James Specialist Veterinary Cardiology

04/12/2025

Here is lovely Hattie in her Christmas gear (because now it's December there really is no excuse!!).

Hattie is demonstrating one of our most used tools in the clinic - the ECG or electrocardiogram.

Almost every veterinary practice will utilise an ECG, particularly in the theatre to monitor patients under anaesthetic, but ours is a little bit special 😍

We use the ECG to document (and rule out) arrhythmias, which is when abnormal beats disrupt the usual electrical rhythm of the heart beat and can cause major upset in maintaining cardiac output. The reason our ECG is a bit special is that we don't just record one lead of the ECG, or even 3 like most theatre monitors, ours records 6 leads as a standard and can even perform 12 lead ECG when indicated by complicated rhythm disturbances 🤓

The different leads "look" across the heart at different points. The basic I II and III leads give great baseline information. AVR, AVL and AVF "look" through the heart at slightly different angles and give us more information. The 12 leads give EVEN MORE information and help us diagnose those really tricky arrhythmias.

We then measure the different waves of a normal beat and ascertain if there are any abnormalities within the PQRST. All of this is reported and then interpreted by our very clever Cardiologists 😁

The clips we use are atraumatic and very gentle, sometimes we use sticky pads on the feet of the patient. We don't sedate patients for this procedure because the sedation may cause changes in the ECG and we want to know what is normal for our patient. We ask our patients to lie on their right side with the help of cuddles and distraction whilst the ECG is recorded so that we can compare findings with the textbook normals. ECG's can also be recorded with the patient in an upright position if this is not possible.

Clients - we hope this post helps inform about the ECG and how we use it ☺️

Veterinary professionals - if you have a challenging ECG you would like help with we provide an advice service via email on info@jsvc.co.uk ☺️

www.jsvc.co.uk

01/12/2025

Soak in the beauty of Maine C**n kitten Ziggy 😻

Ziggy came to see Callan because of a heart murmur auscultated by his primary care vets. This was a moderate grade murmur at 3/6 and with no associated clinical signs at home so Ziggy was part of our fixed price Kitten Check, which includes a consultation and full heart scan.

In cats, the grade of heart murmur doesn't correlate to severity of disease, so it's always worth scheduling an echo to diagnose the cause of the murmur ❤

Wonderfully for Ziggy, he was diagnosed with a flow murmur which should resolve as he grows. We will see him again if his murmur changes or he develops clinical signs of heart disease 🫶

Many thanks to for hosting us this day

www.jsvc.co.uk

27/11/2025

Who could resist this gorgeous boy?!

Introducing Golden Retriever Jurgen who came to see Phil for a recheck of his dilated cardiomyopathy phenotype along with Rhino, who accompanies Jurgen everywhere currently 😍

Jurgen loves nothing but cuddles and is convinced he is but a small dog who will fit in anybody's arms 😆🥰

Phil found that Jurgen is currently stable and will continue on his medication regime until his next check 🫶

Many thanks to VillageVets And Meadowbank for hosting us this day ❤

24/11/2025

Remember Brian??? ❤

Brian is a super lovely Cavalier King Charles Spaniel whom we placed a pacemaker generator in a few months ago due to third degree atrioventricular block. Brian has been doing splendidly well at home and he represented to Rachel for a check of his pacemaker settings.

Luke took this opportunity to get involved and see how the programmer works and what settings needed adjusting 🤓

After a wee tweak of a couple of parameters Brian was soon off home to enjoy the rest of his day 🥰

20/11/2025

Team JSVC were let loose recently and attended the 50th Autumn meeting of the Veterinary Cardiovascular Society (VCS) 🥰

It was a really great couple of days catching up with old friends and colleagues and making some new ones with the fantastic lectures provided both in the main stream and the dedicated nursing stream 🤓❤

Always lots to learn and take back to enhance our practice 🙌🫶

13/11/2025

Our beautiful Lady xx

13/11/2025

12/11/2025

The gorgeous Lady!

11/11/2025

Remembering those who gave their lives and sacrificed so much for us today ❤️

Also remembering the many animals in service then and now 💜

10/11/2025

JSVC were recently proud of Senior Nurse, Liza who delivered 2 sessions at the BVNA Congress at the Telford International Centre. One on ECG interpretation and another on anaesthesia complications 🙌🫶

Liza achieved her Nursing Certificate in Anaesthesia in 2021 and is gearing up to attempt her next qualification (the VTS in Cardiology) in 2026/27. She heartily enjoys delivering learning sessions for her peers and has nearly 25 years experience as a Registered Veterinary Nurse.

You can read more about our Team at www.jsvc.co.uk where you can also find our CPD page. We are delighted to be able to offer "lunch & learn" style sessions for practices within our peripatetic area as well as evening sessions should this be more suitable 🤓

Topics include:
Cardiac disease management
Nursing cardiac clinics
ECG interpretation
Congestive heart failure management
Feline heart disease management
Arrhythmia management
Multi-parameter monitoring

Contact us with your practice CPD needs and we will work with you to deliver a tailor-made session for your Team ❤

06/11/2025

Another Team Appreciation post......but this time from our amazing clients 🥰

Andrew and the team at Mill Run Barn were happily in receipt of some tasty baked goods recently. Although totally un-necessary, it is always lovely to know that our work and care is seen. We do it for the love of pet health and not cake, but cake is always nice! 😋🥰