In-House Labs & Imaging (X-Ray, Ultrasound, Endoscopy)
Feline Wellness Center is proud to offer state of the art diagnostics to our patients.
While we work with professional medical laboratories for routine testing, we recognize that many of our patients may come to us needing rapid diagnostics and treatment. We have partnered with IDEXX to furnish our in house lab - allowing us to run CBC's, chemistries, electrolytes, urine samples, thyroid levels, bile acids, combo (FeLV/FIV) tests, coagulation panels, screening pancreas FPL and Cardiac ProBNP tests in our clinic with results in under an hour.
We are the first clinic in Georgia to be able to offer same day cytology
results with the new IDEXX Digital Cytology. This allows us to send in digital images of cells on slides online to a pathologist and have a report back in a few hours, instead of having to wait 3-5 days.
Feline Wellness Center is also able to provide digital imaging with in-house ultrasound, endoscopy, digital dental x-rays, and lower dose radiation digital full body x-rays. We are able to send our images to a veterinary radiologist for review. When your cat is sick and you need answers quickly, we can help!
Ultrasound
Ultrasound is a non-invasive way of taking a look at the inside
of your cat. It is often used in conjunction with x-rays for
optimal assessment.
We recommend ultrasound for cats with changes in lab tests
(liver, kidneys, pancreas, bladder) to create an image of what
the inside of these organs look like.
We can even use the ultrasound to guide a small needle into very small sites if we need to collect a sample for additional testing.
We frequently perform abdominal ultrasounds on cats with inconclusive lab tests, looking for hidden signs of disease like inflammatory bowel disease, intestinal masses, bladder stones, gall bladder stones, and pancreatitis.
Ultrasound can also be used to evaluate cats with heart murmurs. In fact, a cardiac ultrasound is better at detecting heart disease in cats than an x-ray is.
Cats that have an abdominal ultrasound performed will likely have their tummy shaved to allow for better imaging.
Most cats don't need any sedation or pain medication, but if their abdomen is painful, if they have arthritis and it hurts lay a certain way, or if we need to collect samples, rest assured that we will make them as comfortable as possible during the procedure.
Endoscopy
An endoscope is an instrument that allows us to look inside the body with a camera and take small biopsy samples without having to perform surgery. General anesthesia is still required, but this is considered a minimally invasive procedure.
Just like people have colonoscopies, we can use the endoscope to look inside the stomach, small intestine, and colon to take samples. Cats are prone to intestinal diseases like inflammatory bowel disease and intestinal cancer, and using the endoscope allows us to look for and biopsy areas of interest without making any incisions. We can also remove some foreign bodies from the stomach without having to perform a more invasive surgery!
Cats can also get nasal disease, especially polyps, foreign bodies, and tumors. Any cat with chronic discharge,
a bloody nose, or recurring upper airway disease should be considered for rhinoscopy. Using a special instrument, we can look from the front end as well as the back end of the nasal passage, and biopsy tissues or remove any foreign bodies (like a blade of grass!).