Our veterinarians will discuss your pet’s case and conduct a thorough physical examination to determine if your pet requires radiographs. Radiographs are a very important tool to help us diagnose diseases in animals.
Most of our patients are admitted into hospital for the day to have radiographs taken, unless it is an emergency, and we’ll take them immediately.
When we have radiographs taken, the radiographer asks us to keep perfectly still, often in unnatural positions. Most pets would never lie still enough, in the correct position, for us to take good quality radiographs. Sedation and anaesthesia allow us to get the most useful radiographs possible.
Taking a radiograph is very similar to taking a photo, except we use x-rays instead of light rays. Different tissues in the body absorb x-rays to differing degrees. Of all the tissues in the body, bone absorbs the most x-rays. This is the reason that bone appears white on a radiograph. Soft tissues, such as the heart, kidneys or other organs, absorb some x-rays, so they appear on a radiograph in different shades of grey. The air-filled lungs absorb relatively few x-rays so they appear dark grey or black on a radiograph. We will demonstrate and explain the radiographs when your pet goes home.
Please enter your search...
Please enter a search term.