Pet Diagnostics

We offer a number of diagnostic services at Crossroads Animal Hospital including in-house bloodwork, PennHIP evaluation, ultrasound, and echocardiography.

Appointment

Pet Diagnostics in the City of Central, LA

Here at Crossroads Animal Hospital, we provide our clients with the best medical care for their pets and have some of the latest technology for veterinary diagnostics. To find the cause of your pet’s illness, diagnosis testing is often required.

We understand how anxious pet owners can become when waiting for the results behind their beloved pets’ problems. We can offer faster and more accurate results. We have on-site radiology, as well as other imagery services and an in-house medical laboratory that can help you get the results you need without further delay.

Offering these services on-site leads to a much faster diagnosis, so your pet can be given the proper treatment. We want the pets we treat, and their owners to be happy and know they are in hands they can trust. Our vets will discuss all treatment options that are available for your pet, as well as any fees involved.

Diagnostic Services

Veterinary Laboratory

Crossroads Animal Hospital is pleased to offer your pet in clinic diagnostic blood work capabilities. Our hospital’s latest analyzers allow us to determine if your pet has an issue with its organs or blood in less than fifteen minutes! Often your pets come in as you have noticed that they simply aren’t feeling their usual playful selves. With a small amount of blood drawn from your pet by a veterinarian or veterinary technician, we place the blood in our state-of-the-art analyzers and have results while you wait! This means you may not have to come back with your pet the next day for additional procedures. Our diagnostics can help us determine if your pet has an organ issue or an underlying problem with the blood.

Veterinary Echocardiography

Dr. LoBue, owner of Crossroads Animal Hospital, now has the ability to examine your pet’s heart using ultrasonography. We are offering this service as an annual cardiac screening and diagnosis of heart disease including valve deformities, murmurs, tumors, as well as many other abnormalities related to the heart. If you would like to schedule an in-depth examination of your pet’s heart please call us at 225-261-6000.

Veterinary Ultrasound

An ultrasound is taken when we need to know more; they are a safe, painless, and non-invasive procedure. We require an ultrasound to evaluate the internal organs, which provides us with a real-time moving image.

It helps us to determine the size, shape, internal structure, tissue density, and more of your pet’s organs. It can also be used to diagnose pregnancy and identify tumors or masses.

The procedure does not require sedation and can take around twenty minutes to one hour. We should be able to get a diagnosis immediately from the ultrasound, which means treatment options can be discussed on the same day.

Veterinary Radiology

The most common and useful tool for veterinary diagnostics is a radiograph. For our vets to give the correct treatment to an animal, they need an accurate diagnosis. Radiographs have the ability to show the pet’s bones and organs by penetrating the tissue using electromagnetic radiation.

Digital radiographs offer some critical advantages:

No harsh chemicals are required to develop the images. This reduces any possible harm to the environment and those in it.
The images can be viewed on a computer immediately after being taken.
The images are clear and detailed. A quicker and more accurate diagnosis can be made as the image can be manipulated so our vets can get a better view of the pet’s internal organs and bones.
Digital images can be sent by email if a second opinion is needed.

PennHIP Evaluation

Hip dysplasia, a genetic trait, is an abnormal formation of the hip socket that can eventually cause crippling lameness and painful arthritis of the joints. Many owners find that they cannot use their dogs for their intended purpose such as hunting, agility, working/service, search and rescue or as a running partner because of hip dysplasia. Identifying a dog with healthy hips can extend the working life of the dog. In order for responsible breeders to be able to reduce the risk of hip dysplasia in their dogs blood lines and make genetic improvement, an accurate test for susceptibility to this disease is necessary.

What is a PennHIP Evaluation?

University of Pennsylvania Hip Improvement Program (PennHIP) was developed by Dr. Gail Smith in 1993. The purpose of the PennHIP evaluation is to accurately detect hip problems and to predict the onset of osteoarthritis as early as 16 weeks. This evaluation is mostly used by breeding programs and service dog organizations. PennHIP radiographs are only performed by a PennHIP certified veterinarian. The radiographs are then used to obtain a dog’s distraction index. This is a measurement of the amount of laxity in the hip joints and has been proven to be the primary risk factor for developing canine hip dysplasia.

Advantages to Evaluation

Advantages to having your dog’s hips evaluated at 16 weeks of age:

Helps breeders choose dogs for their breeding stock early on.
A female dog can be excluded from a breeding program due to a high distraction index; she can be spayed before she has her first heat cycle, thus reducing the risk of mammary cancer.
Early screening isn’t possible with OFA evaluations, these evaluations are done at 2 years old and the female dog would have already had 2 heat cycles and her lifetime risk of mammary cancer has increased, opposed to being spayed before the 1st heat cycle.
Puppies at high risk for developing arthritis in the hip joints will benefit from early intervention and preventative strategies.
Cases with high distraction indexes, a Juvenile Pelvic Symphysiodesis (JPS) procedure can be done which decreases the risk of degenerative joint disease (DJD).

As a general rule, the bigger the dog, the greater the risk of hip dysplasia.