Echocardiography

Pets with heart disease may have symptoms that appear unrelated to heart conditions such as lack of appetite, lethargy, or fainting spells. Some pets may not show any signs or unusual behavior, and go unnoticed until his or her routine examination.
Additional signs of cardiovascular conditions in dogs and cats include:
- Coughing
- Weakness
- Exercise intolerance
- Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
- Rapid breathing at rest
- Elevated heart rate
In order to diagnose your pet’s condition, Vets will examine his or her full medical history, and perform diagnostic tests such as blood work, chest x-rays, and echocardiogram. These diagnostic tools can help us determine if your pet has an underlying heart problem, and if so, to assess the severity of the condition.

VETLAB offers echocardiography as one of our many veterinary cardiology services. An echocardiogram is an ultrasound (sonogram) exam of the heart. Echocardiography is non-invasive and well-tolerated by most pets. Most pets do not require sedation or anaesthesia but this depends on their temperament. The hair behind their elbow may be clipped to allow adequate visualization of the heart during the ultrasound. Gel is then placed in this area and the ultrasound probe records images of the heart.
The power of echocardiography is the ability to look inside the heart at various structures. Echocardiography uses sound waves to safely image the heart valves, assess blood flow, determine the cause of heart murmurs and assess the strength and health of the heart muscle and its chambers. These, and other parameters, allow our specialist to diagnose and provide appropriate treatment recommendation for diseases of the heart.
If you have a heart problem, you might need to see a cardiologist. It’s the same in the animal world. If your pet has a heart issue, your local vet may refer you to a VETLAB veterinary cardiologist. They’re experts in caring for the heart health of our furry friends.

Our pet cardiologists know all about your pet’s circulatory system: the heart muscle, valves and blood vessels. They also know what to do when things go wrong.
- The conditions which diagnosed by Echocardiography
- Congenital heart defects
- High blood pressure
- Irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia)
- Enlarged heart
- Congestive heart failure (dogs & cats)
- Congenital heart defects
- High blood pressure
- Irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia)
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