And we’ll finish with the piece de resistance of perfusion assessment: the pericardial effusion. It is the piece de resistance because in many cases when they are in tamponade you can make the diagnosis on physical examination alone! Sometimes their mucous membranes alone are very suggestive: an injected, cyanotic colour with a slow CRT. Check it out in this video. As soon as you see cyanosis you need to make 100% sure it’s not caused by hypoxia. PEs may be tachypnoeic but they are not often dyspnoeic. They will have a fast heart rate, quiet heart sounds and very weak pulses. Check out the jugulars: if they are distended despite the systemic hypoperfusion then this tells you there is a serious problem with right sided venous return. Most likely PE.I know we haven’t done Resp of Acid Base yet, but why not have a try at interpreting this panel on the BP discussion forum. Don’t forget to look at the animal when you are interpreting. It was taken at the same time as the video.