The versatility of veterinary ultrasound is often discussed here at Vet Image Solutions, and this week is no exception. Whereas the advantages of using ultrasonography on our smaller feline friends are well-understood, larger members of the cat family can also benefit from utilising ultrasound. A paper published by Huaijantug S et al., ‘Ultrasonographic evaluation of the renal dimensions in captive tigers’ in The Journal of Veterinary Medical Science, 2016 Sep 3 [Epub ahead of print] looks at the use of ultrasound for examining the kidney of the tiger. The information was taken from the abstract which can be accessed here (and has links to the full article too).

The observation that the size of the kidney as assessed via ultrasound imaging can aid in the identification of kidney disease was used as the basis for this study. In order to build on our currently existing sparse knowledge, the researchers sought to explore the different ways by which ultrasonography could be used in tigers. A total of 33 tigers were used as research models here with respect to the kidney. Following ultrasound imaging it was found that whether the tiger was male or female had an effect on both body weight and kidney dimensions, with the position of the kidney (right versus left) also being affected. These differences are considered significant, and thus should be considered a ‘real’ finding of this research. In addition to differences between genders, this study also revealed a positive relationship between kidney size (length) and the weight of the tiger.

Taking all these findings together there appears to be clear advantages to using veterinary ultrasound imaging for the assessment of the tiger kidney, in association with other pre-existing measuring methods. However, it should be noted that all examinations would be required to be carried out on animals that were unconscious, as opposed to without sedation as is the case with smaller animals (which can be considered one of the main benefits of using ultrasonography over other available techniques).  If you want to find out more about the scanners we stock for the slightly smaller members of the feline family, take a look here or feel free to contact us.