Internal Medicine Veterinary Services
At Veterinary Specialist Partners, our board-certified internal medicine specialists help uncover answers and guide long-term care for dogs and cats facing challenging or hard-to-diagnose conditions.
What Is Veterinary Internal Medicine?
Internal medicine is often where answers begin. Many of the pets we see have already undergone initial testing and arrive needing a deeper level of evaluation, expert interpretation, and long-term medical management.
Veterinary internal medicine focuses on diagnosing and managing diseases that affect the body’s internal systems, including the gastrointestinal tract, liver, pancreas, kidneys, endocrine system, immune system, and respiratory system.
Our board-certified veterinary internists complete extensive postgraduate training through residency and board certification, preparing them to manage medically complex cases that require advanced diagnostics and nuanced treatment planning. As a multi-diciplinary hospital led by two board-certified veterinary internal medicine specialists (DACVIM), we work closely with other specialists to provide comprehensive, individualized care for every patient.
Why Choose {VSP Internal Medicine?}
When your pet’s symptoms don’t have an easy answer, our internal medicine specialists step in to help.
Trained to diagnose and manage complex conditions involving multiple organ systems, they use advanced tools and medical insight to get to the root of the problem—so your pet can get the expert care they need, and you can get the answers you’ve been looking for.
{Conditions We Treat} in Internal Medicine
Conditions Commonly Managed by Our Internal Medicine Team
Our internists evaluate and manage a wide range of medical conditions, including:
Chronic vomiting, diarrhea, and weight loss
Pancreatitis and other pancreatic diseases
Liver and gallbladder disease
Kidney and urinary tract disorders
Endocrine disease (diabetes, Cushing’s disease, Addison’s disease)
Immune-mediated illness
Chronic respiratory disease
Unexplained anemia or abnormal laboratory results
Fever of unknown origin
Complex, multi-system disease
For many patients, internal medicine care involves both diagnosis and long-term management, not just a single visit.
Autoimmune Diseases:
Conditions like immune-mediated hemolytic anemia (IMHA), immune-mediated thrombocytopenia, immune-mediated polyarthritis, and immune-mediated neutropenia, as well as immune-related conditions affecting the liver and bladder (hepatitis, cystitis).
Cardiac (Heart) Conditions:
Issues such as heart murmurs, hypertension (high blood pressure), an enlarged heart, and anesthetic evaluations for pets with heart disease.
Gallbladder Disease:
Including infections, inflammation, and stones.
Hematopoietic Disorders:
Diseases of the blood and bone marrow.
Kidney Disease:
Such as renal failure, kidney stones, infections, and tumors.
Neurological Disorders:
Non-surgical neurological problems, such as meningitis (both infectious and sterile) and seizure management.
Cancer:
Our internal medicine team manages many types of cancer in pets—including lymphoma, leukemia, mast cell disease, and other internal malignancies—and provides comprehensive chemotherapy and supportive care.
Endocrine Disorders:
Hormone-related conditions like Cushing’s disease, diabetes, hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, and disorders of the parathyroid glands (hypoparathyroidism and hyperparathyroidism).
Gastrointestinal Diseases:
Conditions affecting the stomach, intestines, colon, and pancreas, such as pancreatitis.
Infectious Diseases:
Including viral, bacterial, and fungal infections.
Liver Disease:
High liver enzyme levels, liver failure, and liver tumors.
Nasal Disease:
Conditions leading to nasal tumors, bleeding, and discharge.
Respiratory Disease:
Including lung infections, inflammation, and tracheal collapse.
When to Bring Your Pet to an {Internal Medicine Specialist}
If your pet shows persistent or unusual symptoms, especially those affecting multiple body systems, our veterinary internal medicine specialists can help. We diagnose and manage complex conditions that require advanced expertise.
Common Reasons for a Consultation:
- Arrhythmias
- Cough, increased respiratory rate, and effort
- Diarrhea
- Fever of unknown origin
- Fluid in the chest or abdomen
- Heart murmur
- Increased or decreased appetite
- Increased drinking/urination
- Lethargy
- Lumps, bumps, and masses
- Muscle loss
- Nasal discharge
- Neurologic dysfunction
- Obesity
- Painful abdomen, swollen abdomen
- Painful joints (some forms of lameness)
- Panting
- Respiratory distress
- Seizures
- Syncope, collapse
- Unexplained bleeding
- Urinary issues, accidents, leakage (incontinence), infection, blood
- Vomiting
- Weakness, ataxia
- Weakness, tremors
- Weight gain
Advanced Diagnostic Procedures We Offer
Accurate diagnosis is central to internal medicine. Our hospital offers a wide range of advanced diagnostic procedures, many of which are performed by or directly supervised by our internal medicine specialists.
