[Ashley V]

Bottom line - If your dog, cat, rabbit, ferret, mouse... whatever is dying or seriously injured, yes you should take him/her to the vet right away, but some things can be taken care of at home... even "emergencies". Once I dropped a bottle of my meds and I thought Chip got one, so instead of rushing him to the ER vet and them pumping his stomach and doing whatever they do, I remembered that you can induce vomiting through hydrogen peroxide, got online and found the correct dosage per weight. It took 5 minutes to find, I got the peroxide, gave it to him, and 15 minutes later he was throwing up. It ended up that he didn't swallow anything at all, but I needed to make sure and I took care of the situation on my own. When our kitten laid in our hands pooping goo constantly, shivering all over, couldn't walk, etc, we rushed her to the ER vet. Unfortunately we couldn't afford the $3,000 emergency vet bill and had to relinquish her to the vet so she could get proper care. Turns out the "rescue" we got her from lied about her age (she ended up being 5 weeks instead of 8) and she had a severe case of worms. These are just 2 of the MANY examples of situations I've had to deal with. People do need to learn to use their common sense and judgment, but if they come on here and post, we should direct them to their vet in a true dire emergency and not be judgmental. Sometimes though, you can really take care of the situation at home. You can't run to the vet every time they sneeze and the vets don't know everything. Sometimes you as the owner knows what's best for your dog.