Emergency care is the most critical aspect of veterinary medicine. There has been distressing trend in veterinary medicine to move towards regional emergency clinics rather than the older style "on call" status that used to predominate the field. However, there are significant shortfalls with the concepts behind an emergency clinic.
First and foremost, the doctors there do not know you or your pet, nor do they have any access to your pet's medical record. For example, while your regular veterinarian may know (or may have flagged your record) that your pet is allergic to a specific antibiotic, the emergency clinician will only know if you remember to tell them and in the heat of the moment, important information like that can be lost, forgotten or overlooked.
A second flaw in the "emergency clinic" model is that you must pick your pet up the following morning by 7:30 AM and transfer them to your regular veterinarian, whether or not it is the best thing for your pet to be moved at that time. However, leaving the pet at the emergency hospital is not feasible since the facility will have no staff available through the day to care for your pet.
Additionally, emergency clinics by necessity have to have "stabilize the patient" as their primary goal, not "treat the patient" or even "diagnose the patient" since diagnosis and treatment may exceed the time frame in which they will have access to your pet.
Dr. Kate is a member of the National Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Society and has always had a dedicated interest in Emergency Medicine. In addition to the 40-60 hours of Continued Education completed every year, she also spends at least 15-20 hours specifically dedicated to Emergency and Critical Care. She considers herself very fortunate to have some of the leaders in the field of Critical Care as personal friends and mentors. She is available for her Clients 24/7 for about 50 weeks out of the year (the remaining 2 weeks she is usually off on vacation somewhere!). In addition to coming in for critical cases, sometimes clients just need advice over the phone or some verbal handholding and this, too, is a valuable service we offer our clients.
At Tri-County Veterinary Hospital, we can admit your pet at anytime and then keep them comfortably hospitalized until they are ready to go home. We are one of the only veterinary hospitals in the area that will admit patients after hours. We have the only ICU unit in the region, which permits us to administer oxygen and control other environmental parameters to aid our sickest patients. While we do not routinely provide overnight care for our patients, we handle that need on a case-by-case basis. We believe that it is a veterinarian's obligation to be available at the time of a patient's greatest need - during an emergency.
Keep in mind, for liability purposes, Dr. Kate can neither diagnose nor offer treatment recommendations over the phone for patients of whom she has no personal knowledge. We are glad to accept new patients at any time. If you wish to join our extended family, call our office to schedule your new patient consultation today!
24 HOUR Onsite Emergency Care Available:
Emergency Service:
