Advanced Care

CT Scans

Our hospital offers an advanced diagnostic imaging tool called CT (computed tomography) scanning. Pets who may require a CT scan include those with neurologic disorders (disk disease, seizures, etc), orthopedic disorders or nasal disease. There are many other conditions which may benefit from CT imaging and your veterinarian will tell you if a CT scan is right for your pet. Pets must be fully anesthetized as movement can ruin a CT scan image. Your pet will be placed on a special table that is slowly advanced into the part of the machine that performs the scan. An x-ray tube rotates 360 degrees around your pet to record the x-rays in thin slices from many different angles. When the computer finishes internally processing all the x-rays, it creates an image on a monitor. In general, CT scans provide more detailed information than traditional x-rays and dye (contrast media) can also be injected into your pet's bloodstream to further outline any abnormalities. Our doctors are experienced in reading the images in order to correctly diagnose your pet's condition.