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Common Reasons Why Your Pet Might Need an ECG

An ECG can yield important information for you and your veterinarian, and the results can answer questions about the overall health of your pet’s heart.

  • If your pet has heart disease or another medical condition that can affect their heart
  • When your pet’s heartbeat is irregular or difficult to hear during a physical exam
  • If your pet needs surgery
  • When there are concerns about your pet’s breathing or mobility
  • If cardiac monitoring is recommended due to your pet’s medication
What to Expect During Your Pet’s ECG

What to Expect During Your Pet’s ECG

Our Fear-Free® certified veterinarians will ensure your pet is relaxed when performing the painless cat or dog ECG test.
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What to Expect During Your Pet’s ECG

What to Expect During Your Pet’s ECG

Once your dog or cat is calm, comfortable, and can remain still standing up or lying down, your vet will apply either rubbing alcohol or gel before placing the ECG electrodes on the base of your dog or cat’s legs.
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What to Expect During Your Pet’s ECG

What to Expect During Your Pet’s ECG

Your pet’s ECG test could last between one minute up to a few minutes. After the test is run, your vet may send the results out to a veterinary cardiologist for interpretation. Your vet will then contact you to discuss the results.
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What Our Clients Say

Review
Maria Nunez
BetterVet Miami

BetterVet have my full confidence with the life of my son Nico Jones. They are THE BEST in their field, in my professional opinion (being in the medical field myself for so long). I have no worries that my Nico is in great hands. How do I know? Because not only is my Nico living the best life he can (his diagnosis is chronic congestive heart failure) but he is ultimately loved by these individuals. They came by for a procedure at. my house and Nico was so comfortable with them that no sedation was required. Dr. Steve and Chris work incredibly synchronized together and that is key in my eyes. When I spoke to a pet cardiologist and was giving a little history of why Nico was going to visit them, they stated, "Nico is receiving the right medications. His treatment plan is what we would have done and would recommend". That gave me such a peace of mind!!!! Thank you two! You are heaven sent!

Gina Ardillo
BetterVet Miami
Dr. Steve and Chris with BetterVet were wonderful with our boy. Our older cat is terrified of car rides - to the extent that his last couple of trips to the vet have nearly killed him - but given his heart problems and medications, we needed a vet to check him out. He is also not a huge fan of strangers, so even with the car ride removed, we were still nervous about how he would handle strangers invading his space at home to examine him. Dr. Steve and Chris are pros, even with such a nervous kitty - they were able to do a physical exam, clean his ears, draw blood, and do an echocardiogram on their portable machine with minimal signs of anger or fear from our cat (he didn’t even hide afterwards, which is very unlike him.) Dr. Steve and Chris also listened to our concerns, answered our questions, and provided advice. We will definitely use them again.
Joan Bobrycki
BetterVet Denver
A great stress free visit! Dr. Mandville and her assistant did a great job performing an at home echocardiogram on my 11 year old fur baby, Barney. Barney was comfortable and calm throughout the at home visit. I was impressed at how soon I was able to schedule Barney for an echocardiogram and with the frequent text chats to prepare for the home visit. Best Vet has a professional and efficient management system for the delivery of quality at home pet veterinarian services.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is my pet’s heart rhythm normal?
An ECG is a highly accurate tool for assessing the rhythm of your pet’s heart. An ECG can determine if your pet’s heart rhythm is normal or abnormal. It can detect a cardiac arrhythmia (an irregular heartbeat) as well as a heart murmur and the underlying causes of any abnormal rhythms.
Is my pet’s heart rate normal?

An ECG can determine if your pet’s heart rate is within a normal range. If your pet’s heart is beating too quickly or too slowly, this can be an indication of a medical condition that may require further examination.

Is the size of my pet’s heart normal?
An ECG uses electricity to measure the size of your pet’s heart tissue and can reveal any abnormalities in the size of your pet’s heart chambers. If the results of your pet’s ECG show issues with heart size, then additional testing will be recommended for further investigation.
Are there other health issues that an ECG could reveal?

An ECG can also determine if your pet has any congenital heart defects, or heart diseases, such as congenital heart failure or heart valve damage. Your veterinarian may send the results of your pet’s ECG to a veterinary heart specialist for interpretation.

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