Palm Desert vet gets first CT scan in the valley

A brand new animal clinic is bringing a lifesaving service to the valley. Paws and Claws Urgent Care has the valley’s first CT scan for dogs and cats.

The clinic opened its doors this November, since opening Shakira Jameson does on average 2 CT scans a week.

“We’re able to do simple things like if a dog is limping and we don’t know why we’re able to do a CT of the elbows or the hips or the knee. Or this dog has this chronic cough and we don’t know where it’s coming from, we’re able to more sensitive with the CT machine,” said veterinarian Shakira Jameson.

The images the scan produces allows veterinarians to see things an X-ray wouldn’t show, like tumors. This machine even produces 3-D images. The process is pretty simple and only takes about 30 minutes.

“It really depends on what it is. We’re trying to localize if it’s something in the chest or the belly or even the head, then yes we do need to put them under general anesthesia. If it’s more of an extremities kind of thing then yeah, we are able to do like a heavy sedation,” Jameson said.

Other vets are able to take advantage of the scan by referring their patients. The scans can cost you around a $1,000 but the clinic does accept pet insurance.

“We encourage pet insurance is one of those things that allows us to do the best medicine as possible without hindering the owner from being able to provide that service as well,” Jameson said.

While costly, clients are thrilled to have the advanced care.

“It just reinforces her commitment to providing the right kind of information and the right kind of care for the animals,” said Carolyn Asuman.

The clinic is open Sunday to Wednesday with hopes of eventually being open every day. For more information click here.