Thorough clinical examination of your pet does not always give us the answer to the problem and our next step is to implement some further testing to help us develop a diagnosis.
A simple blood test can go a long way to give us a picture of what is happening internally. The blood is collected on site and sent to a veterinary specialist laboratory and generally results are received by us in 12-24 hours.
Radiography is another very useful diagnostic tool that is frequently used here at Patterson River. We have on site x-ray facilities and an automatic developer that can give us results in minutes. Contrast radiography is another tool we can choose if necessary.
Ultrasound can uncover much information about what is going on internally with your pet within both the abdomen and chest cavities. We are now able to offer this service on site and this is routinely done by Dr Mary.
On site pathology:- we regularly do cytology on site particularly for ear infections. We take a swab from the ear, stain it and then examine under the microscope. This will give us an indication of the type of infection we are dealing with.
We also sometimes choose to do fine needle aspirates on lumps and these are examined on site and can sometimes give us a diagnosis. More often with lumps we choose to do a biopsy and send it off to the lab. for diagnosis or we will excise the lump totally +/- send off for histopathology if we think it is necessary.
Urinalysis is an easy and helpful test that we do on site and it can give us much information about the urinary system.
Address: 15 McLeod Rd, Carrum