What Are Veterinary Microscopes Used for in Animal Clinics?

What is a Veterinary Microscope

A veterinary microscope can refer to any microscope that’s used in a veterinarian clinic or a medical facility that specializes in treating animals. Most of the microscopes you find in a veterinarian’s office can be found in other businesses; it’s what the microscope does that matters most.

How Do Veterinary Clinics Use Microscopes

Having microscopes in a vet clinic or in-house lab is very beneficial for diagnostics and routine animal wellness checks. Microscopes don’t always give you all the answers needed, but they can often provide a diagnosis or eliminate some concerns.

Veterinary laboratory microscopes are commonly used for:

• Checking fecal samples for parasites
• Diagnosing skin conditions
• Doing urinalysis
• Performing cytology or an exam of cell samples

Why Vet Microscopes are Important

There are a lot of diagnostic tools in veterinary science, and just like in human medicine, each one has an important role to play and leads doctors one step closer to helping their patients live the best and fullest life possible. Microscopes aid the human eye, providing an in-depth look at certain areas of the body and going beyond what the eye can see. They’re critical for diagnosing many different conditions and illnesses – they even aid in confirming that patients are well.

Microscopes are also used in the planning and treatment phases of care. Once a diagnosis is made, the microscope can continue to be a tool for checking progress and maintaining an appropriate level of care.

Microscopes Used in Veterinary Science

There are many determinations that must be made when selecting veterinary laboratory microscopes. Some considerations are the viewing head, illumination, digital configuration, brand, and price. Let’s look more deeply at some of these options.

Viewing Head in Veterinary Microscopes

The viewing head is the structure that sits atop the microscope frame and holds the eyepieces. Generally, the decisions come down to monocular, binocular, or trinocular viewing heads. There can be a subcategory of heads that includes ergonomic features.

• Monocular microscopes have one eyepiece, so the specimens that are being viewed appear flat.
• Binocular microscopes have two eyepieces for greater comfort, but they still produce a flat, two-dimensional image.
• Trinocular microscopes have a third eyepiece which is typically used for installing a camera.

Vet Microscope Illumination

Illumination comes down to LED (light emitting diode) or halogen lighting for a microscope. Microscopes with LED lighting use very little energy, and the bulbs tend to be long-lasting. LED lights are now better in the professional world than they initially were, offering a dimmer knob, rechargeable batteries, and they can be cordless. Halogen lamp microscopes have a very bright, concentrated light that is optimal for lab use. The bulbs aren’t as long-lasting as LED bulbs and they are sensitive to the oils on human skin but they frequently have a dimmer to reduce brightness and heat.

Digital Configuration of Veterinary Laboratory Microscopes

Your choices for digital configuration of your vet microscope include LCD and compound. A compound microscope uses two sets of lenses to get a higher magnification. They’re often simple to use and set up while providing good results. An LCD configuration means that the microscope has an LCD display screen so images can be viewed there instead of through the eyepiece. It is possible to have a compound microscope with an LCD display included.

How to Select a Vet Microscope

Selecting a microscope for needs requires examining how you’ll be using the microscope and what types of samples you’ll be viewing. It is very likely that a veterinary clinic or lab will require more than one microscope type. Some samples, cytological work, for example, will require a high-quality microscope. If you’re only doing parasite screenings, you may not need a sophisticated microscope, and you might want to use a less expensive model for this type of work to save wear and tear from your more expensive microscope.

If you’re using a microscope throughout the day, you’ll want to make sure you’re purchasing a durable piece of equipment.

Another big consideration is who will be using the equipment and how often. If it’s well-trained professionals, then purchasing a high-quality model is beneficial. If you do a lot of training in your facility, you’ll want to have less expensive equipment for them to learn how to use and care for.

If you’re interested in learning more about veterinary microscopes and ordering a model that is best suited for your needs or your practice, connect with our well-trained staff, and we’ll help you get exactly what you want. Message us through the New York Microscope Company website or give us a call at (877) 877-7274.