You might not know it, but there’s a difference between emergency and critical care in veterinary medicine and it’s important to understand the difference between the two when deciding on care for your pet.
What is Emergency Care?
Our 24-hour emergency care team offers advanced medical treatments to stabilize your pet and diagnose its condition. Our team collaborates with an extensive team of in-house veterinary specialists: Surgery, Neurology, Internal Medicine, Medical Oncology, Radiation Oncology, ICU, and Diagnostic Imaging to ensure your pet receives the most comprehensive care available.
They treat medical conditions like:
- Acute illness
- Renal medical problems
- Medical Trauma
- Post-Operative complications
- And more
Our 24-hour emergency care team also takes referrals from general practice veterinarians to treat existing animal patients under duress. Some of the typical emergency procedures they may perform include:
- Assessing patients for trauma injuries
- Monitoring vital signs
- Cleaning and suturing wounds
- Applying bandages or casts
- Administering anesthesia or sedation medication
What Is Critical Care?
According to the American College of Veterinary Emergency & Critical Care, a veterinary specialist is a veterinarian who has completed additional training in a specific area of veterinary medicine and has passed an examination that evaluates their skills in that specialty area.
A veterinary critical care specialist is dedicated to dealing with life-threatening emergencies as well as managing critically ill pets. Additional training by a veterinary emergency and critical care specialist usually involves graduation from a recognized veterinary school, followed by 4 or more additional years of intense training in emergency medicine and critical care.
You may be referred to an emergency and critical care specialist if your veterinarian determines that your pet requires specialized equipment and/or expertise. This is similar to when your family doctor refers you to a specialist for further testing or treatment.
Welcome Our Critical Care Team!
Our newly formed critical care team is composed of board-certified Criticalist, Dr. Katie Rhue, and Academy of Veterinary Emergency & Critical Care Technicians and Nurses (AVECCTN) certified Veterinary Technician Specialist in Emergency & Critical Care (VTS ECC), Ashley Wetz.
Common disease treatments include:
- Anuria/Oliguria
- Severe azotemia
- Acute kidney injury
- Diabetic Ketoacidosis
- Addisonian crisis
- Septic abdomen
- Unstable pneumonia/Respiratory issues
- Unstable in Oxygen – Congestive Heart Failure
- Immune Mediated Hemolytic Anemia
- Immune-mediated Thrombocytopenia
- Hypotensive Despite IV Fluids
- Cardiac Tamponade
- Pneumothorax
- Gastric Dilatation-Volvulus
- Shock
- Thromboembolic disease
- Bleeding disorders
- Upper Airway Obstructions
- Parvo
- Anaphylaxis
To learn more about our critical care team visit this link: http://bit.ly/2LDfyvy
