Illness Care

When your pet is ill and cannot tell us what is wrong, diagnostic testing can augment the doctor’s physical exam findings.

Atlantic Veterinary Hospital’s in-house laboratory and advanced digital X-ray technology help our doctors develop a complete diagnostic picture for your pet at a point where time is critical.

Advanced Digital X-ray Technology

Atlantic Veterinary Hospital is proud to offer advanced digital X-ray technology. X-rays are used to identify the location and severity of fractures, detect signs of heart and lung diseases, and identify tumors or foreign bodies in a pet’s abdomen.

Digital X-rays have many benefits over older technologies, producing high-quality images very quickly, providing greater accuracy for the medical team and less stress for your pet. Digital images also can be emailed or saved to a disc, allowing for fast consultations with veterinary specialists, when necessary.

Our board-certified veterinary radiologist provides X-ray interpretation consultations, when needed, to provide second opinions to our doctors and increase the accuracy and quality of medicine we offer our patients.

In-House Diagnostic Laboratory

Atlantic Veterinary Hospital’s in-house laboratory helps the medical team develop a complete diagnostic picture for your pet.

Our in-house diagnostic lab is capable of running many laboratory tests, often within an hour. When the situation dictates, we also send samples to our reference laboratory; most send-out lab results are available and communicated to you the next day.

Veterinary Cardiology

Pets get heart disease too. A board-certified veterinary cardiologist travels to our hospital to provide comprehensive cardiology examinations for our patients with heart disease. These  include a detailed heart echocardiograms, EKG, and blood pressure screenings.

Echocardiogram is a non-invasive, painless procedure that allows a detailed evaluation of the anatomy and function of a pet’s heart.

The cardiologist also provides on-going guidance to our staff veterinarians to help them optimally manage care for our patients with heart disease. Management may include medication, special diets, and additional diagnostics.

Veterinary Ultrasound

A board-certified veterinary radiologist travels to our hospital to provide abdominal ultrasound examinations.

Ultrasound is a non-invasive, painless tool to evaluate the structure, shape, and density of a pet’s internal organs. Ultrasound uses high-frequency sound waves to create a picture of what is going on inside a pet’s body.

The radiologist uses this tool to assess a pet for the presence of disease, evaluate a pregnancy, and to detect abnormal fluid or internal bleeding. Our radiologist also provides ultrasound-guided biopsies, when needed, allowing us to evaluate internal deep structures without surgery.

Veterinary Internal Medicine Second Opinions

Diagnosing a pet’s illness can occasionally be quite complicated. Our patients cannot speak to us, so our staff doctors rely on their knowledge, experiences, laboratory tests, diagnostic imaging (X-rays and ultrasounds), and our senses – touch, sound, sight, and smell.

Our experienced doctors consult with one another, and they also reach out, if needed, to veterinary internal medicine specialists for second opinions on behalf of a pet presenting with a particularly challenging symptoms.

Illness Care Admission Forms

So that our staff may prepare for your pet’s arrival, please complete and submit the appropriate online form(s) at least 30 minutes before your pet’s scheduled appointment time. Click here for a full list of client forms.

Admission for Diagnostics or Treatment (when we are admitting your pet into the hospital for further diagnostics and/or treatment)