Determine What is a True Emergency for a Cat

Video Transcript

Hi, I’m Dr. Greg McDonald, and I am coming to you from Expert Village.com, and on my website we get a lot of questions, and I thought we would read some and go over some of the answers of those questions in the event that it might help you. The website is www.petpointers.com, and you can ask questions there yourself that will give you an answer. Go to the website, and in the meantime, we will answer some of these questions. Sometimes people want to know, is it an emergency or not, and especially on a weekend, what kind of emergencies should you pick your animal up and go right to an emergency clinic versus wait until Monday to have your veterinarian look at it? This is a very good question. We talked earlier about the four basic things that you want to know what your cat is doing every day. Is it eating, drinking, passing stool or passing urine? All those things should be in normal amounts, and if there are changes in that, it is something to be aware of. Cats or dogs that are vomiting: you don’t want to worry about a cat too much if, say, they are vomiting once a week, and they are normally keeping their food, and they are acting normal in every other way. Cats that are vomiting every day or three or four or five times a day should be seen right away because we talked earlier about the possibility of antifreeze, kidney failure, liver failure and other problems that need instant intervention. So again, part of knowing those four different facts of your cat’s eating, drinking or passing stool and urine. Also, their demeanor. Are they sleeping all day when your cat is very active usually? Is your cat crying out as in pain? All of those things are factors you have to weigh to determine if you are going to take your cat in right away or not. I always say at least calling the emergency clinic or your regular veterinarian to find out if it is an emergency because they will ask very pointed questions about what your cat is doing at that point and time and help you decide if your cat needs to be seen or not. Almost all of the veterinarian emergency hospitals don’t charge for that, so if there is any question at all, pick the phone up and call the clinic and find out if it is an emergency.

Watch these related videos

• 
  Determine What is a True Emergency for a Cat

  playlist Views: 2,606

• 
  Learn the Basics of Cat First-Aid

  playlist Views: 2,098

• 
  Learn What Common Injuries Cause Cats to Limp

  playlist Views: 9,842

• 
  Dental Hygiene Questions About Cats

  playlist Views: 2,642

• 
  Tick & Flea Control Tips

  playlist Views: 3,221

• 
  React Appropriately to a Cat that has Been Poisoned

  playlist Views: 3,463

Community Members who...

• Favorited this Video
• Rated This Video

Thumbs up or Thumbs down? Be the first to rate this video!

Top Tags