An ultrasound exam is a way of looking inside your pet’s body (liver, kidneys, and intestines) without having to perform surgery. The ultrasound machine sends sound waves into the body and then listens for the echoes, the machine then uses these echoes to form a picture of the inside of your pet!
Ultrasound exams are performed for many reasons. In human medicine, most of us think about ultrasound exams during pregnancy. However, in veterinary medicine, because ultrasound is a safe, repeatable way to look inside the body, it has become a very useful tool for many other situations.
Ultrasound allows us to examine internal organs for location, size, shape, texture and blood supply. Unfortunately, ultrasound does not always give us a clear picture of how well the specific organ is working; this may be determined by other tests such as blood work or additional imaging.