An echocardiogram, or heart ultrasound, is a completely painless, non-invasive diagnostic tool that allows us to evaluate your pet’s heart structure and function in real-time. This test is often recommended after hearing a murmur or abnormal heart sounds on physical exam, finding heart enlargement on chest X-rays, or if congestive heart failure is suspected. We also perform heart ultrasounds to investigate symptoms like coughing, fast or labored breathing, lethargy, or fainting episodes.

An electrocardiogram (ECG) is a safe, completely painless test that measures the electrical rhythm of your pet's heart. A full 6-lead ECG is performed to obtain precise details about the electrical system of your pet’s heart. An ECG is typically recommended if abnormal heart beats or an irregular heart rhythm is noted.

A Holter monitor is a lightweight, wearable heart monitor that your pet wears home inside a comfortable, specialized vest. It continuously records every single heartbeat for a full 24 hours while your pet goes about their normal daily life—sleeping, eating, and playing. This continuous data helps us catch elusive heart rhythm issues and tailor an effective treatment plan. A Holter monitor is often recommended if your dog or cat is experiencing fainting spells (syncope), weakness, arrhythmias, and/or lethargy.

While an echocardiogram looks directly at the heart's structure, we utilize a combination of chest X-rays, kidney values and blood pressure monitoring to manage the bigger picture.

Together, these vital diagnostic tests allow our cardiology team to:

• Identify Congestive Heart Failure: Digital chest X-rays are the primary tool used to look for the presence of fluid in or around the lungs, which tells us if a pet's heart disease has progressed into congestive heart failure.

• Monitor Medication Tolerance: Routine blood tests keep a close eye on your pet's kidney values to assess how well their body is tolerating certain cardiac medications.

• Fine-Tune Your Pet's Treatment Plan: By evaluating these values alongside your pet's blood pressure, we can precisely determine if current medication doses need to be adjusted up or down, or if additional therapies need to be added to ease the workload on the heart.

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