is used conscious on humans, don't I know it!) the flexible fibre-optic endoscope has revolutionised the way we can look directly into the places where the sun doesn't shine. Tiny folding instruments that can be passed inside the 'scope open up at the "seeing end" and allow us to take samples and retrieve unwanted objects without the need for more invasive surgery. My chocolate labrador (Bean the Eating Machine) has given me ample opportunity to hone my skills and the picture here really is one of the many things I have taken from her stomach!
Last but not least used of our medical imaging instruments is the microscope. So simple but so useful...we can see individual bacteria, yeasts and tiny parasites that can be the cause of many common ear, eye and skin infections. So fast to use that we can even get results before the consultation ends, helping to choose the most effective therapy straight away.
Speedy results are always desirable so our blood analysing machines in the lab can deliver detailed information in just 20 minutes, giving us a "while you wait" service. It can sometimes take longer to collect the blood (from a cross cat especially) than analyse the sample! The information can be invaluable but sometimes we send a blood sample to an expert haematologist for examination, especially when there is doubt about the result from our own laboratory.
