EMERGENCIES
AND AFTER HOURSAFTER HOURS
If your pet is involved in an emergency during surgery hours, please call us immediately.
We know your pet can become ill or suffer accidents at any time. To make sure you have access to high quality care at night, weekends and bank holidays, we have chosen to partner with Vets Now.
The team at Vets Now are always there when we are closed and their fully qualified staff will provide free advice over the phone and advise whether you need to take your pet into their clinic for immediate treatment. Please don’t hesitate to call them if you’re at all concerned.
By using Vets Now to cover our Out of Hours Emergencies it enables our vets and nurse to get a good night’s rest at nights and weekends so we can continue providing the high quality care during the day that we pride ourselves on.
Pet Emergencies that require immediate veterinary attention
Major trauma
Poisoning – Contact the surgery especially if your pet is unwell. – Be ready to provide information on WHEN, WHERE, HOW poisoning occurred and QUANTITY consumed. Keep any packaging.
Road traffic accidents or severe trauma/bleeding.
Unconscious/collapsed animal
Eye injuries – Eye injuries are generally very painful. Do not touch eye injuries or investigate yourself further.
Bloat or gastric dilation/torsion – an enlarged tummy can be a sign of gastric dilatation/torsion. It is usually a problem in large dogs with deep chests such as Great Danes, Irish Wolfhounds, Irish Setters etc. An excessive amount of gas builds up in the stomach and without release of the gas the condition is quickly fatal so urgent and immediate veterinary attention is needed. Affected dogs will often salivate or try to be sick.
Burns, scalds and heatstroke
Severe pain or extreme anxiety
Eclampsia – seen in pregnant or feeding bitches or queens. A low blood calcium level causes the mother to present with weakness and lethargy, trembling, twitchy muscles, fits and coma. Calcium treatment is needed and immediate veterinary attention should be sought.
Difficult labour (dystocia) – Prolonged straining to deliver a puppy, kitten. A green/brown vaginal discharge (a clear blood-coloured discharge is normal) without a puppy/kitten arriving are indicators of problems and veterinary advice should be sought.
Severe Diarrhoea with blood – Bloody diarrhoea or bloody diarrhoea with vomiting is an emergency because haemorrhagic diarrhoea often occurs with severe and fatal diseases such as parvovirus infection and enteritis often leads to severe dehydration.
Refusal to drink for 24 hours or more
Fitting – Most fits last just a few minutes but some can last longer.
The list above are some of the more common emergency situations you may experience with your pet. However, this list is by no means exhaustive.
Ultimately, if you have ANY concerns about your pet’s wellbeing, please call immediately for reliable professional advice. During normal opening hours, one of our team will advise you further.