There's a question here:
Blood pressure in a cat is taken using a pressure cuff and ultra sonic doppler. The doppler device converts the rush of blood through an the arteries into an audible sound. So it goes swish swish swish as the heart beats.
The cuff is located on the tail or on the arm. The doppler device is placed on the limb (arm or tail) opposite of the heart. So like this
body---leg----cuff---more leg----doppler---paw
The cuff is pumped up until there is no sound of blood rushing through. Then the pressure is released from the cuff. When the swish sound become audible, that is the blood pressure. Specifically it gives the systolic pressure (the high number) and not the diastolic (the low number).
The cuff that is used is neonate 2 - meant for babies or premies. The reason that conventional blood pressure devices don't work (as I understand it) is that the cats arteries are just too small. Hence doppler is used.
The standard equipment used by many vets is the Park 811-B Doppler with an infant probe. This equipment is fairly expensive. There are many handheld dopplers available which are much cheaper. (There are consumer devices available so that for example a pregnant woman can listen to the heart rate of her fetus).
My question is technical. The probes get rated as megahertz ranging from 2 to 10 mHz. I can't figure out what the mHz of the Park infant probe is.
What mHz is optimal for a cat and what does more / less mHz get you (e.g., more penetration into the body?).
On a side note I am surprised at how many vets don't take blood pressure of their client's pets. Just like humans, many problems can be avoided by early detection of high blood pressure.
Blood pressure in a cat is taken using a pressure cuff and ultra sonic doppler. The doppler device converts the rush of blood through an the arteries into an audible sound. So it goes swish swish swish as the heart beats.
The cuff is located on the tail or on the arm. The doppler device is placed on the limb (arm or tail) opposite of the heart. So like this
body---leg----cuff---more leg----doppler---paw
The cuff is pumped up until there is no sound of blood rushing through. Then the pressure is released from the cuff. When the swish sound become audible, that is the blood pressure. Specifically it gives the systolic pressure (the high number) and not the diastolic (the low number).
The cuff that is used is neonate 2 - meant for babies or premies. The reason that conventional blood pressure devices don't work (as I understand it) is that the cats arteries are just too small. Hence doppler is used.
The standard equipment used by many vets is the Park 811-B Doppler with an infant probe. This equipment is fairly expensive. There are many handheld dopplers available which are much cheaper. (There are consumer devices available so that for example a pregnant woman can listen to the heart rate of her fetus).
My question is technical. The probes get rated as megahertz ranging from 2 to 10 mHz. I can't figure out what the mHz of the Park infant probe is.
What mHz is optimal for a cat and what does more / less mHz get you (e.g., more penetration into the body?).
On a side note I am surprised at how many vets don't take blood pressure of their client's pets. Just like humans, many problems can be avoided by early detection of high blood pressure.
