Emergency Care

Spring is here! Help keep your pet happy and healthy this season with these spring pet safety tips from our Emergency Medicine team at MedVet. Lilies. While many flowers and plants can be dangerous to pets, lilies are especially toxic to cats. If ingested, every part of the lily flower and plant can cause serious health problems, and in some cases, can be fatal. Some other types of spring time plants that can present…

Help ensure your pets stay happy and healthy this winter by keeping these five cold weather pet safety tips from our Emergency Medicine team in mind. Limit Exposure to Freezing Temperatures: If it is too cold for you to be outside, it is likely too cold for your pet. Be mindful of the amount of time your pet spends outside. Even short-term exposure to freezing temperatures can lead to frostbite and hypothermia .

The hurricanes that have plagued the southeast United States and the Caribbean in the recent weeks have made me question what my role is as a veterinarian in a national disaster and what can I do for my patients and pets during one?   I was astounded by troubling information gained by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.  Did you know that since emergency response teams were overwhelmed rescuing people, nearly 600,000 animals died or were stranded (Yuijano,…

Xylitol is a sugar-free sweetener used in chewing gum, baked goods, and many other products created for human consumption. It is commonly used by people with Diabetes Mellitus due to its low glycemic index and low-calorie content. Xylitol can be highly toxic to dogs, causing low blood sugar and liver failure.  The hypoglycemia is caused by insulin release stimulated by xylitol.  This effect generally lasts 12-24 hours but can be delayed.  The liver failure…

We make dozens of calls to the poison control companies and we thought we would pass on this tip. We had a couple recent calls about dogs ingesting grape flavored products. What we learned was that most products processed with grapes are so dilute that they have never had a case that developed toxicity from this type of ingestion and therefore do not feel they are toxic.