Diagnostic Services                        

Despite the best of care, at some point in their life every pet gets sick.  When that happens you will want answers.  The doctors at Litchfield Veterinary Hospital will be prepared with the latest in diagnostic capabilities.

We are well equipped to provide comprehensive diagnostic and therapeutic services for your pet's complete health care needs.  While our excellent veterinarians strive to provide the best primary veterinary care possible, we refer to board certified specialists when needed.  We work with a board certified internist who consults on cases each Thursday.  We also are affiliated with two board certified surgeons who perform orthopedic and specialized surgical procedures at our facility as needed.  Our capable veterinarians cover all areas of internal medicine including; cardiology, ophthamology, neurology, dermatology, gastroenterology, oncology, and endocrinology.
      

Internal medicine consultations 
We offer in-hospital consultations with a board certified veterinary internist who performs ultrasounds, echocardiograms, endoscopy procedures, and offers guidance with more complicated cases.

Diagnostic Imaging  
Our diagnostic imaging capabilities provide a non-invasive way to visualize the internal organs and bones of your pet using x-rays or ultrasound.  Conditions such as fractured bones, hip dysplasia, internal organ enlargement, and foreign body ingestion may be diagnosed with our high quality xrays.

Ultrasound allows us to evaluate the internal structure of organs such as the liver, spleen, kidneys, and bladder.  In many cases we may avoid surgery by using the ultrasound to assist in fine needle biopsies of internal organs.

We offer the ability to perform dental radiographs with our new digital dental xray machine! 

Electrocardiography (EKG) Services 
Our veterinarians can evaluate you pet's heart in several ways.  One valuable indicator of normal function is to measure the heart's electrical activity with an electrocardiogram. We have a new state of the art EKG machine which provides detailed diagnostic analysis of the electrocardiogram function of the patient.

Laboratory 
Our modern and fully equipped in house laboratory gives us instant access to important information regarding your pet's condition.

We use both our comprehensive "in house" laboratory and also outside laboratories to perform a comprehensive range of sophisticated tests to meet the varied needs of our patients.  When immediate results are needed for prompt diagnosis we have the capability to perform a wide range of laboratory tests in a matter of minutes.  Our in house laboratory facility provides for hematology, serum chemistry, electrolytes, blood gas analysis,  serology, urinalysis, and parasite detection.  Our Scil Hematology machine allows us to perform a complete blood count, platelet counts, and differentials within minutes.  The Heska chemistry machine allows us to use blood testing to help identify organ dysfunction within minutes.  Our I-Stat machine allows us to monitor electrolytes, coagulation abnormalities, and perform blood gas analysis.  We utilize outside high quality commercial testing laboratories for specialized diagnostics and consultations.

    
Doppler Blood Pressure 
Just as in human medicine, blood pressure is a very important parameter to measure and monitor in pets.  Blood pressure measurements are more difficult to obtain in pets than in people.  At Litchfield Veterinary Hospital we use a doppler unit, the most accurate non-invasive method to obtain blood pressure in pets.

Tonometry 
A tonometer is used to quickly and accurately determine your pets ocular pressure.  We used ocular pressure to aid in the diagnosis and monitoring of gluacoma and uveitis.  Glaucoma in pets is a serious and very painful disease.  The accurate diagnosis of glaucoma is difficult without specialized equipment.Additional diagnostic tests such as CT scans and MRI's are available to our patients when needed through our referral network with  board certified specialists.