Blood Pressure

Service Description

Taking an animal's blood pressure requires specialised equipment - you can't just use an old human unit. The units are expensive so not many GP vets have them. We will see animals just for blood pressure determination if needed. We use Doppler to pick up blood flow in an artery in the foot or the tail. A cuff is inflated above the Doppler probe till blood flow is occluded. The pressure in the cuff is then gradually released till we can hear the arterial pulse again. That is the systolic pressure. We recommend checking the blood pressure of animals with heart trouble, kidney disease, some hormone problems like overactive thyroid glands, sudden blindness or bleeding into the eye and when they're taking some medications that can alter blood pressure