Specialist Veterinary Cardiology

Heart Testing with auscultation and echocardiography is offered at JSVC as a screening service for breeders or for owners wishing to see if their pet carries any signs of heart disease due to breed predisposition.

A sample of blood can be taken from your pet for analysis in our on-site laboratory or sent away for external analysis. It will depend on which tests are appropriate for your pet as to whether we can use our on-site lab and have the results for you the same day, or whether we need to send a sample away, in which case it may be a few days before we have results for you.

Blood tests can be used to measure many different aspects of your pet’s general health and specific markers which may indicate that they have heart disease. The cardiologist can then interpret these results to aid the diagnosis and management of your pet’s condition.

This is very similar to a pregnancy scan and allows the cardiologist to visualise the heart and measure not only size but the function of the heart.
It is usually done with your pet lying on its side on a special, thick, padded comfy table while our nurses calm and reassure them. Most pets don’t need any sedation and many actually fall asleep. A small patch of hair is usually clipped off the chest either side to aid in visualisation. Echo is used to diagnose the heart condition and its severity, which guides the choice of medication for treatment. An ECG is often performed at the same time if possible.

This is a measure of the electrical activity of the heart. It is a method of investigating the electrical workings of the heart to check the rhythm and rate at which the heart is pumping. Sticky pad electrodes or gentle clips are placed on the legs or on the chest of your pet to detect electrical activity from the heart. This is shown as a wavy line on a graph- the familiar sight from monitors in hospitals for humans as well. This waveform is then interpreted by the cardiologist.

Our team will capture radiographs (x-rays) of your pet for the cardiologists to view and give an expert opinion about the size and shape of the heart with a view to aiding the diagnosis of heart disease. Your pets lungs will also have an expert assessment from the radiograph that can aid in the development of treatment plans and prognosis.

Your referring vet can also send our cardiologists a copy of any chest radiographs taken in your first opinion practice for assessment.

A Holter is a way of monitoring a pet’s heart rate and rhythm over a period of 24-48 hours while they are going about their daily activity. This allows us to detect any intermittent alterations in your pet’s heart rhythm that could lead to clinical signs such as fainting or weakness.
The pet wears a small jacket which contains a small, lightweight ECG data recorder which is connected by sticky electrodes attached to their chest. We find that the snug jacket is really well accepted by pets, and it enables the recorder to monitor the electrical activity over a prolonged period. When your pet goes out for a walk, plays with their toys or is just fast asleep, the electrical activity is being recorded, which allows the cardiologist to analyse the link between what is happening in the heart during a normal day. The data recorder is then sent off to an external company for the data to be downloaded. Once the cardiologist has received the data back the results are analysed, and significant findings used to aid the diagnosis of the heart disease and the formulation of treatment plans.

Our new hospital premises now boasts a dedicated theatre suite to perform minimally invasive cardiac interventional surgery at fixed prices. Our experienced team manipulates cutting edge technology via fluoroscopy to guide:

Pacemaker implantation – £4800

Patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) closure – £4000

Balloon valvuloplasty – £4000

Contact us to find out more!

Designed especially for puppies and kittens who are showing no symptoms or clinical signs, but have an audible heart murmur. Investigations at our fixed price of £410 include a full consultation with one of our cardiologists and a doppler echocardiogram of both sides of the chest. Findings of the scan will be fully disclosed to owner and referring vet at discharge.