Understanding Pet Emergencies and When to Contact Your Emergency Vet

It is important to know when your pet's situation requires immediate attention from a veterinary professional.

In some cases, your pet's condition might be serious and require urgent treatment. In such instances, booking your appointment online might not be appropriate, and you should contact the practice by telephone immediately so your pet can be seen quickly at the practice.

Some conditions that might be considered life-threatening include: 

  • Difficulty Breathing – this can be obvious signs like choking and gasping, but can also include more subtle signs, such as increased abdominal movement (effort), breathing very fast, or open-mouth breathing
  • Unable to Urinate – straining frequently without producing any urine can be a sign of a urinary blockage
  • Bleeding – particularly if there is a constant flow of blood, if it pulses, or does not stop within a few minutes
  • Eye Problems – some eye conditions are considered an emergency, and can include corneal ulceration, sudden painful eye (closing the eye, watery discharge, inability to look at bright light), glaucoma (noticed as the surface of the eye going blue/cloudy), eye trauma, swelling or prolapse of the eye, and high blood-pressure (sudden onset blindness or blood in the eye)  
  • Non-Productive Vomiting / Bloat – retching or trying to vomit but either producing nothing, or only a small amount of mucus, can be a sign of bloat; you might also see the abdomen become distended
  • Traumatic Event - falls from heights, road-traffic accidents or accidental physical injuries can all lead to potential internal injuries; your pet may seem normal at first, but can quickly deteriorate if underlying trauma is not identified and treated
  • Seizures/Fitting - any seizure that has not stopped after 3 minutes, or if your pet has had several short seizures within a short period of time, warrants immediate veterinary treatment

Other types of urgent appointments can include, but are not limited to: 

  • Straining to produce puppies or kittens for over 2 hours
  • Ingesting a foreign body (such as socks, batteries, or potentially poisonous substances)
  • Straining but unable to pass faeces
  • Wasp or bee sting
  • Prolonged inappetence / not eating
  • Severe watery diarrhoea

If you are at all unsure whether your pet’s problem is an emergency, regardless of the time of day or night please call the practice so that we or our out of hours partners can give you the necessary advice.