Diagnostics

At Silver Creek Animal Hospital, we offer many diagnostic options including in-house bloodwork, radiographs (x-rays), urinalysis, cytology, histopathology, dental radiographs and more.

Bloodwork

Regular bloodwork is an important part of yearly wellness exams. Establishing a baseline and monitoring trends can be very helpful for catching diseases early. This allows us to be more successful in treating certain conditions. Bloodwork is also a vital tool in determining why a pet might not be feeling well. A typical bloodwork panel includes a complete blood cell count, a chemistry panel and in older patients, thyroid testing.

A complete blood cell count (CBC) measures red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. This helps us look for signs of infection, possible difficulties clotting and anemia.
A chemistry panel measures kidney values, liver values, electrolytes, protein levels, calcium levels and pancreatic enzymes. A chemistry helps us see how the organs are functioning.

Radiographs

We offer in-house radiographs (x-rays) and when warranted, we have the ability to get radiologist review of the radiographs. We can use radiographs to detect abnormalities with the lungs or heart, changes in the bones and joints, detect stones in the bladder or look for possible ingested foreign objects.

Urinalysis

A urinalysis can help us determine if a pet has a urinary tract infection or if there are crystals in the urine. It can also give us indications of possible diseases like diabetes, chronic kidney disease or even hypertension. At Silver Creek Animal Hospital, we can perform urinalyses in-house and get results same day.

Cytology

At Silver Creek Animal Hospital, we have the ability to run various cytologies in our hospital. We can check for things like ear infections, look at fine needle aspirates of masses (growths), look for parasites such as ear mites or skin mites and review at blood smears.

Histopathology

Histopathology is a type of diagnostic test we perform on tissue samples. Most of the time, this will be performed to determine what a mass is, if it is malignant and if margins are clear. This test is also referred to as a biopsy.