A diagnostic tool is any device or substance used for the analysis or detection of diseases or other medical conditions. From in-house blood work to digital radiography, VCA Castle Shannon has a wide range of full diagnostics to help diagnose your pet.
One of the most common and useful medical diagnostic procedures is radiography or x-rays. The greatest benefit of x-rays is their ability to penetrate tissues and show internal structures. This can allow us to detect arthritis, fractures, bony tumors and other forms of cancer; heart enlargement and congestive heart failure; bladder and kidney stones; stomach or intestinal foreign bodies; pneumonia and other lung diseases and much more.
In addition to x-rays, blood work can be a very valuable tool in detecting diseases or abnormalities with your pet. Blood work performed on healthy pets will provide veterinarians with a baseline for comparison when the pet does become sick. Performing these tests could also uncover early indicators of illnesses that otherwise might be missed until it's too late. VCA Castle Shannon has the capability of performing many blood tests in-house, but not all samples can be analyzed in our lab and thus, are sent to our outside laboratory, Antech Diagnostics. Antech offers more than 400 different tests and special profiles in chemistry, pathology, endocrinology, serology, hematology and microbiology. When our in-house capability is combined with our outside laboratory services, a full comprehensive laboratory evaluation can obtained.
Other diagnostics available at our facility include ultrasound, ECG, tonopen, dental radiography, cytology, urinalysis, and much more. For more information regarding our diagnostic capabilities, please contact our staff or veterinarians.
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