| Emergency pet care starts with trying to define what | | | | one.There is probably very little you can do from a first |
| an emergency is in terms of pet health.This can be | | | | aid point of view for the second broad category of |
| more difficult than one would expect because what | | | | emergency. The best thing you can do for a pet in this |
| constitutes an emergency is usually defined by the pet | | | | situation is to get the animal to a vet as fast as you |
| owner.The interpretation of an emergency therefore | | | | can. Phone ahead if possible to alert the vet to the |
| can vary widely | | | | situation and try to write down as much as you can |
| depending on that person's previous experience, there | | | | about the pets behaviour over the past few hours |
| knowledge of what is normal, and the extent of the | | | | days/weeks.For most pet owners, pet emergencies |
| human- animal bond.An emergency can usually be | | | | are a traumatic experience usually undertaken in a blur |
| divided into 2 broad categories. The first is usually an | | | | of activity. By writing everything down, you force |
| obvious emergency e.g. Pet is run over by a car or | | | | yourself to slow down and think. Once at the vet |
| bitten by a known poisonous snake. In these cases the | | | | the written notes decrease the chance of you |
| pet has been fine up till the incident that triggers the | | | | forgetting to tell the vet something that might be of |
| emergency.The second broad category is the "end | | | | importance. Although you might be in an agitated state, |
| stage" of a medical condition and for most people this | | | | remember that the vet will have |
| is far more difficult to recognise as an emergency. In | | | | to ask you a range of questions in order to focus the |
| these cases the pet may not have been 100% healthy | | | | search for a diagnosis and then institute the |
| for a preceeding period of time, but this might not have | | | | appropriate treatment.Category one emergencies such |
| been evident or the pets altered behaviour was | | | | as wounds, snake bites, heat stroke etc lend |
| deemed to be of no consequence.An example here | | | | themselves more to first aid procedures. This does not |
| would be a male cat with a blocked bladder. | | | | mean you should delay getting to a vet as fast as |
| The signs might have been there for a few hours or | | | | possible as emergency pet care is only a stopgap, |
| days (e.g. spending long periods in the litter box) while | | | | albeit a very useful one, that can be applied between |
| the condition developed. However, once the urethra | | | | the occurrence of the emergency and getting |
| becomes totally blocked and the cat cannot pass any | | | | professional help. |
| urine, the situation rapidly becomes a life threatening | | | | |