Emergency Vets - are they really the best in an emergency situation?

You know, these E-vets are starting to worry me quite a bit...I keep hearing stories about cats being put down at E-vet visits, or like with Bella713's Joey, the E-vet stating that he didn't think that Joey would last the night - and he was WRONG!

Why is it that so many animals get put down at an E-vet visit when it turns out to be something that a regular vet can control. What is up with that? Are E-vets only trained in euthenasia???

Recently a friend's 11 year old black lab - rotty cross was put down at the E-vets because his hind leg had snapped at the hip and the Xray showed bone cancer. The vet recommended that he be put down and my friends were so upset they could only agree because the vet told them that the assumption was that the cancer had spread throughout JoeDog's body - but they didn't test to be sure!

I'm starting to worry about the safety of my own kitties, should, God forbid, something scary happen that requires an E-vet visit!

Please share your stories, and please, if there are any vet techs here on TCS that work in Emergency, please chime in on this topic!?

Well I live in a city that's big enough to have an e-vet but not big enough to have more than ONE. I have not visited it in years. I do avoid it as much as I can. In the past, diagnosis and treatment have been spotty at best and of course you pay a high price for so-so service. And it's not just "service", it's the lives of my cats we're talking about. That said, I would go there if I had to, but it's limited to those "have to" moments.

Christmas eve, Beandip was having somewhat of a bladder crisis. He has a history of that and I came *this* close to taking him there...because we all know how serious that can be for a male cat. Well I watched him closely and the problem "passed" (bad pun ), thankfully. I wouldn't recommend anyone to do that, but after a couple of years of observing him through these moments I had a good sense of emergency/non-emergency.

Fast forward to his next vet appt...I talked to my regular vet and mentioned the episode and my reservations about going to our e-vet. She gave me a knowing look, like she didn't want to say it but she felt my reservations were warranted. She then also gave me a couple tips on how I could help him through the next after hours crisis w/his medication, if absolutely necessary. That made me feel better.

I had the best experience with an e-vet a few years back when Cinnamon was in severe distress with a blockage in his anal glands and needed emergency surgery. They were so incredibly compassionate and they gave Cinnamon great care. When Cinnamon went back to his regular vet, he commented on how well cared for Cinnamon was by the e-vet. So, don't give up on all of them.

I think a higher percentage of cases seen by an emergency vet are likely to end in euthanasia - but I don't for one minute think that is because of the vet themselves (don't forget that they are 'regular' vets on their day shifts!), but because the type of patient that comes in is more likely to be in a critical condition.

After all none of us are going to show up at 3am at the emergency clinic with a cat with conjunctivitis, a bruised foot, or having a slight cough/sneeze - it's the things that can't wait until morning and tend to be of a serious nature like major trauma, blockages, toxins, sudden respiratory failure, that sort of thing.

It's also important to remember that even if an emergency vet tells you that the likely outcome may be euthanasia (due to in your example cancer) you can ask them to give pain relief and sedation and try to stablilise the patients condition in order for you to consult with your regular vet in the morning, if there is a chance of hope.

In Austin in the late '70s and throughout the '80s, my parents had a cat named Chavela. At that time, we didn't know any better than to let her live outdoors, as all the kitties in my folks' childhoods had done.

Well, one evening in the spring of 1989, when Chavela was 14 years old (a miraculous age for an outdoor cat, I know), my boyfriend and I went out to feed her, and she was acting strange. She would hurry to get in front of us, then turn and stand with her back to us and meow over her shoulder.

It was my boyfriend who was smart enough to sit down and check her for injuries, and by rubbing her fur backwards, he found a three-inch cut on her abdomen, already cleaned up, but still open. So we took her to the emergency vet. (We had no prior experience of such vets.)

Let me pause here to say what a smart cat Chavela was, to know she needed help and to figure out how to tell us so! She was a great kitty.

So we get to the emergency vet, and he runs one hand down Chavela's back and says she's very thin and she probably has feline leukemia, "So you may not want to invest a lot of money in a cat this old."

I was shocked, and asked him if he could test her for feline leukemia. He said he could, "But it's really not worthwhile, she's 14."

I didn't get it. Why were we talking about feline leukemia right now? She was in pain, she needed stitches... "Well, then let's just fix her up," I said, "I don't want her to be in pain."

And he said, "That's what I'm saying, let's put her out of her misery."

