Echocardiography

With a Board Certified Cardiologist Consultation.

When pets experience heart issues, ultrasounds and x-rays are often used to make a definitive diagnosis. Echocardiography, put simply, refers to an ultrasound utilized for the heart.

With this test, we can watch and measure the moving heart. This modality allows us to diagnose and track a variety of heart conditions. The images that we take at our hospital along with chest X-rays, blood pressure measurements, and an EKG are digitally sent to a board-certified cardiologist for review. We get a report from the specialist that can help guide us in the treatment and prevention of illness in our patients.

We recommend evaluating the heart in this way prior to anesthesia in many of our patients who have heart murmurs. The cardiologist can help us to know whether or not anesthesia is risky and if not, how best to support these animals during anesthesia.

If your pet has been diagnosed with heart murmurs or irregular heartbeats, call us at (413) 499-1580 to discuss whether an echocardiogram would be beneficial.