What Happens to your Dog in Critical Care
If your dog or cat is seriously ill, they may require 24 hour hospitalisation. Fortunately, the experts at Eastside Veterinary Emergency & Specialists are on hand to help you. In our critical care unit, seriously ill animals receive the intensive treatment they need to give them the best chance of survival. We also focus on ensuring that your pet is comfortable and that their needs are attended to during this difficult time.
Critical care may be required for a variety of reasons, including:
- Trauma – e.g. animal bite injuries, being hit by a car
- Seizures,
- Severe infections
- Diarrhoea or vomiting
- Serious cancers or tumours
- Breathing problems
While each patient is individual, there are a number of things we focus on with critical patients.
Vet Care
Our vets constantly examine and reassess emergency situations in order to guide treatments. Through physical examinations, monitoring equipment, and testing, we are able to predict and react to a patient’s changing clinical condition and adjust our treatments accordingly.
Nursing Care
Our experienced nurses play a significant role in treating critical patients. They provide regular monitoring of vital signs including heart rate, pulse, temperature, respiratory rate and blood pressure. They will also encourage your pet to eat and drink – often a big problem with critically ill patients. Our nurses keep patients dry and clean, assist them with toileting, collate medical reports and alert the vet of changes in their condition. They ensure patients are kept warm or cool, depending on their circumstances, and they give lots of love and attention to each patient – a vital part of recovery.
Diagnostics
Depending on your pet’s condition, they may need regular or constant monitoring. Our state-of-the-art equipment can record heart rate, ECG rhythms, oxygen intake, blood pressure, temperature, and other important parameters.
We perform blood tests every few hours to assess a whole variety of important signs. This helps us to monitor patient progress and determine future treatment. Many of our patients also need x-rays and ultrasound examinations multiple times a day.
Treatments
If your pet is on medication, we will manage their special requirements for treatment, administration, dosing and monitoring in critical care. We also provide intravenous fluids for hydration, electrolytes and medication. These are administered via a special fluid and syringe pumps that allow us to supply many different medications at the same time.
Your pet may also require supplemental oxygen, which we will supply as necessary.
This is just a small sample of the assistance that a critical care patient may receive at Eastside Veterinary Emergency & Specialists. If your pet requires critical care, don’t hesitate to contact our 24 hour vet clinic in Sydney. Call us on 1300 792 802 for emergency and after hours care.