Miss Pickles and Ultrasound
Miss Pickles is a 9 year old English Angora rabbit whose respiratory signs bring her to Pet Care at least once a week! Her visible symptoms were becoming a bit worrisome to me, especially her heavier than normal breathing while resting and the constant dark discharge from her left nostril. Despite having been on multiple antibiotics she still had a runny nose. Knowing that heavy breathing can also be a sign of heart disease, Dr. Fisher suggested using ultrasound as a diagnostic tool for assessment of Pickle’s heart function.Ultrasound is like ordinary sound except it has a frequency higher than humans are able to hear. The sound is reflected off of internal structures with the returning echoes received by a transducer and converted by an electronic instrument into an image which can be seen on a monitor. The ultrasound would give a 3 dimensional view of her heart and would determine heart muscle wall thickness, heart chamber size and assesses for heart valve anatomical abnormalities.
We arrived for our Thursday appointment with a bit of trepidation. I wanted to know what was happening with Miss Pickles but was terribly worried that the ultrasound would show something was wrong with my little girl. Miss Pickles, on the other hand, was just plain feisty. Dr. Fisher quickly accessed the situation and decided to give Miss Pickles a tranquilizer injection and it wasn’t long before she was dozing. This made the ultrasound procedure easier to do as she was quiet and relaxed.
Pickles and I were taken into the imaging room where Dr. McKendry was waiting. Dr. McKendry is a veterinarian who has undergone extensive training in order to correctly interpret ultrasound images. Pet Care has recently added her expertise to its already impressive array of services available for all clients. Dr. McKendry explained that there would be no pain felt during the procedure and that usually animals did not need to be anesthetized. Sedatives are used when an animal may become aggressive or is showing signs of anxiousness. Dr. Fisher had begun shaving Miss Pickles chest area which didn’t please her in the least. Dr. McKendry told me that she was going to apply a water soluble gel over Pickles chest and that the fur had to be removed so that she could get a clear reading. Unfortunately Pickles began moaning and fighting to stand up; no cooperation from her at all! It didn’t take long for Dr. Fisher to call for Veterinary Technician Amy Doer to anesthetize one very cranky rabbit. A gas anesthetic, sevoflurane, was then administered with a face mask.
Dr. McKendry began the procedure and it was absolutely amazing! I was able to see my rabbit’s heart beating and listen to all of the comments made regarding the actual health of her organ. The pictures were fantastic and by taking measurements of heart chamber size and wall thickness and assessing heart valve function it was shown that once and for all Miss Pickles’ respiratory problems were truly all in her head, or more specifically, her sinus cavities. Once Dr. McKendry had all of the information needed, Miss Pickles was cleaned up, awakened and handed back to me. She was fully awake within minutes and didn’t even realize she had just undergone one of Pet Care’s newest diagnostic modalities: ultrasound imaging!
