​

​

 

For Veterinarians/Clinic Staff:

 

Why Choose Southeast Veterinary Cardiology?

Southeast Veterinary Cardiology (SEVC) brings board-certified cardiac expertise directly into your clinic—no referral to outside hospitals needed.

​

• In-Clinic Expertise: SEVC works within your hospital, giving you direct access to a board-certified cardiologist and allowing for real-time collaboration.

• Immediate Results: Detailed reports are typically emailed before SEVC departs your clinic—no waiting on telemedicine.

• Long-Term Support: SEVC is available for ongoing consultation to help guide long-term management of your cardiac patients.

• Unmatched Standards: SEVC is the only mobile cardiology service in metro Atlanta where echocardiograms are performed in general practice settings exclusively by a board-certified cardiologist. This ensures superior diagnostic and treatment recommendations compared to services using sonographers or non-specialist evaluators.

Our mission is to deliver accurate, timely, and actionable cardiac consultations—so you can confidently manage heart disease right from your clinic.

 

How to Schedule an Echocardiogram at Your Clinic:

If your clinic has not worked with SEVC before, please email info@sevetcardiology.com to receive our service overview and regional availability before scheduling your first consult.

​

Scheduling is a Two-Step Process:

Step 1: Reserve Your Appointment

Use the online scheduler to reserve a 90-minute consult time.

• Consult availability is based on your region’s caseload.

• Up to 4 patients can typically be evaluated in a 90-minute appointment.

• If you have more than 4 cases, please email SEVC in advance to determine if additional patients can be accommodated during the same visit.

• Once scheduled, SEVC will provide an estimated arrival window—please ensure patients are dropped off 1–2 hours prior to that time.

Step 2: Submit Patient Information

After reserving your appointment time, you must complete a Patient Info Form for each case you would like evaluated.

• Submission of this form is required for evaluation—SEVC cannot guarantee a pet will be seen without it.

• This step ensures we can prepare appropriately and provide the most accurate and timely recommendations.

• Additional instructions are included on both the scheduler and form submission pages—please read carefully.

Need help or have questions? Reach out anytime at info@sevetcardiology.com

 

***If your patient is unstable (dyspnea, frequent fainting/collapsing, severely lethargic, white/very pale mucus membranes, etc.), immediate referral to a hospital with a cardiologist on staff and 24-hour emergency care is recommended (University of Georgia, Auburn, or Blue Pearl).***

​​

Do You Meet with Pet Owners or Discuss Results Directly?

Not at this time.
To efficiently serve a wide geographic area and high clinic volume, SEVC does not meet with pet owners during echocardiograms, and Dr. Pogue communicates directly only with the referring veterinarian. All diagnostic results are delivered to the primary care veterinarian in a detailed consultation report. It is then the responsibility of the primary care veterinarian to discuss the findings and treatment recommendations with the pet owner. To support these discussions, SEVC provides client-friendly handouts for many common cardiac conditions and therapies.

If your client prefers a traditional face-to-face consultation with a cardiologist, please refer to the options listed in the Pet Owner Resources section below.

​​

Services and Fees:

For Veterinary Clinics Only. To receive a full list of available services and associated fees, please contact us at info@sevetcardiology.com. Fees vary depending on the specific service requested.

Travel Fee:

To help maintain efficiency and keep costs controlled, SEVC encourages scheduling multiple cases per visit:

• No travel fee when 2 or more cases are scheduled at your clinic

• A travel fee applies for single-case consultations

​

What Diagnostics Are Required Before the Consultation?

No specific diagnostics are required to schedule a consultation with SEVC. However, providing supporting information can enhance the accuracy and efficiency of our evaluation.

Optional Pre-Consultation Diagnostics

You may email any of the following ahead of the appointment to: referrals@sevetcardiology.com

• Thoracic radiographs (especially important if respiratory signs are present)

• Recent bloodwork

• Pertinent medical records or summaries

If Respiratory Signs Are Present (e.g., coughing or labored breathing):

We strongly recommend thoracic radiographs (preferably 3-view) prior to consultation.
Without chest x-rays, we cannot confirm or rule out pulmonary edema (congestive heart failure fluid)—echocardiography alone is not reliable for this.

Additional Recommendations (When Applicable):

• Blood pressure and bloodwork: Recommended if the patient is on cardiac medications, collapses/faints, or has a suspected arrhythmia.

• Historical records: Please have a team member familiar with the case available to provide background. We will review pertinent medical history when available, but time for record review is limited—summarized information is appreciated.

For extensive medical histories, please:

• Summarize relevant details on the referral form

• Or have printed records available at the time of the consult

Accurate and complete medical history is critical for making informed treatment recommendations.

