Derry Animal Hospital offers various specialized pet medical services for
HIGH-END CARE.
Whether your pet is a playful puppy or kitten, active adult dog or cat, or a senior pet entering his or her golden years, we use a personalized approach to high-quality pet care based on your pet’s needs.
Derry Animal Hospital is a modern, clean and welcoming animal hospital with a skilled and compassionate veterinary team here to make caring for your pet as positive, simple and stress-free as possible. Beyond our comprehensive wellness services, we offer treatment for eye disorders, allergy and dermatology treatment, cancer treatment, nutrition counseling and prescription diets, and more.
Diagnostic Services
Laboratory
Why is laboratory important?
When performing routine wellness examinations or diagnosing an illness, what our veterinarians can’t see is as important, if not more important, than what they can. At Derry Animal Hospital, our comprehensive laboratory testing provides information about your pet’s overall systemic health without the need for invasive and expensive procedures.
The diagnostic laboratory allows us to perform blood-chemistry panels, complete blood counts, heartworm and tick-borne disease testing, feline retroviral testing, urinalysis, urine cultures, cytology and more. Without timely access to these test results, it would be difficult to make an accurate assessment of your pet’s health.
Radiology
WHAT IS DIGITAL RADIOLOGY?
Radiographs, or X-rays, are one of the most common and useful diagnostic tools in medicine. After performing a thorough examination, diagnostic tests are sometimes necessary to identify the underlying cause of your companion’s illness.
Our digital X-ray unit allows us to obtain images within seconds, so we can make decision about your pet’s care quickly. All our images are submitted to be evaluated by board certified radiologists. This service assures correct diagnoses within a few short hours.
Most of our images can be obtained without any sedation or anesthesia. When necessary, your veterinarian will communicate with you when an anesthetic plan is needed for your pet.
Radiographs helps our veterinarians make more precise diagnoses. This in turn can help us and you make timely decisions regarding your pets’ care.
What are the advantages to digital x-rays?
The veterinary team at Derry Animal Hospital uses digital X-rays to examine your pet’s bones, lungs, heart, abdomen, oral cavity and other areas and for diagnosing and monitoring many medical and surgical conditions. There are many important advantages to digital X-rays:
- They can be immediately viewed on a computer monitor.
- The clear, detailed images can be manipulated to get a better view of your pet’s bones and internal organs, leading to a faster, more accurate diagnosis.
- They take less time to process, which means less time for your pet on the X-ray table (and less stress), and less waiting time for you.
- No harsh chemicals are needed to develop the images, reducing potential harm to our staff and the environment.
- If a second opinion is necessary, digital X-rays can be sent by email to a board-certified veterinary radiologist.
Advanced diagnostic capabilities are an extremely important part of veterinary medicine, especially because we can’t simply ask our patients what’s wrong. Our investment in digital X-ray technology reflects our commitment to offer your pet the best, most comprehensive healthcare available.
What are OFA Radiographs?
We also perform specialized X-rays to detect hip dysplasia and other inherited diseases in your pet. These OFA radiographs and evaluations are then submitted to the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals, a non-profit foundation which keeps a database of all breeds over many generations. Their goal is to lower the incidence of orthopedic and genetic disease through data and research.
OFA radiographs and evaluations can be submitted for hips, elbows, knees and shoulders. There is a standard by which all veterinarians must follow regarding the positioning of the animal being radiographed, the labeling of the radiographs, and forms submitted. In this way, the x-rays are consistent. When dogs are radiographed, owners need to bring in their AKC registration forms and their pet must be microchipped for identification.
Please refer the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals website for further information.
referrals
Who are our referrals?
Should it be in the best interest of your pet, the veterinarians at Derry Animal Hospital will refer you to specialists in certain cases, including internal medicine, ophthalmology, dermatology, neurology, emergency nursing care and emergency surgery.
We refer to Massachusetts Veterinary Referral Hospital, Capital Area Veterinary Emergency Services, and Port City Veterinary Referral Hospital.
