Internal Medicine

Patients at Friendship are fortunate to have a fulltime, on-site veterinary internist. Dr. James McConnell heads up the internal medicine department and assists the staff doctors in evaluating and treating a wide array of serious and challenging pet illnesses.

Dr. McConnell has received advanced residency training and has over 18 years of experience using ultrasound and state of the art endoscopic techniques. His special focus is in diagnosing and treating digestive, respiratory, liver, and urinary tract illnesses of cats and dogs. He has also been called upon to use these skills in evaluating cheetahs, orangutans, tigers and Tsing Tsing, the older Panda who lived at the National Zoo prior to the introduction of Tian Tian and Mei Xiang.
Dr. McConnell provides consultations for and accepts referrals from Friendship Hospital veterinarians. He also provides his expertise in evaluating and treating pets referred from over 50 other veterinary hospitals located in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. Consultations can be scheduled directly with Dr. McConnell Monday through Friday. If special procedures need to be performed to evaluate or treat your pet, they can usually be scheduled the same day as the consultation. Also, because minimally-invasive diagnostic techniques are used in Dr. McConnell’s evaluations, pets are usually able to return home later the same day.