Additional Testing

Other diagnostics may be recommended based on exam findings or echocardiogram results.

​

Will SEVC Answer Questions About Recheck Testing?

Absolutely!
SEVC is happy to assist with follow-up questions regarding patients previously evaluated by Dr. Pogue. This is a complimentary service for clinics that utilize SEVC.

Guidelines for Recheck Consults:

• While SEVC is not a telemedicine service and does not offer formal interpretation of imaging, Dr. Pogue can provide an informal opinion via email for recheck x-rays or lab results.

• Please send inquiries to info@sevetcardiology.com.

To ensure we can provide helpful feedback, the following must be included:

• Patient name

• Current medications

• Summary of clinical status (How is the pet doing? What prompted the recheck?)

• Specific question(s) you'd like addressed

Due to the high volume of cases, emails lacking context or questions (e.g., attachments only) will not be reviewed.

​

If SEVC does not come to my area/clinic, can my client come to one SEVC services?

Unfortunately, no.

SEVC does not operate out of a facility of our own and instead relies on primary care clinics to host and coordinate evaluations for their own patients. All consultations and follow-up are conducted exclusively through the referring veterinarian at the hosting clinic.

Because of this structure, SEVC cannot arrange echocardiograms for pet owners who are not already established at a participating clinic. We also cannot ask any partner clinic to accommodate outside referrals.

 

For Pet Owners:

 

What is a board-certified veterinary cardiologist?

Board-certified veterinary cardiologists have chosen to pursue further training after graduating veterinary school. Typically, this includes 1 year of post-DVM internship (if not more) and 3-4 years of a cardiology residency. During this time, the focus of learning is on cardiac physiology (how the heart works in health and disease), cardiac imaging (ultrasound/echocardiography, x-ray, CT, and MRI), and treatment/management of cardiac disease - both with medicine as well as cardiac catheterization. During the residency, the individual must pass two board exams to become board-certified in cardiology by the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM). Due to this experience, cardiologists will be able to perform the most complete and accurate cardiac evaluations in your clinic, providing you with the best help with managing your heart-related cases (as compared to traveling ultrasound technicians or non-cardiologist DVMs/specialists). 

 

To know if an individual is boarded in cardiology, look for DACVIM (Cardiology) after their veterinary degree (DVM/VMD). 

 

​How is a consult scheduled with SEVC for my pet?

Contact your primary care veterinarian to schedule your pet’s consultation at their clinic with Southeast Veterinary Cardiology; we are a referral-only service.  We do not schedule consultations directly with pet owners or do in-home/kennel evaluations.

​

***As SEVC does not have a clinic of our own and are dependent on primary veterinary clinics for facilitating the consultations, we will only evaluate patients when contacted by the primary veterinarian. SEVC can only evaluate pets at their established primary care veterinarian office and cannot facilitate your pet being seen at a different clinic that we visit. Therefore, if your primary veterinarian is outside SEVC's service area or does not use SEVC, see below for the other cardiology options in Georgia. *** 

​

Do you meet directly with pet owners and discuss findings during or after the consultation?

SEVC only provides direct consultation with your veterinarian, we do not directly meet or discuss via phone with pet owners about testing results. Due to the inability to predict exact arrival and to increase efficiency, SEVC does not facilitate owners being present or holding for an echocardiogram. See below for additional cardiology options in the area if you wish to be present and meet with a cardiologist in a traditional appointment.

 

For each consultation: Pets are dropped off at your familiar primary care clinic as SEVC cannot guarantee exact arrival times. The results of all diagnostics performed will be given to your primary care veterinarian in the form of a detailed consultation report, and this information will be relayed to each pet owner by the primary care veterinarian. To further help relay information about cardiac disease and therapy, client handouts will be provided for many diseases. Any additional testing (i.e. bloodwork, x-rays) will be performed by your primary veterinarian and SEVC is happy to consult with your veterinarian on any of these pertaining to your pet's cardiology care. By maintaining efficiency while traveling to a large number of clinics, SEVC is able to provide the most cost-effective consultations by a board-certified cardiologist.

​

If you wish to have a traditional appointment where you meet and discuss findings directly (or via phone) with a veterinary cardiologist, we recommend using cardiology services at:

• UGA College of Veterinary Medicine

• Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine

• Dogwood Veterinary Specialty and Emergency

• Upstate Vet Specialists (Greenville, SC)

• Blue pearl.

​

What are your fees?

Please contact your primary care veterinarian for the cost of a cardiac evaluation by SEVC.

 

Do you offer heart disease screening for breeding dogs/cats?

****UPDATE*** SEVC is not performing OFA Certification or HCM screening clinics/shows at this time. 

​

For more information, please email: info@sevetcardiology.com.