Pet Emergency Capabilities: We’ve Come a Long Way, Baby!

Veterinary medicine and human medicine used to be two very different sciences. Human doctors had access to all sorts of diagnostic tests, treatments, and supportive care while veterinarians were often left improvising and doing the best that they could. While veterinarians and physicians still face different challenges, veterinary medicine is changing at a rapid pace.

There is no other aspect of veterinary medicine where this is more evident than in the emergency room.

Standard Emergency Care at OVRS

When your pet visits our emergency room, they will be cared for by one of our emergency veterinarians. While it used to be (and in some cases still is) that the vet was a “jack of all trades,” more and more are choosing to concentrate their skills in a certain area. All of our emergency veterinarians have chosen to specialize in emergency pet care.

In many pet hospitals in years past, little to no supervision was given when pets were hospitalized overnight. That is not the case at OVRS today. There is a full staff including a veterinarian present to care for your pet around the clock.

Perhaps the most exciting changes in the modern veterinary emergency room have to do with the advanced diagnostic and treatment capabilities that are now available to our pets. Did you know that if needed, OVRS veterinarians could give your pet a blood transfusion, take digital X-rays, have a CT scan, or even remove a foreign object from your pet’s stomach endoscopically? Many diagnostic tests such as blood work can be performed in a matter of minutes and a full surgical team is standing by in case the need for an emergency surgery arises. What a change from the days of James Herriot!

Research is coming out all the time that is continually changing the way veterinarians practice medicine. We are proud to say that OVRS does its best to stay on the cutting edge of new technology and provide your pets with the best care, whenever they need it.