Each procedure page on our site provides detailed explanations of when the test is recommended, how it is performed, and what information it provides.
- Abdominocentesis (removal of fluid from the abdomen)
- Abdominal ultrasound
- BE tube placement
- Blood & plasma transfusions
- Blood pressure
- Bronchoscopy (scope of the trachea and lungs)
- CAT scan of the head and chest
- Cervical ultrasound
- Chemotherapy (comprehensive injectable and oral chemotherapy treatment options, melanoma vaccine, and advanced biologic therapies)
- Renal Scleraltherapy for renal essential hematuria
- Rhinoscopy (scope of the nose)
- Thoracocentesis (removal of fluid from the chest)
- Ultrasound-guided aspirates of masses within the chest and abdomen
- Comprehensive cancer work-ups
- Collagen injections for urinary incontinence
- CSF taps (to obtain spinal fluid for testing)
- Cystoscopy (scope of the bladder)
- Diagnostic ECG
- Ectopic ureter laser ablation
- Endoscopy of the upper and lower GI
- Esophageal ballooning for strictures
- Feeding tube placement (esophageal or gastric)
- Fecal transplantation
- Fine needle aspirate and cytology of external masses
- Subureteral bypass (SUB) placement
- Ultrasound-guided ethanol ablation of the parathyroid glands
- Urohydropropulsion
- Ureteral stenting
- Fluoroscopy for interventional medicine and esophageal motility studies
- Gastric and esophageal foreign body removal via endoscopy
- Holter monitors
- Hyperbaric oxygen therapy
- I-131 Radioactive iodine for hyperthyroid cats
- Joint taps
- Laser lithotripsy
- Nasopharyngeal stenting
- Percutaneous cystolithotomy (PCCL) – removal of bladder stones through a minimally invasive approach
- Pericardiocentesis (removal of fluid from around the heart)
Collaborative, Integrated Care
Internal medicine often overlaps with other areas of specialty care. Many complex conditions affect multiple body systems, which is why our internists work closely with specialists in fields such as:
- Medical neurology
- Cardiopulmonary disease management
- Advanced infectious disease care
Through this collaborative approach, our team evaluates the whole patient rather than focusing on a single organ system in isolation. By sharing insights, diagnostics, and treatment planning across specialties, we are able to develop more accurate diagnoses and more effective individualized care plans for each pet.
Additionally, we are a referral-focused specialty hospital and value close collaboration with primary care veterinarians. Our internists:
Communicate directly with referring doctors
Provide detailed diagnostic summaries and treatment recommendations
Support shared-care and long-term management plans
Our role is to complement primary care, not replace it. We aim to ensure continuity and consistency throughout your pet’s care.
What to Expect, Ongoing Support, and {Next Steps}
Internal medicine consultations are typically more comprehensive than routine veterinary visits and are designed to provide a thorough understanding of your pet’s health. During your appointment, our team may:
- Review prior medical records and diagnostic results
- Discuss your pet’s medical history in detail
- Perform a focused physical examination
- Develop a prioritized diagnostic and treatment plan
Because many medical cases are complex, some answers require staged diagnostics or follow up testing over time. Throughout this process, our goal is to provide clarity, thoughtful recommendations, and transparent communication at every step.
We believe informed pet parents are essential partners in care. In addition to in-hospital services, we offer educational resources on common conditions and procedures managed by our internal medicine team. These include condition-specific articles, procedure explanations, and frequently asked questions to help you understand what to expect and why certain diagnostics or treatments may be recommended.
Internal medicine consultations are typically scheduled by referral. If you are a pet parent with questions about whether advanced internal medicine evaluation is appropriate, our team is always available to help guide your next steps and coordinate care with your primary veterinarian.
{Emergency Treatment} for Pets
Our internal medicine specialists work closely with the urgent care team to support pets experiencing serious or complex medical issues.
Their expertise allows for faster diagnosis and more advanced treatment when time matters—helping guide care decisions and improving outcomes for pets in critical need during hospital hours.