What Every Pet Owner Needs to Know About Emergency Vet Care

Emergencies that concern your lovely pets can be very devastating and can make you stressed and paranoid. The worst thing about these situations is that, sometimes, you don’t know what you should do immediately, as much as you don’t know when these emergencies will strike.

To help you handle these situations better, we’ve answered some frequently asked questions or FAQs about pet emergencies.

  1. What’s considered an emergency?

Some pet owners understandably panic a lot first over situations that can be taken care of by some basic first aid. And they tend to cause trouble and false alarms and end up wasting other people’s time.

Keep in mind that emergencies are often characterized by the seriousness of the situation. If you think that your pet is in a life and death situation, then it’s an emergency. Knowing the difference will ultimately help anyone to be quick on their feet and decide whether the situation calls for immediate action from a vet or not.

  1. When should you call for help?

Veterinarians and other animal care experts agree that there are situations that need urgent medical attention. Look out for these tell-tale signs that your pet needs emergency vet care:

  • Loss of balance
  • Mother canines or felines having a hard time giving birth
  • Non-stop or consecutive seizures
  • Pets having difficulty in peeing or pooping
  • Blood in poop
  • Swelling or pain in the abdomen
  • Non-stop vomiting
  • Unconsciousness
  • Choking due to ingestion of objects
  • Difficulty in breathing
  • Eye inflammation
  • Blindness
  • Poisoning
  • Injuries due to accidents
  • Injuries due to an attack of other animals
  1. What can you do while help is on the way?

First, don’t panic and think quickly. Here’s what you should do during common emergencies:

Choking

You’ll know that your pet is choking when it’s having a hard time breathing, or when it’s pawing at the mouth relentlessly. Some more obvious signs are choking sounds or coughing, and sudden change of colour in tongue and lips.

If you notice these signs, call the vet immediately before doing anything else. After asking for help, you can look into its mouth to see if there’s a visible object. Be extremely careful because pets tend to bite aggressively when they’re panicking.

If you see an object, carefully remove it using tweezers. If you think that it’s too hard for you to retrieve the object, do not attempt. Bring your pet to the vet as fast as you can.

Bleeding

If your pet suffered from an attack by other animals or got injured in an accident, you’ll likely need to stop the bleeding yourself.

But before doing anything, you should muzzle your pet first to avoid biting. Then press a gauze pad over the injured part of its body.  For a minimum of three minutes, keep the pressure until the bleeding stops.

But if there’s too much blood and it’s flowing non-stop, quickly apply a bandage around the wound and put some pressure on it. Then call your vet immediately before bringing them to the clinic.

Fractures

Again, muzzle your pet first to prevent others from getting injured. Now that you’ve done this preventive measure, the next thing to do is to lay your pet gently on a stretcher. Use elastic bands or blankets before transporting them to the clinic.

Seizures

When your pet is having seizures, restraining them is the last thing you want to do. Instead of doing this, carefully remove everything that surrounds your pets. These objects can potentially harm your dogs during this emergency.

Seizures usually last for 2-3 minutes, so don’t panic. After the seizures, place your pet in a warm and quiet place to help them relax.

But if the seizures don’t go away after three minutes, that’s when you should call your vet immediately.