Emergency Vet Is this normal?
 

My niece recently had to take her wolf mix pup to the emergency vet. She let her out is the backyard, and when she checked on her she was laying in the grass. She called her and she didn't even seem to hear her so she went to get her and found her side was bleeding and she "wasn't acting right". This was probably around 8:30pm or so she called me and I gave her the number for the closest vet to her that had emergency services.

Her mom text me an update later that night. Saying the vet said he thought the had a mean neighbor (meaning someone shot her), but she may have been impaled on a piece of chain link fence or something. He gave her an antibiotic, and a shot for pain, and started her on oxygen, and said he would run tests in the morning to see if there was any internal problems.

The dog is home now, and seems to be doing really well. She was shot with a pellet gun and the pellet was lodged near her spine. He left it in because it was too close to the spine and he was afraid it would do more damage taking it out. It had hit one of her lungs and collapsed it.

I've never actually had to go to an emergency vet before, but waiting until morning to run the tests seems like it could very easily had killed the dog had it been any worse. Is it normal or just a horrible vet?

i am not sure exactly what your questions is, are you asking if we think the treatment is normal. That is hard to say since we are not vets and were not there, but I would tend to go along with there decision since they often face more trama that your general day time vet. Also their fees are higher and I sometimes think overtreat so if they did not want to do more surgery I would think that was a sign the dog did not really need it.

It's a shame someone would shoot a puppy, but I also think some people will probably not be to keen on having a wolf mix as a neighbor I know I would not be, but I would also not try to get rid of it that way either. I hope they can find out who did it.

How awful that someone shot your niece's dog! I'm glad to hear she is doing well now.

I would not be happy with an ER vet who waited until morning to determine what was wrong.

I guess I am still confused, I assumed they did the tests like x rays or an ultrasound that evening, is that not what happend, if not who did the tests and decided not to remove the bullet

Hope she will be okay. People can be so cruel.

That is odd but Im not that vet so I dont know why he did not do tests unless maybe she came in in shock and they didnt want to take any risks

Having spent one too many nights at the Emergency vet...so by experience only, I think that the vet more than likely needed to stabilize the dog first, some tests require sedation etc., I'm guessing that vitals etc., presented within acceptable limits of allowing them time to stabilize, monitor, prepare etc., had the dog gone in to a state of decline things probably would have moved along much faster. Remember each case is different, circumstances usually dictate order of procedures, I think!

Also, many times words get lost in translation to us distressed owners, she may not recall all that was explained to her at that time so her relay of info. may be "off".

I am so glad that everything worked out though, its hard to believe people can be so callous toward animals, I hope he is up and about quickly!

Wild animals, Yorkies, cats, and exotics can get very stressed when getting treated by a vet. Very important to at least get the animal stabilized, then go from there.

It all depends on the injury or illness, the animal's attitude and personality, breed, age, etc. as to how well they accept treatment. Just the act of drawing blood, moving the animal around and restraining it for xrays and such can stress their system and cause them to crash after the animal went through being injured then whatever the vet had to do to get him stable. So knowing when to stop and give the animal time to recover from the initial shock of injury and treatment is a sign of a good vet.

My thoughts are running along with KJC's and some of the others. Dogs like people can die from shock. It is important to get them stabilized and often that means IVs and some meds before more testing can be done.

People are sick.

Sorry this happened.

I've left the ER vet and was told to go to my vet first thing in the morning.

I think most emergency vets would run tests to diagnose and treat an uncondition as soon as they figured the animal was stable and that might have meant waiting for a deflated lung to inflate, O2 levels to increase or something, once the wound was treated and closed.

They did the tests (I assumed an xray not totally sure) the next morning not the night she brought her in.

It just kind of freaked me out that he waited so long, I can't imagine a person waiting like that, but I've never really seem anyone hurt too bad either, so I guess it makes a little more sense with what you guys are saying.

In order to treat an animal or a human properly a diagnosis is needed. Starting an IV and putting the dog on O2 would be basic standard procedure. If the dog was not responding normally and there was an apparent wound, x rays would be standard and should be done as soon as possible. An emergency vet should have a portable x-ray machine that would not disturb the dog's stabilization at all and would have certainly helped the doctor to obtain the very needed diagnosis. There is no excuse for not doing an x-ray on an injured dog in an emergency situation, especially with the possibility of a gun shot wound. What if there had been internal bleeding? A collapsed lung is not to be left over night either. With so many unknown possibilities in this situation, an unobserved injury, there are many tests that could have been done. Just starting an IV gives the the opportunity to obtain blood for testing. It seems they did the very basic things that could be done.

Maybe they were under staffed and unprepared to deal with the situation. Maybe another emergency was going on at the same time. What ever the reason was they did take a big risk in leaving an internal injury undiagnosed until morning and this is not what an emergency room is for. It sounds like they were waiting for someone who knew what they were doing to show up.

I hope the owner reported the gunshot to the police. It is illegal to shoot any domestic animal with a pellet gun. Who ever did it should be charged and be responsible for the vet bills.

If it were me I would take the dog to a specialist to look at that pellet by the spine. I would certainly want a second opinion of the whole situation.

Having worked a few years in a 24 hr animal ER, nothing this vet did sounds out of line to me.

Yes, many times surgeries are put off until a specialist is called in the morning, if it is determined that the animal is stabile and can survive.

Most Animal ERs are not 'fully' staffed overnight. Occassionally vets/specialists are called for advise or called in for surgeries that cannot wait. There are specialties in Vet Medicine, one is Emergency medicine. One thing you don't want is to have all your vets tied up in surgeries that could have waited till morning when you have more emergencies on their way in.

Many Animal ER's do not have all of the most up to date equipment. Even if they did, having everything needed does not save all animals, even when their conditions are not as life-threatening as others. Stress is a major factor.

When an animal is hurt, they go into fight or flight mentality. People do too. The difference is, you can tell a person, hey, we're here to help you, you're going to be okay. They will understand you, in most cases. Animals don't understand, their bodies and minds stay geared up. They don't understand that the vet and all the strangers around them are trying to help them, especially when they are poking and prodding and sticking needles in them.

And they don't do this with people? Last month my DD's feeding tube started leaking. The feeding tube is the only way she gets nourishment and her medications to control her seizures. She got to the ER on a Friday afternoon. The doc determined she needed to be put under anesthesia to have her tube replaced. This surgery was put off until Monday(?). An IV was not started on her till the next day, so she had no 'food' or meds for close to 24 hours. She was admitted to the hospital for 4 days before the tube replacement, so she needed to be weened back onto her normal daily rations, which I did at home. By the time I found my way back to the waiting room, the surgery was done! This couldn't have been done on Friday?

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.