Pulmonary diagnostics

Respiratory medicine is an underdeveloped subspecialty in veterinary medicine, and there are relatively few sophisticated tests that are available to the clinician that actually diagnose specific pulmonary disorders. Instead, most of the commonly available tests are most helpful if used to point the veterinarian in the right direction and to rule out the presence of other potentially confounding disorders. This article reviews the diagnostic tests that are available to evaluate dogs and cats with signs of respiratory disease, including the advantages, disadvantages, and current controversies regarding many of the tests used to evaluate animals with signs of pulmonary impairment.