Focused assessment with sonography in nontraumatized dogs and cats in the emergency and critical care setting.

Objective: To evaluate the use of abdominal- and thoracic-focused assessment with sonography for trauma (AFAST and TFAST) in nontraumatized dogs and cats in the emergency and critical care setting and to compare prevalence of free fluid identified via these techniques between stable and unstable patients.

Design: Prospective observational study.

Setting: University Distributed Veterinary Learning Community.

Animals: One hundred client-owned dogs and cats presenting to an emergency service with no evidence of trauma.

Interventions: AFAST and TFAST performed within 12 hours of presentation.

Measurement and main results: Free fluid was identified on AFAST or TFAST in 33% of dogs and cats in this study. Free fluid was identified in 27 of 36 (75%) cardiovascularly unstable or dyspneic patients, compared to 6 of 64 (9%) stable patients. A significantly greater proportion of unstable patients had free fluid compared to stable patients (P < 0.0001).

Conclusions: Results of this study support the use of AFAST and TFAST to detect free fluid in nontraumatized dogs and cats in the emergency and critical care setting, particularly patients that are unstable on presentation.