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Originally Posted by gracielove  If a clinic calls it's self and "emergency" clinic it had darn well better be equipped to preform as an emergency clinic. Sticking in an IV and injecting pain medication is not stabilizing a patient. You cannot stabilize a patient that has not even been diagnosed. Your relative's situation has noting to do with an injured dog that "could have been impaled" "could have been shot" and has basically unknown injuries. You go to a 24 hour emergency clinic to receive 24 hour emergency care. Leaving a dog with an undiagnosed collapsed lung and undetermined internal bleeding until morning is neglect at the very least. A 24 hour emergency vet clinic charges more than twice as much money than a regular clinic because they are supposed to be staffed and equipped to handle emergencies at any time of day. The care that dog got is deplorable and they have no right to call themselves anything that resembles a place that renders emergency care to animals. It is unfortunate that such places are allowed to identify themselves as such. |
I can't say how many animals are brought into any ER on any given day where the owners have no clue what happened to their pet and the pet cannot talk to tell the vet where it hurts.
Many times a final diagnosis is not determined until the following day or even later. If the vets wait for a diagnosis, many animals would be lost. Pets in an ER are triaged, and the more severe cases are treated in that order.
ABC's (airway, breathing, circulation). Internal bleeding will usually show as swelling in the abdomen, and pale gum color. With a GSW (gun shot (pellets) wound) or IFO (Impalement with a Foreign Object), alot of times sounds worse than it is. Depending on the sharpness and speed of the object doing the penetration, not every organ in the body is necessarily affected. Organs have the ability to move out of the way of incoming foreign invaders, and small internal wounds can heal on their own, the blood will clot given time. Fluids and an abdominal wrap are supportive care. The fluids can treat shock and repressurize the circulatory system from blood loss, the abdominal wrap prevents extensive blood loss by stopping the abdomen from expanding further. Like using the dog's own body as a pressure bandage.
If a vet cuts open a dog without first trying to control some of the bleeding from multiple injuries in this manner, the dog will more than likely bleed out. If the liver is wounded, that may require surgical intervention, if the dog is still showing signs of internal bleeding.
A collapsed lung will be found on the initial exam, can be reinflated and monitored. If it continues to collapse, over a period of some time, it may need surgical repair. I've seen a dog (Hit by Car) whose lung was reinflated 4 times before it held. That was not his only problem, but at the time surgery was too risky due to his other injuries.
I also was working one night when a dog came in with symptoms af HGE. All tests pointed to HGE, and initial treatment for HGE was started. After an hour, the dog was not improving as expected. The vet said something else had to be going on. He suspected rat poisoning. Toxicology tests take time, and the dog would have been dead before the results were back. The treatment was a high dose of Vitamin K, IV. But, if it was not rat poisoning, the Vit K alone would kill him. I'm sure with his experience, he knew what to do. But he asked me what I thought. At the rate this dog was losing blood out of his butt, he would die if we did nothing and continued to treat for HGE. I told him I thought he should give him the Vit K. He did, and the dog began to improve. The owner had no idea how the dog could have gotten into rat poison.
Just saying, yes, alot of treatment goes on without knowing absolutely what is wrong with an animal. Mainly it's about getting an animal stabilized, trying to control symptoms, and making decisions based on the dog's responses to what is done, and keeping the animal stabilized. Anything that is not immediately life-threatening is put off until the animal is in a better condition to handle further treatment, if in fact it is needed.