I couldn't believe it! My boyfriend and I both said "NO!" so loud that the dogs in the next room started barking. We told him euthanasia was out of the question and assured him we wanted Chavela given something for her pain and sewn up.

"Okay," he said skeptically. "I'll look her over and give you an estimate."

Like she was a car.

Well, as it turned out, Chavela's injury was worse than it had appeared: she had a slice that ran the whole length of her tummy. The emergency vet sewed her up and kept her overnight, and at 7:30 the next morning, I went and picked her up to take her to a "real" vet close to our house.

It was a beautiful place, a very clean and caring vet hospital, and the difference was night and day. They examined Chavela and did X-rays, and told us that there was a spot where the wound had gone all the way through into her abdominal cavity, and there was air trapped somewhere it shouldn't be. They opened her up again and repaired her properly.

During her surgery, I sat in the waiting room and cried. There was a beautiful white Persian who was their "office cat," and this wonderful kitty kept me company, purring and being very affectionate. When I told the receptionist later how much better that kitty had made me feel, she nodded and said, "That's her job."

Anyway... Chavela had to stay in the hospital for about ten days, and we visited her every day. She did come home for a little while, but about two months after the attack, she passed away quietly in my lap. She was a truly wonderful cat, and we all still miss her and love her dearly.

And by the way -- she did not have feline leukemia, or anything else wrong except a broken tooth. I know Chavela suffered during her recovery, but I can't help feeling she chose to live, by asking us for help, y'know? And if she was willing to keep going, we couldn't quit on her.

And those last couple of months, we all grew closer to her because of the special care she needed. It was a long goodbye, but a loving one.

So I'm glad we didn't let the emergency vet persuade us to give up on Chavela.

We have taken two dogs and a cat (Sterling is a diabetic cat) to a E-Vet facility (we live in Denver where E-Vets is filmed BTW but we live on the west side of town where another group of vets do the emergency room vet duties) and our masters did not get put down. We got a massive bill, but we understand that having a master takes responsibility and that at some point we may have to have our dear friend put down.

Results:

Sitka had emergency surgery. Kaitu had pneumonia. Sterling has put on IV fluids and IV feeding to stabilize him.

All came home, although Sitka and Kaitu had to be put down. Quality of life dictates when that happens in our household. (when my Alaskan Malamutes could no longer stand and were incontinent is when we decided..... )

Sterling is responding well to his treatment.

I agree with Epona - the e-vets get the tougher cases. At 3am if my kitty is desperately sick, I'm not waiting for my regular vet.

They wouldn't have the animal history, just a sleepy, stressed out owner to get as much info out of.

When a friend was fostering a litter of kittens, we went to the emergency vet a few times over a few weekends because one of the little guys was sick, and they were great.

I don't know that anyone was suggesting you shouldn't take a kitty to an emergency vet -- by definition, if it's an emergency, that's what you have to do. I think the point is not to let an e-vet make the euthanasia decision for you... because it's true that they see a lot of bad injuries and severely ill animals, and they may be a little too comfortable with euthanasia...

the E-vet that I use, and regularly use at that has 2 sides to my experiences.
1. My RB baby Simon presented himself to me with half of his face hugely swollen, I rushed him in and the vet told me it was a bug bite and gave him a steroid shot and some benadryl, which of course reduced the swelling, but it turned out to be an abcessed tooth, which I found out when he started drooling and I took him into my regular vet... over 2 months later. I hate to think of it if he was in any pain Simon went in for surgery to pull the tooth and ended up passing away about a week later. I can't help but think if the tooth would have been caught by the e-vet he would have been ok, this was my soulmate kitty and his death really devastated me, even though I know all my kitties are living on borrowed time BAD
2. Pandora decided a electrical cord would make a delightful snack and shocked herself silly and burned the crap out of her whole mouth, I rushed her in then and she spent the weekend in the hospital, but she made it and a year later is still healthy as a horse with no side effects other than some fried brain cells GREAT
3. on a Saturday night Ismene showed signs of not having full control over her back legs, went to work Sunday and that afternoon she was still showing signs so I took her in... and waited over 3 hours to even be seen! Glad it wasn't anything really serious Iz ended up dying about 5 days later, I believe she was my first FIP death, there was nothing the vet could have really done anyway, but I was very disappointed BAD
4. Orion started have seizures in the middle of the night and I took him in and they gave him some anti-seizure meds, which is all I really needed at the time, he passed away about 2 weeks later, also FIP related to my best guess GOOD

So I've good and bad experiences, but even with Pandy, they have never suggested euthanasia, but I have considered going to another e-vet, but in an emergency situation my instinct is to just GO and the e-vet I've been going to is a little closer

I have not heard either way about E-vets and their "pro-pts" stance.
That frightens me!

