Ask any questions that you have. We want you to be informed about what's going on with your pet so that you can take care of them in their normal home environment. You may want to ask about the go-home instructions and prognosis, particularly if there are any financial concerns. A prognosis involves how likely your pet is to recover and what the recovery would look like. Can you expect your pet to go back to normal or do you have to prepare for a new normal going forward? Another consideration is whether you are capable of caring for your pet through such a time, which may require time or financial investment.

It may need a blood screen to check out certain things that could be going on with the organs. We may want to take x-rays to determine if anything is broken if they got hurt. Or we may perform an ultrasound if we're concerned that something may be bleeding internally.

It always depends on the nature of the emergency. But initially, we would try to stabilize your pet. This may involve an IV catheter and fluids, or pain management. Pain management can go a long way in making your pet feel more comfortable so that we are able to treat them.

Any pertinent medical history, any medications they may be receiving. It's great to grab those bottles to let us know because you may not always know the name of the medication or the actual milligrams or how often you're giving it. The more medical information you can give us, the better. For instance, if your pet has been exposed to something harmful, it would be very helpful if you can bring that to the hospital.

The first thing we'll do is perform a physical exam and get a history from you as to why you're at the clinic.

The best thing to do would be to call, whether it's your regular veterinarian or the emergency 24-hour hospital. Giving them some information will help them advise where the best place for your pet to be seen is. We often have multiple pet emergencies at our hospital even though we’re not solely an emergency hospital, so we might refer you to an actual emergency hospital if we’re not equipped to treat your pet best. We’ll always suggest the best thing for your pet.

Call your vet if they're open, ask their advice, and go from there. Having the most information about what they could have gotten into, whether it's a certain poison meant for mice or rats or whether it's a cleaning agent, not just knowing it's the one that comes in the brown bottle, but also the name and the ingredients therein is very helpful.

If your pet has access to something that's poisonous, always err on the side of caution and assume it may have ingested that or been exposed to it. That would be rule number one. Additionally, some symptoms that you may see with your pet are vomiting, seizures, or excessive drooling. There are many different symptoms depending on what the product was. You may not know precisely what caused it, but if you are suspicious, seek help immediately.