Internal Medicine at VSA
What is VSA Internal Medicine?
A consultation with the VSA internal medicine team can complement the care from your family veterinarian as well as provide ongoing support and treatment from one of our two Auckland hospitals.
We also offer phone or zoom consults to veterinarians all over New Zealand.
Comprehensive in-house service
The VSA Internal Medicine specialists have access to the full range of services provided by the VSA Imaging, Surgery, Cardiology and Animal Emergency teams.
We have a comprehensive in-house blood and urine testing laboratory plus we have an excellent and close relationship with our local independent diagnostic laboratory.
We also provide expertise for ongoing management of complex medical issues such as hormonal diseases (diabetes, Cushing’s disease) or immune-mediated diseases.
Specialist collaboration
Having a VSA Internal Medicine service allows better collaboration between services for those complex cases that need the input of more than one specialist and/ or more than one department.
We then select appropriate further investigation to help reach a diagnosis for the presenting problems. This might include further imaging (e.g. with ultrasound or CT), further blood tests or endoscopy and biopsies or surgery and biopsies.
We work closely with the VSA Imaging and Gribbles pathology teams to aid in making diagnoses as well as facilitating surgical interventions with our specialist surgical team.
Diagnostic and treatment services
VSA Internal Medicine provides a combination of advanced diagnostics, non-surgical treatment of diseases and management of chronic conditions of cats and dogs. These include:
- Endoscopy- This is when a flexible camera is inserted into a patient to see inside their esophagus, stomach, trachea, lungs or colon. This is a good way to get biopsies of certain organs without having to do a surgical procedure.
- Rhinoscopy- This uses a rigid camera to see inside a patients nose.
- Foreign body removal- This is when an endoscopy procedure is used to remove foreign objects from a patients esophagus or stomach.
- Bone marrow biopsies
- Joint taps
- CSF taps- This is when spinal fluid is collected using a needle.
- Advanced imaging- this includes in-house ultrasound, X-rays, CT, fluoroscopy and access to MRI.
- Blood and urine testing
Disease diagnosis and management
Our internal medicine specialists are able to diagnose and manage a number of complex diseases including-
- Diabetes
- Hyperthyroidism
- Cushing’s disease
- Immune mediated haemolytic anaemia (IMHA)
- Pancreatitis
- Renal, liver and intestinal diseases
- Cancer
VSA Cancer Care
Oncology is also offered as part of the VSA Internal Medicine service, we perform chemotherapy for dogs and cats.
We also work closely with the surgical team when managing cancers that benefit from a combination approach of surgery and chemotherapy.
To find out more about VSA Cancer Care click here:
