Cardiology

The Cardiology service is run by Dr Rita Singh, a board certified Veterinary Cardiologist whom is dedicated to providing up-to-date and compassionate care to animals with heart disease.

Common reasons for cardiac examination in animals include heart murmurs, irregular heartbeats, respiratory complaints, and weakness or fainting. Because heart problems are common in older dogs and cats with other medical problems, Rita also regularly examines pets admitted to other services in the hospital (e.g. internal medicine, surgery, ophthalmology), many of which are requested as part of pre-anesthetic evaluation.

The majority of animals can be completely evaluated using only non-invasive examination methods. Rita also offers minimally invasive (catheter-based) interventions to repair or improve certain congenital heart defects as well as implantation of cardiac pacemakers in dogs with abnormally slow heart rates.

While the majority of cases seen at are dogs and cats, Rita is trained in assessment and treatment of cardiac disease in all species and has regularly examined horses, alpacas, birds, reptiles, small mammals and zoo animals.

Diagnostics and Procedures

Echocardiography (cardiac ultrasound)

An echocardiogram is a sonar image of the heart and adjacent large blood vessels. It is the principal non-invasive technique that allows a cardiologist to examine the anatomy, mechanical function and blood flow in the heart.

In dogs and cats, the examination is performed with the pet lying on a padded table. Most pets can be examined with no or only very mild sedation, and there is no discomfort associated with the examination.

Electrocardiography (resting)

A resting electrocardiogram (ECG) is performed on many animals with heart disease. The ECG is a recording of the electrical activity of the heart and is used to identify abnormal beats (arrhythmias) or abnormally conducted beats (heart block, bundle branch block). It is the only way to rapidly identify electrical abnormalities which may cause an abnormally rapid, slow, or irregular heart rate.

Electrocardiography (ambulatory)

In some patients, symptoms may be intermittent or it may be necessary to assess the frequency and severity of an arrhythmia throughout the day. In these cases, a continuous ambulatory ECG recorder (Holter monitor) is used to digitally capture the ECG for 24 to 72 hours. The system is attached to the animal via chest electrodes and the pet is sent home carrying the system in a vest. At the completion of the recording the owner returns the vest and recorder back to SASH for analysis. The ECG stored on a small memory card in the recorder is transferred to a computer for analysis. The cardiologist will then evaluate the entire ECG and discuss treatments with the owner.

Cardiac catheterization and intervention

In some patients it may be necessary to perform more invasive procedures for diagnosis and treatment of heart disease. In the catheterisation treatment room, catheters are inserted into blood vessels of anesthetised patients and are guided through the heart using fluoroscopic radiography.

Pressure and other data may be recorded in the various heart chambers and adjacent blood vessels and contrast dye can be injected to outline the heart chambers and large blood vessels to identify defects. Most animals have cardiac catheterisation for one of 3 common procedures - closure of congenital defects, balloon dilation of obstructive defects and cardiac pacemaker implantation for slow heart rate.