Recently we’ve had quite a few cases of hemorrhagic gastroenteritis (HGE) at Greenbrier Emergency Animal Hospital. The good news with HGE is that, seeing blood in their dog’s stool, many owners will bring them in immediately, allowing us to start treatment right away, greatly improving the survival rate and minimizing hospitalization time.
Pet Emergencies
PODCAST: Pets and Snake Bites — Act Quickly!
During the warm-weather months, our slithery, venomous snake friends become more active. And snake bites are a very common problem in the summertime. Our pets are very curious creatures and tend to lead with their noses and their front limbs, so that’s where we see the most bites (on the face and front legs). These bites often cause extreme pain, swelling and bruising, and that’s typically what you as an owner will notice first, if you don’t happen to see the snake itself. You may also see puncture marks that may be bleeding or oozing.
PODCAST: Heat Stroke in Dogs
As the heat and humidity of the summer months are approaching quickly here in Central Virginia, pet owners should be aware of the dangers of heat stroke, one of the more common summer pet emergencies in dogs. Heat stroke is a situation in which a pet’s body temperature has risen way above normal and needs immediate veterinary attention. Unfortunately, our domestic pets don’t sweat the way we do to dissipate excess heat, so they aren’t as efficient at cooling their bodies as we are — and heat stroke can result. The condition can become fatal rapidly if left untreated, but is easily preventable with some common-sense measures.
Addison’s Disease in Dogs and Cats
Does your pet have good days and bad, or “waxing and waning of clinical signs,” as we like to call it in the vet world? Does your pet have some lethargic days and some days where he or she just won’t eat? Has your pet experienced any weight loss?
PODCAST: Common Household Pet Toxins
Our first podcast — and many more to come! This first podcast focuses on common household pet toxins — we’ll identify these toxins and briefly discuss treatments and outcomes. Some tasty treats you might never suspect are toxic to your pets.
Laryngeal Paralysis or “Lar Par” in Dogs
The first thing you might notice if your dog is suffering from lar par is a change in his or her bark, which might sound more hoarse, because the vocal folds are not moving as they once did. Due to the importance of panting, which is essentially moving air through the larynx, as a cooling function in dogs, you might also find that your dog has exercise intolerance and/or might breathe very noisily or heavily in warm weather.
Pet First Aid: Responding to Pet Emergencies at Home
Working in emergency medicine, we get numerous calls from people wondering what they can do with their pet in an emergency prior to coming in to the office. While the majority of treatments on your pet should be done by a veterinarian or a member of a veterinary staff, there are some things you can do to help your pet prior to transport.
Parvovirus: Make sure your dog is protected!
A lot of you have probably heard of parvovirus, commonly referred to as just “parvo.” This disease is characterized by weakness, vomiting and extreme diarrhea (often with blood in it). Parvo is mostly found in young dogs, aged 6 weeks to 6 months, but it can be found in older adult dogs as well.
Grape toxicity and pets: Delicious but deadly
While grapes are probably one of people’s favorite fruit-based snacks, they are not a safe snack for our pets. While grapes don’t cause humans any harm, they can cause acute kidney failure in dogs, and even possibly in cats.