Advanced Diagnostics Mean Faster Treatment
At West Hills Animal Hospital & Emergency Center, we use advanced diagnostic tools to help us quickly and thoroughly evaluate your pet’s health. Whether your pet arrives for a routine wellness visit or an emergency, our in-house diagnostic capabilities allow us to make confident, swift decisions.
Digital Radiology & Expert Imaging Consultations
West Hills Animal Hospital & Emergency Center partners with Idexx Laboratories, Inc. and consults with board-certified veterinary radiologists for expert analysis of your pet’s images. This collaboration enables your veterinarian to share digital images directly with specialists and receive expert interpretations—often within hours.
Our State-of-the-Art Diagnostic Services
In-House Services Include:
Endoscopy
Endoscopy is a minimally invasive procedure that is used in emergency situations or when diagnosing an illness or disease. At West Hills Animal Hospital & Emergency Center, our veterinarians use endoscopy to visually examine your pet’s internal organs without invasive surgery exploratory procedures. During the endoscopy, tiny cameras called endoscopes are inserted into an orifice or through a tiny incision to visualize the organs and internal systems of your dog or cat. The procedure is performed with a rigid or flexible fiber optic instrument allowing for a more accurate diagnosis and treatment of oral, esophageal, stomach, colon, and upper intestinal tract diseases. Endoscopy is also used to remove certain foreign bodies present in the esophagus or stomach to avoid your pet from having to go through surgery.
Ultrasound
Every ultrasound at West Hills Animal Hospital & Emergency Center is performed by one of our specially-trained veterinarians using state-of-the-art equipment at our facility. Ultrasound is a safe, noninvasive, and painless procedure that uses high-frequency sound waves to produce a real-time image of your dog or cat’s internal organs.
We use ultrasound for a variety of diagnostics to provide a better view of the internal organs such as the liver, spleen, kidneys, and lymph nodes. Ultrasound does not require any form of sedation, and can quickly help us identify and locate tumors, cysts, stones, and inflammation. Our veterinarians can also use ultrasound to visualize fetal heartbeats during pregnancy to ensure the proper development of your pet’s puppies or kittens.
Echocardiography
West Hills Animal Hospital & Emergency Center has the technology and experience to provide cardiac echocardiograms. Echocardiograms are “real time” images taken of your pet’s heart using ultrasound equipment. The echocardiogram allows our veterinarians to see inside your pet’s heart and help us to evaluate the structure and function of the heart. We can detect birth defects, diseases of the heart valves and heart muscle diseases, identify fluid around the heart, identify cardiac tumors and certain types of heartworm infections. The components of the echocardiogram can include:
- Two-dimensional images to see lesions and overall cardiac structure
- M-mode study to measure heart size and function
- Doppler examination to evaluate blood flow
We may recommend an echocardiogram for your pet if we suspect congenital or acquired heart disease, for example a heart murmur or irregular heart rhythm or when indicated by the results of an x-ray.
The ultrasound examination is painless, non-invasive and safe and typically does not require your pet to be sedated. Ultrasound technology works through sound waves that travel into the body, returning images of the internal organ to a screen, allowing us to visualize the heart in real time.
CT Scan
CT Scan Services are performed at our Gold Coast Center for Veterinary Care location.
Our Vimago™ HD Volumetric Imaging™ system can scan as much of your pet as needed so we can optimally diagnose and treat with the greatest confidence. We can also use the system as a fluoroscopy platform allowing us to see real time, moving, x-ray images to help with diagnosis and aid us in minimally invasive procedures.
HDVI™, HD Volumetric Imaging™, is a fast method of getting detailed, 3-dimensional imaging of your pet. Our practice uses HD VI™ studies to diagnose and rule out a vast array of conditions as well as to plan surgery and even perform intraoperative and interventional procedures. HDVI™ is capable of producing imaging studies with resolution more than 1481x higher than conventional CT imaging while using 60-90% less radiation. Less radiation not only vastly reduces the risks of radiation damage to your pet, it also allows for our veterinary technicians and doctors to be with our patients during the entire study — enhancing both patient safety and the quality of the images.
Please call 631-923-2530 to schedule your CT scan.
Digital Radiology
Radiology – Telemedicine Consultations 24/7 by Diplomates American College Veterinary Radiology (DACVR)
West Hills Animal Hospital & Emergency Center has teamed up with Idexx Laboratories, Inc. to offer consultations by board certified veterinary radiologists 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This allows us to obtain consultations on diagnostic imaging at the click of a button within hours, any time of the day or night, further enhancing the care provided for your pet. Idexx employs over 35 board-certified veterinary radiologists (DACVR). Board Certification requires three years of a residency program after completion of veterinary school.
Digital radiology, or digital x-ray, is a common imaging tool we use to examine your dog or cat’s organs along with their cardiopulmonary, gastrointestinal, reproductive, and urinary systems. There are a number of benefits to digital radiology compared to traditional film x-rays. Digital x-rays have a higher image quality than film x-rays, making it much easier to view and interpret. These images are instantly available to our veterinarians, which means less time away from your pet and a faster, more accurate diagnosis.
At West Hills Animal Hospital & Emergency Center, we use digital radiology to find foreign objects and materials within the body that may have been ingested; diagnose fractures, bone and joint abnormalities, and other injuries; screen for abnormalities in the heart, lungs, urinary, and digestive organs; and screen for certain forms of cancer.
In-House Services Also Include:
- Blood pressure & ECG monitoring
- Bloodwork (CBC, chemistry, thyroid, clotting)
- Digital radiology
- Urinalysis & fecal exams
Advanced diagnostics (CT, echocardiography, endoscopy) are available through our referral network.
In-House Laboratory
Our skilled technicians working in our on-site laboratory can conduct the following procedures to guide your veterinarian as they treat your pet. Having a complete lab on our premises enables us to provide information faster.
- Blood clotting evaluations
- Bloodwork, urine, skin, and ear cytology
- Glaucoma screening using tonometry
- Infectious disease screening (Heartworm, Lyme, Anaplasma, Ehrlichia)
- Parvovirus, Feline Leukemia, and FIV testing
Samples we are not able to test in-house are sent to a reference lab. Those labs pick up samples from West Hills multiple times every day.
Please call us if you have any questions about our diagnostic capabilities: (631) 351-6116