What counts as an EMERGENCY?

The following is a list of the top 20 most urgent conditions where your pet would require emergency veterinary attention.

1. Severe bleeding or bleeding that doesn’t stop within 5 minutes.
2. Choking, difficulty breathing or non-stop coughing and gagging.
3. Bleeding from nose, mouth, rectum, coughing up blood, or blood in urine.
4. Inability to urinate or pass feces (stool), or obvious pain associated with urinating or passing stool.
5. Injuries to your pet’s eye(s).
6. You suspect or know your pet has eaten something poisonous (such as panadol, xylitol artificial sweetener, chocolate, rat bait, snail bait, grapes, onions, lillies, cycad or brunsfelsia plants etc.).
7. Seizures and/or staggering.
8. Fractured bones, severe lameness or inability to move their leg(s).
9. Obvious signs of pain or extreme anxiety.
10. Heat stress or heatstroke.
11. Severe vomiting or diarrhea – more than 2 episodes in a 24-hour period, or either of these combined with obvious illness or any of the other problems listed here.
12. Refusal to drink for 24 hours or more.
13. Unconsciousness.
14. Bloat – especially in large deep-chested dogs such as Rottweilers, Dobermans, Great Danes, Pointers, Greyhounds, German Shepherds, Weimeraners etc.
15. Difficulty giving birth – if she has been straining for over 20 minutes without delivery, or greater than 2 hours between deliveries, green vulval discharge or there is greater than 10 minutes of vaginal bleeding.
16. Snake bite.
17. Tick paralysis.
18. Toad toxicity – especially if your pet is having muscle spasms or seizures.
19. Electrocution (often from chewing power cords).
20. Trauma from high rise falls or road traffic accidents.