I am fortunate that the practice I take Smidge too is also the 24 hr Trauma place. Her regular vet just went on overnight emergencies only (but I can bring Smidge in for her annual). So...if she ever has a true emergency, her recs are already there and I can't imagine them suggesting putting her down unless she was in very bad shape (like when my childhood cat got run over by a car but lived until we could get him to the vet).

They are the kind of practice that always asks the other vets on duty for opinions...even stuff that appears minor.

I would never agree to something willy-nilly and would demand my regular vet be paged if she wasn't on duty. The regular vet is great!

How awful that people have had those terrible experiences.

I had to take Wally to the ER a few months ago. I thought he was having a urinary blockage....long story short, it turned out he wasn't. The vet was very knowledgeable, calm, and thorough. Overall, I felt my cat was well cared for- not over treated or under treated. The visit was expensive, that's for sure. But it was worth it to put my mind at ease.

As far as I know the closest E-vet is a good 30 minutes away. My vet clinic treats both small and large animals so there is always someone on call. The only time I had to call my clinic was yrs ago when Grizzly was shot-I called my vets answering service and the vet on call met me at the clinic-that goodness no real damage but its reassuring to me to have a vet that I am familiar with working n my cats.

Originally Posted by katiemae1277

1. My RB baby Simon presented himself to me with half of his face hugely swollen, I rushed him in and the vet told me it was a bug bite and gave him a steroid shot and some benadryl, which of course reduced the swelling, but it turned out to be an abcessed tooth, which I found out when he started drooling and I took him into my regular vet... over 2 months later. I hate to think of it if he was in any pain

Simon went in for surgery to pull the tooth and ended up passing away about a week later. I can't help but think if the tooth would have been caught by the e-vet he would have been ok, this was my soulmate kitty and his death really devastated me, even though I know all my kitties are living on borrowed time BAD

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I wonder if his mouth was so swollen that he COULDN'T see in poor Simon's mouth? I guess the moral of the story is if you have to go to am emergency vet, go to your regular vet afterwards to get your kitty checked over. An emergency won't recommend you come back and see them, whereas your regular vet will have more time to fully check the kitty, and make sure you have a follow up appointment.

And as for waiting 3 hours for an e-vet - that's been my experience as well. But they don't have a huge amount of staff, and it's like the emergency room of a hospital - higher priorities get treated first. If my animal is dying in my arms I will make sure they know so I get seen straight away. If my animal is just looking really lethargic, and hasn't been drinking/eating/pooping whatever, I'll understand that dying animals need to be seen first.

My emergency vet is the same as my regular vet so I don't have any worries about 2nd class treatment. I've only had to go out of hours once when Magpie had a blood clot in his neck and he initially saw the same vet that had given him his vaccinations 6 weeks earlier and was seen by 2 other vets during the course of the evening (including the senior partner who came in especially to take a look at him). He had the best care possible, imo. They did everything they could to save him.

The only time I had to see an E-vet is when I noticed Scotty straining to go potty in a box, but not his LITTER box!

I called the e-vet office and spoke with the vet there, stating that my overall concern wasn't the chance of a UTI, but the chance of blockage. I think it surprised him how much I knew about it (I read a lot, lol). Well, I wasn't able to get a good feel to see if his bladder was full or not, so the vet said to bring him in.

He wasn't blocked, and it was pricey, but the high cost was worth knowing that he wasn't blocked and would be ok until he could see the vet.

the only time i've had to go in was for jenny (prolapsed anus) which they thought was her rectum ...it would have been out much more. they mentioned surgery & Keep her over night but also said no reason to cut a healthy cat after they did the x-ray. Nice choice of words. I was told most cats live just fine with it only being the anus as hers goes out when she poos then back in shortly after Anyone know anything about that anyways?

I dunno. There is no e-vet here. You simply pay (through the nose) the regular vet. I think it's like $100 at least. However, you have to actually catch the vet...

Originally Posted by white cat lover

However, you have to actually catch the vet...

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What do you use? An oversized butterfly net?

BaDUM!

Is it Friday yet?

I dont live in a big enough town that has an e-vet.