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.

Your kitten should have a nice little plump belly. He should be very happy, not irritable, not whining, not crying out as much. Most kittens will sleep about 90% of the time. So if they're sleeping a lot and they seem relatively happy and content, that'll tell me that they're pretty okay with the amount of food that they're getting. If you're unsure, I know sometimes worms can look very similar, you can always check in with your veterinarian to make sure that they're growing big and strong and that they're continuing to gain weight appropriately.

Most kittens can eat as much as they want. So ad lib is usually my general guideline. If you're not able to keep food out and keep it fresh and replaced all day, about four times a day is how you should be aiming for frequency wise.

Not necessarily when they're on the milk replacer. Usually when I do start to wean them onto solid food, I will put out a dish of water just so they have the option of drinking from that. Most kittens will get enough moisture from the canned food alone, but if you do choose to use more of a solid kibble based food, having some water available for them would be helpful.

Around that four to six week old age is when we start transitioning off of the milk replacer, if you do have them earlier than that. I will usually start by mixing some solid food into a little dish of milk replacer and seeing if they'll lap that up and slowly transitioning to more of a pate based food.