X-Ray

It depends, but in most cases, sedation is not needed. X-rays are entirely pain-free. We make sure our patients and technicians wear protective gear during X-rays, even though the scan exposes them to miniscule amounts of radiation. Pets who have anxiety or those who do not like to be held down may benefit from sedation. This will prevent them from experiencing any stress. In these cases, sedation is used only to prevent any emotional trauma as the scans cause no physical pain at all. It may also be a good idea to sedate patients for scanning certain areas of the body where – to obtain accurate images – the patient must be placed in an awkward or uncomfortable position.

If the scans are performed too early in the pregnancy, or if your pet is having a very large litter of puppies/kittens then it may be possible to miss a few of their offspring in the scan. It’s possible for puppies to accidentally hide behind another. At the early stages of development, bones and other organs are simply undetectable with these scans. The 45-day mark of the gestation period is usually the earliest point at which pregnant pets can be scanned for an accurate result.