DVH is pleased to add abdominal ultrasound, endoscopy, otoscopy and laparoscopic surgery to the list of traditional services available at a veterinary hospital. All of the staff members at DVH are certified Fear Free to make your pet’s experience as fear and stress free as possible while visiting the hospital.

Full-Service Care For Your Pets

stethoscope | Dogwood Veterinary Hospital

Laboratory Sample Collection and Pre-Surgical Instructions

The following is a short list of common laboratory tests that we perform to monitor different disease therapies, or as part of a diagnosis work up. For some of these tests, timing of medication and fasting is required, and some samples may be dropped off by you, the owner, so please read our guidelines for how to collect and store your pet’s samples.

The following is a short list of common laboratory tests that we perform to monitor different disease therapies, or as part of a diagnosis work up. For some of these tests, timing of medication and fasting is required, and some samples may be dropped off by you, the owner, so please read our guidelines for how to collect and store your pet’s samples.

When a sterile urine sample is required, we need to collect the urine directly from your pet via a urinary catheter or by a collection method called “cystocentesis”. Both of these methods are minimally invasive and performed routinely in the hospital.

In order for the sampling to be successful we need our patients to arrive at the hospital with a full bladder, this means our canine patients must be brought in, first thing in the morning without having a chance to go out the bathroom at home. For our feline patients, this means they need to be without access to a litter box for a few hours and more importantly brought in, first thing in the morning.

All urine samples should be brought to the hospital for testing as soon after collection as possible- If necessary the sample can be refrigerated.
Canines: Please collect the first morning sample, in a clean container (or provided urine container).

Felines: Dump out current litter in the litter box and clean. Replace litter with “Nosorb”. Once your cat has urinated in the box, pour the urine and “Nosorb” back into the original “Nosorb” container. You may have to limit your cat to a confined area, such as a bedroom, or bathroom in a multi cat household.

Canines: Please collect the first morning sample, in a clean container (or provided urine container).

Thyroid recheck for felines: Check blood levels anytime as the timing of the medication does not affect the test. Thyroid recheck for canines: Check blood levels between 4-6 hours after pill given.
Phenobarbital levels: All patients; check blood levels anytime, no fasting is required, time of medication not important.

Ultrasounds, x-rays, and all types of surgeries: All of these procedures require sedation/general anesthesia so all patients must be fasted after 10 pm the night before, water is permitted.

Rabbits and other pocket pets do not require fasting and you are required to bring their regular food for the duration of their, this includes their water bottle if they use one, hay, kibble and any fresh foods they typically enjoy.

Specialized Services

In addition to all of the typical services listed above, DVH is now able to offer services that traditionally required bringing in veterinarians with specialized training or referring our patients to larger referral hospitals in Victoria or Vancouver. We are excited to now offer abdominal ultrasound and endoscopic procedures such as; foreign body retrieval, intestinal biopsies, rhinoscopy, cystoscopy, colonoscopy and otoscopy. Moreover, DVH is now one of only a few veterinary hospitals on Vancouver Island performing laparoscopic surgeries including spays, cryptorchid neuters, laparoscopic assisted gastropexies and liver biopsies.

DVH is now accepting referrals from other local veterinary clinics for these procedures.

This information is to be used as a guide, and all patients scheduled will receive their instructions upon booking the appointment. We encourage any and all questions and concerns!

Note: At this time, cystoscopy and rhinoscopy is not available for cats or small dogs (<10kg) but we plan to be able to offer this in the future for our smaller patients.

Services Available

Laparoscopic Surgery

Laparoscopic surgery is less invasive than the traditional approach to surgery. One or two small incisions are made to introduce the rigid endoscope and instruments to visualize and remove the ovaries, uterus, retained testicle or obtain biopsies.

Laparoscopy requires specialized equipment and training resulting in higher costs than traditional elective surgeries but it is less painful and results in faster recovery times.

A single small incision is used to pass the rigid endoscope and biopsy instrument. The liver is directly visualized, allowing for obtaining samples from representative lesions and to inspect tissue for any bleeding problems. This method increases the chance of obtaining a diagnosis, is less painful and results in faster recovery times compared to a large abdominal incision.
Allows for increased visualization and cleaning of the ear canal under general anesthesia. Instruments are passed through the otoscope to remove and flush out chronic discharge, foreign material, ceruminoliths (hard balls of ear wax, bacteria and yeast). If indicated, a myringotomy (rupturing of the ear drum) is performed to obtain samples for testing.

A rigid endoscope is passed through the urethra and into the bladder. This procedure is used to directly visualize the inside of the bladder and urethra for abnormalities.

This procedure is currently limited to medium to large female dogs due to the size of the equipment and is mainly for diagnostic procedures only. Referral is still needed to perform cystoscopy in male dogs and to remove bladder stones endoscopically.

This surgery is recommended for deep chested dogs (i.e. Great Danes, Doberman Pinschers, Standard Poodles) that are prone to stomach torsions (Gastric Dilatation Volvulus). Two small incisions are made. One to introduce the rigid endoscope and another to suture the stomach to the abdominal wall from the outside. This is much less invasive than a traditional large abdominal incision, resulting in less pain and faster recovery times. Spaying and/or neutering can be performed concurrently.

Gastrointestinal Endoscopy involves the passage of a flexible endoscope to inspect the esophagus, stomach and a portion of the intestines. This is a non invasive method to retrieve foreign objects in the stomach, avoiding the need for surgery. It is also used for obtaining biopsies to increase our ability to diagnose and treat many causes of gastrointestinal diseases that would otherwise be missed without this procedure.

Involves the passage of a rigid endoscope into the nose in order to visualize the sensitive internal aspect of the nasal passages. A flexible endoscope is then passed through the back of the mouth and retroflexed (turned back on itself) to visualize the exit of the nasal passages and obtain biopsies/samples or retrieve foreign material. This is the only way to directly visualize the tissue and obtain samples in order to diagnose the cause of nasal disease.

A flexible endoscope is used to visualize the inside of the colon and obtain biopsies for analysis. This procedure is conducted to diagnose causes of chronic diarrhea and/or gastrointestinal disease.

This procedure requires prolonged fasting and repeated enemas.