In-House Laboratory & Diagnostics

Dogs, cats and other species benefit from fast, efficient medical diagnostics just like people do. This seems obvious, right? But perhaps this is even more important with pets in a way because they can’t tell us what’s wrong. We can’t ask them questions, and most animals are pretty stoic about physical ailments in the early stages, so pet owners don’t always see outward symptoms as early as we’d like to. In addition to diagnosing an obvious type of problem like a fracture or advanced thyroid disease which often present with some pretty striking symptoms, we cannot overstate how many times routine diagnostics have revealed a significant illness that allowed for early intervention.
We can produce accurate results quickly using our in-house laboratory to diagnose your pet's symptoms and create custom treatment plans.

In-House Blood Panels

Digital X-Rays: Whole body and dental

We’re proud to be a veterinary practice that can help our patients by providing many same day lab results. Many can be delivered during your appointment time! This is both convenient to you and helpful to us to have results as quickly as possible. Some veterinary practices send out all of their lab work and receive results in 1-2 days on the most common tests and panels, so we are proud to be among those who can help our patients quickly and with minimal back-and-forth for you. With that said, we do send out to a top, reputable lab for very specialized tests as well as biopsies and cultures. Some of our in-house labs include:

• Heartworm and tick-borne illness testing
• FeLV-FIV testing for cats
• Pre-op panels to verify major organ health before surgery
• CBC-Chemistry panels for a more in-depth look at blood counts and serum chemistries
• Progresterone
• Thyroid Testing
• Fructosamine Levels
• Phenobarbotol Levels

Our digital radiology capabilities exist in two parts: whole body and dental. Both are hugely informative in establishing a diagnosis. We can see not just fractured bones and arthritis, but also intestinal obstructions, masses growing in the body, damage to the roots of teeth, etc. 

Microscopy

Our team rely on a microscope and trained eyes every day for a wide variety of needs ranging from identifying specific species of parasites to looking for suspicious cells drawn from fine needle aspirates taken from growths. We even spin urine samples in a centrifuge then examine the sediment for signs of crystals as part of a urinalysis.
Diagnostics via Microscope:

• Microfilariae (larval heartworms)
• Demodectic or sarcoptic mange mites
• Ear mites
• Suspicious cells
• Urine crystals​

 Internal Medicine & Ultrasound

Our ultrasound and Internal Medicine services are provided by VetScan Mobile Diagnostics right here at Cedar Hill Animal Clinic. Dr. Cory Brown, DACVIM is part of an elite group of board-certified specialists who have completed an approved Residency Program in Internal Medicine that includes at least three years of advanced training and intensive study. Dr. Cory Brown is a Board-Certified Internal Medicine specialist with over 20 years of experience, who performs ultrasounds, echocardiograms, fine needle aspirates, biopsies, and more, providing a thorough Internal Medicine consultation and recommendations. He received training at Oklahoma State University before completing a rotating internship at Auburn University. Afterward, he completed a three-year Internal Medicine residency at Purdue University. Dr. Brown has been published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association for his research into immune-mediated disorders. He has trained veterinarians across the United States and several foreign countries, including Australia and Latin America, and served as an associate professor at Ohio State University. Additionally, he is the founder and CEO of VetScan Mobile – a consulting and imaging service designed to reach sick pets early in the disease process to establish an accurate diagnosis and expedite effective therapy. 

Urinalysis​

Fecal Testing

Urine samples taken from dogs and cats can tell us a lot about what might be going on your pet. We evaluate several different areas ranging from pH to the presence of blood, crystals, protein, sugar, white blood cells, etc. in the urine.

For the most accurate diagnosis, all fecal tests will be sent to our partnering laboratory. Our partnering lab picks up any samples from us twice daily to ensure we are testing the freshest sample possible. Results are typically sent to us within 24 hours.