![]() |
Pre surgery, broken femur |
One of the components to our pet emergency plan (yes, we have one!) is to use veterinary services that provide after hours emergency care. I cannot over emphasize how important I think this is! If your vet does not have 24 hour or on-call care, it would be wise to establish a relationship with a secondary vet for that purpose as many on-call vets will only see animals/families that are already clients.As safe as we try to keep our animals, life happens. We have used our after hours vet care several times and could have lost a dog without the wonderful vet care they received. When Zeus was still alive we were very conscious of his chest shape, deep barrel. Dog's with shape chest are much more prone to bloat. We did everything we could to manage his food and water intake to lower the chances of this occurring. However, around midnight several years ago, Zeus presented with all the "typical" distress signals associated with bloat. We were able to meet our vet after hours and receive the proper services. Last Tuesday evening we were again in need of Magic Valley Vet's after hour emergency care. Cash's best buddy, Sassy, dug under a fence (we think) and took herself for a walk. Unfortunately, a motorist collided with Sassy. Sassy's family had just returned home from a short outing and set their emergency plan into motion. They called us to drive for them and to contact the vet's office. Sassy was able to receive emergency care within 20 min of the accident. Fortunately, Sassy's injuries could be fixed with surgery.
![]() |
Repaired femur; pelvis fractures will have to heal on their own |
![]() |
Side view of Sassy's repair |
1. Find a vet with 24 hour or after hour care
2. Form an action plan: who can drive you and your pet to the vet, who will call the vet, how will you move an injured animal?
3. Finances: What can you reasonably afford to pay a vet in the case of an emergency? (In a situation like Sassy's, cost may rage from $2000 to $3000).
4. Replan, plan, plan: Discuss what, if anything, could change so you don't find yourself in the same situation
Sassy's confinement area for 2 weeks. She is resting comfortably and enjoying her pain meds:) |
Sassy toe-touching. She has road-rash on her head, arms, and side |
No comments:
Post a Comment