That's determined with the diagnostic testing, including x-rays, ultrasounds, and physical exam. We will also consider your pet’s history, and the physical exam and test results gives us what we need to do.

Blood work, x-rays, and ultrasound, depending on the condition. With blood work, we may want to look at whether any of the organs are affected, if your cat is anemic, if their red cell count is low, or if they are experiencing a diabetic crisis. There are various problems we can diagnose with blood work, and imaging, such as x-rays or ultrasound help us look internally at what we can't see from the outside, whether that's a trauma that they had that may indicate they have an emergency, such as a broken bone or an issue with their breathing, where they may have something going on in their chest that needs to be addressed immediately.

If they are hurting or they're bleeding, it might involve some type of sedation. They’ll need blood work if we feel like your pet has ingested something or is having an emergency due to internal concerns. There may also be imaging like x-rays or ultrasound. That's kind of a vague question, but normally, after the initial physical exam, we'll give you what we call a treatment plan to assess what's most important diagnostics that will give us the most information to know how to best treat your pet. That treatment plan doesn't mean that's all there is. That gets you started and may lead you in different directions.

Important information depends on if your pet has been exposed to something, if there's anything toxic that they've been exposed to or any medications they're currently on. If you don't already have a list of that, it would be good just to have it on hand. Just like you would for a person, bring information about any prior medical problems and any medications they're on as well as any medical pertinent information that we may not have. With toxins like rat poisoning or whatever, there are different ingredients, and knowing those ingredients can help us treat the pet, so bring the box if you have it or anything that relates to the ingredients.

That depends on the hospital. It's best to call, and you can call when you're on the way in a true emergency. That way the clinic can let you know if they have the staff available to best care for your pet. Sometimes we have five emergencies at one time, and while we'd like to be able to help everyone, it may be best for your pet to go elsewhere to get care because we just can't handle that many at one time. So if we do send you somewhere, there is a reason for doing that.