PETERBOROUGH, Ont. — Conducting an ultrasound on a pregnant dog is unusual, local animal experts say.

Staff at Otonabee Animal Hospital, Brealey Drive Animal Clinic and Peterborough Pet Hospital said they didn’t know of any occasion when a pregnant dog would undergo an ultrasound.

The question arose after a Peterborough Regional Health Centre employee was caught using the hospital’s portable ultrasound unit, in the emergency department, on a pregnant dog.

The sight of a dog trotting through the emergency department wouldn't have set off alarm bells for staff and patients because the hospital allows visits from pets, a hospital spokesman said.

Jonathan Bennett, PRHC spokesman, said pets are allowed in the hospital because of their therapeutic value.

That doesn't, however, extend to what happened this time.

The PRHC employee was disciplined sometime over the winter for using the publicly funded equipment on a dog while patients stood in line at the emergency department that day.

"There is a difference between the recognized therapeutic value of our pet policy and the misuse of hospital equipment by an employee," Bennett said.

This was done while patients waited their turn to use the machine, sources have said.

The identity of the employee, the disciplinary consequences, the date of the event and even the breed of dog have not been revealed by hospital employees and union officials who know the details.

Bennett has said the hospital is embarrassed about the "eyebrow-raising incident."

The hospital initially struggled with releasing any information to QMI Agency,neither confirming nor denying the incident even happened.

Finally, Bennett said, the hospital decided, in the interest of being transparent with the community, they would confirm that the incident occurred.

"We believe truth to be pretty important, but we must balance that with the confidentiality of staff members," he said.

Bennett did say, however, that to the best of his knowledge, the dog delivered a litter of three healthy puppies.

— with files from Andrea Houston