Comprehensive Veterinary Services
Comprehensive Veterinary Services
Pet X-Rays and Ultrasound in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky
Advanced Imaging Diagnostics at Noah’s Ark Animal Clinics
Your pet cannot tell you where it hurts. They cannot describe when the limp started or explain that the vomiting began after they found something in the yard. Much of veterinary medicine is the work of finding out what an animal cannot say.
Our state of the art diagnostic equipment gives our skillful team a valuable set of tools for discovering and addressing animal health care problems quickly. These tools include digital radiography, electrocardiograms, ultrasonography, and endoscopy.
At Noah’s Ark Animal Clinics, having imaging available on site means we can move from questions to answers within a single visit rather than sending you elsewhere and waiting. With five locations across Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky and more than 100 years of family veterinary roots in this community, we treat your pet just like our own, and that means getting to the bottom of things without unnecessary delay.
Digital Radiography
Radiographs, commonly called X-rays, are one of the most versatile diagnostic tools in veterinary medicine. Digital radiography produces images almost immediately, allows our team to adjust contrast and magnification to examine specific structures, and requires lower radiation exposure than older film based systems.
What Radiographs Show Us
Bones and joints. Fractures, dislocations, arthritis, hip and elbow dysplasia, bone infections, and bone tumors. For lame pets, radiographs are usually the starting point.
Chest. Heart size and shape, lung tissue, pneumonia, fluid accumulation, masses, and evidence of trauma. For a coughing or breathing compromised patient, chest films are often the fastest route to an answer.
Abdomen. Organ size and position, bladder stones, some foreign objects, intestinal obstruction patterns, and abnormal gas or fluid.
Spine. Disc space narrowing, vertebral abnormalities, and spinal trauma.
Dental. Dental radiography reveals what is happening below the gum line, where the majority of dental disease actually lives. Tooth roots, bone loss, abscesses, and retained root fragments are invisible without it.
Pregnancy. Late term counting of fetal skeletons to prepare for delivery.
Most radiographs require no sedation. A brief, gentle hold in the right position is usually all that is needed, though pets in significant pain or those requiring precise positioning for orthopedic views may do better with light sedation.
Ultrasonography
Where radiographs excel at showing structure and density, ultrasound shows soft tissue in motion. The two are complementary, and many cases benefit from both.
Ultrasound uses sound waves rather than radiation, produces real time moving images, and is entirely painless. Most pets need no sedation, only a shaved patch and some conductive gel.
What Ultrasound Shows Us
Abdominal organs. Detailed evaluation of liver, kidneys, spleen, bladder, gallbladder, pancreas, adrenal glands, and gastrointestinal tract. Ultrasound can reveal internal architecture, masses, and changes in tissue texture that radiographs cannot.
Fluid. Free fluid in the abdomen or chest is detected easily, and ultrasound guidance allows for safe sampling of that fluid.
Guided sampling. Needle aspirates and biopsies of internal organs or masses can be performed with real time visual guidance, dramatically improving both safety and accuracy.
Bladder and urinary tract. Stones, thickening of the bladder wall, masses, and changes in kidney structure.
Pregnancy. Confirming pregnancy earlier than radiography allows, and assessing fetal heartbeats and viability.
Cardiac evaluation. Assessment of heart chambers, valves, and contractility.
Electrocardiography
An electrocardiogram, or ECG, records the electrical activity of the heart. It is the definitive tool for identifying arrhythmias and abnormal rhythms.
We use ECG when a pet has an irregular heartbeat, has collapsed or fainted, shows exercise intolerance, or has a condition known to affect cardiac rhythm. ECG monitoring is also part of anesthetic monitoring, where it lets our team track cardiac activity continuously during procedures.
The test itself is painless. Small clips attach to the skin, and the recording takes only a few minutes.
Endoscopy
Radiographs and ultrasound show us structures from the outside. Endoscopy lets us look directly inside.
An endoscope is a slender, flexible instrument with a camera and light at its tip, guided through a natural opening in the body to give our team a live, magnified view of internal surfaces. It is minimally invasive, requires no surgical incision, and often answers questions that other imaging can only narrow down.
Endoscopy is available at our Colerain and West Chester locations.
What endoscopy allows us to do:
See tissue directly. Ulcers, inflammation, strictures, polyps, and masses along the gastrointestinal tract, airway, or urinary tract can be visualized in detail rather than inferred from a shadow on a film.
Take targeted biopsies. Small tissue samples can be collected from precisely the area of concern, which is often the difference between a suspected diagnosis and a confirmed one.
Retrieve foreign objects. When a swallowed object is still in the stomach or esophagus, endoscopy can often retrieve it without opening the abdomen at all.
Evaluate the airway and nasal passages. Useful for chronic nasal discharge, reverse sneezing, persistent coughing, or suspected inhaled material such as a grass lawn.
Examine the bladder and urethra. For recurrent urinary problems, blood in the urine, and certain bladder masses.
Endoscopy is performed under general anesthesia so your pet remains completely still and comfortable throughout. Most patients go home the same day, and because there is no incision, recovery is typically far easier than it would be following exploratory surgery.
Imaging as Part of a Complete Picture
Diagnostic images are rarely the whole answer on their own. They are read alongside your pet’s physical exam, history, and laboratory results.
Because our clinics also house an in network laboratory using research quality diagnostic equipment, we can keep these procedures in house, making them more affordable and saving you time. In emergency and critical care situations, that speed can be decisive.
For complex or ambiguous findings, we can consult with veterinary radiologists and work with university and commercial laboratories for specialized interpretation.
What to Expect During Your Pet’s Imaging Appointment
Radiographs typically take only a few minutes. Your pet is positioned gently on the table, our team steps behind protective shielding, and the image is captured. Because the images are digital, we can review them immediately and take additional views if needed.
Ultrasound takes somewhat longer, usually twenty to forty minutes for a full abdominal study. A patch of fur is shaved to allow good contact, warmed gel is applied, and your pet rests on their side or back while the probe is moved over the area. Most pets tolerate this well. For abdominal ultrasound, we may ask that your pet fast beforehand, since food and gas in the stomach can obscure the view.
Afterward, we will go over what we found with you directly. You will hear what the images show, what it means, and what we recommend next. We want to partner with you so that you feel comfortable and confident in the next care steps for your pet.
