Emergency Care

Read Tips for a Better ER Experience

What constitutes an "Emergency"?

Any situation or case that occurs when your regular veterinarian is unable to see you. This could be a result of your clinic being closed, lack of an open appointment, or due to the severity and complicated nature of the medical issues of your pet.

Examples:
If your pet has been involved in a life threatening accident.

• Hit by a car
• Long distance fall
• Massive Bleeding from a wound

If your pet is experiencing a sudden illness.

• Collapse
• Seizure
• Poison ingestion
• Respiratory distress

If you have already been treated by your regular veterinarian during the day but now it is the middle of the night and the situation has gotten worse.

• Surgical complications
• Vaccine reactions
• Wound care

How do you get an appointment?

Most of our patients are referred to VES by your regular veterinarians. However, you do not need a "referral" to schedule an appointment or bring your pet to VES.

To better serve you, we ask that you call us in advance. This allows our staff to prepare for your pets specific medical issues. However, we realize that sometimes there is not time to call. In these cases we welcome walk ins. Both locations are fully staffed 24/7 and equipped to treat all of your pets initial needs and to monitor their condition throughout the night.

What is "Triage" and how is it used?

"Triage" is a French word meaning to "sort" by priority or life-threatening nature of injury. It is a system we use here at VES to sort or group our incoming patients based on their need for or likely benefit from immediate veterinary treatment. It's the best method in which to ensure the severest cases are treated in the timeliest manner. To make sure your pet is treated quickly, we begin by collecting information from you when you call. This triage process then resumes in more detail once you arrive at the clinic. The more information we know about your pet and their medical situation, the better we can treat them.

Special Note:
If there has been toxin ingestion, please bring the product and it’s container with you to our clinic. We will also need to know how long it's been since ingestion.

What makes VES different?

There's never a good time scheduled for an emergency. With that in mind, you might find things happening at a quicker, more urgent pace. The types of procedures we do are of a different variety and usually need immediate attention. The emergency department principally receives and treats all immediate veterinary care patients. They are also equipped to preform advanced procedures and critical surgeries.

To compliment the ER department, VES houses Veterinary Specialty Center (VSC) and Marshfield Labs. VSC has a variety of specialist on staff to consult with our ER doctors and treat the more advanced diseases and complicated cases. Marshfield Labs allows us to offer our patients state of the art diagnostic testing in house for quicker results.

VES/VSC does not offer on-going or preventative care such as immunizations or spay /neuters. These procedures should be scheduled with your family veterinarian.