When your pet is sick or injured, you can’t wait days to schedule advanced imaging or wait for results from a lab that processes thousands of tests each day. To fast-track your pet’s care, Caldwell Animal Hospital has invested in advanced in-house diagnostic equipment, enabling our team to examine, diagnose, and treat many pet health concerns during a single visit. Learn how in-house testing can benefit your pet.

What are in-house veterinary diagnostics?

As do most veterinary hospitals, our team partners with an outside laboratory that can run nearly any test your pet will ever need. A veterinary laboratory can provide results for routine blood and urine tests within a day or so, although some advanced tests can take several days or weeks. Because outside laboratory results are often delayed, another option is necessary to provide immediate evaluation when your pet is ill.

Our hospital has a fully equipped laboratory, including automated blood and urine analyzers and an advanced microscope that enables us to examine cells and other samples. When your pet is sick and we need to fast-track test results to provide immediate treatment, our Caldwell Animal Hospital team can run basic tests in-house and have the results within minutes. We also have on-site radiology services, including X-ray and ultrasound, which help us evaluate bones, joints, soft tissues, and internal organs without having to send you and your pet to another testing location.

How immediate test results improve your pet’s care

When your pet is sick or injured, minutes and hours count. The sooner we can determine the source of your pet’s problem, the sooner we can begin treatment and get your pet’s health back on track. Our doctors use in-house diagnostics to perform the following:

  • Diagnose sick or injured pets
  • Monitor changes in real time for pets recovering from illness
  • Plan for surgery
  • Obtain organ biopsies
  • Determine your pet’s need for advanced or specialized care

If necessary, a radiologist or internal medicine specialist immediately reviews your pet’s test results. In most cases, this protocol enables us to provide your pet with the most effective care,  while helping you avoid an expensive or stressful transfer to another facility.  

Common problems we can diagnose in our veterinary hospital

Each in-house test provides specific clues regarding your pet’s health status. To fast-track your pet’s diagnosis for common health issues, we can perform these in-house tests: 

  • Blood and urine tests — These tests, including chemistry profiles, complete blood counts (CBCs), and urinalyses, provide information about how well your pet’s organs are functioning, their hydration status, and whether they have an infection or allergy. Our Caldwell Animal Hospital team can also check for a few specific infections with specialized “snap” tests, including heartworms, tick-borne diseases, feline viral diseases, leptospirosis, and pancreatitis. 
  • X-ray — An X-ray machine sends focused radiation beams through your pet’s tissues onto a digital receiver. A computer then creates a two-dimensional image based on your pet’s tissue density—detailed in white, black, and gray shades. X-ray imaging can indicate bone or joint injuries, some tumors, bladder or kidney stones, lung and heart disease, abdominal organ size and placement, and intestinal obstructions. 
  • Ultrasound — An ultrasound machine uses sound waves to determine tissue density, but is different from X-ray because this imaging modality provides a real-time, moving image rather than a single, still snapshot. Ultrasound can examine only a small area at one time, but does so in greater detail than X-ray. We can use ultrasound to check for tumors, identify free-floating fluid, collect urine samples, collect organ biopsy samples, examine heart function and blood flow direction, and measure the size and thickness of difficult-to-see organs such as the pancreas or adrenal glands.

When is it OK to wait for your pet’s test results?

For pets whose health conditions are stable or indicative of mild illness, or who are undergoing routine health monitoring, our team sends your four-legged friend’s blood, urine, or other samples to an outside laboratory. If your pet has a serious condition that could benefit from more advanced imaging, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or a computed tomography (CT) scan, we will refer you to another facility or specialist. 

Your pet deserves comprehensive veterinary care, and you shouldn’t have to travel to another location to get answers when your pet is sick. Our Caldwell Animal Hospital team has the in-house technology to fast-track your pet’s diagnosis, and the expertise to interpret your four-legged friend’s test results, enabling us to initiate their treatment plan without delay. Contact us to schedule a sick-pet visit, or to learn more about our hospital’s diagnostic equipment and capabilities.