Emergency & Critical Care

St. Paul, Minn. - What resources will be needed and what therapies will work best in future animal-trauma centers?

Dr. Scott Shaw thinks you'll do more good than harm if you don't shy away from this life-saving procedure, especially if it's needed before transporting a patient to a referral center.

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Anticipate and treat these seven conditions that can result from urethral obstruction.

Dr. Matthew Beal discusses this promising noninvasive alternative to cystostomy tubes.

Joplin, Mo. -- With one veterinary practice already destroyed and more storms threatening, rescue workers are pouring into Joplin to offer aid to storm victims and their pets.

Neurological emergencies are common in small animal practice. As with other body systems, infections, neoplasms, trauma, inflammatory processes, congenital and hereditary diseases all affect the central and peripheral nervous systems causing a range of mild to severe conditions.

WVC clinical speaker discusses how to interpret radiographs quickly and accurately in critical patients.

The best initial therapy for this disorder caused by shock.

Veterinarians in the emergency room and cancer wards can bond with clients, too. Find the warm and fuzzies in any hospital.

How to use newspaper as an emergency splint.

Ithaca, N.Y. -- A new tool is available to help veterinary students better train for critical care situations. Much like Rescue Annie is used to teach life-saving techniques in human-medicine, Dr. Dan Fletcher at Cornell University Hospital for Animals has developed Rescue Fido and Fluffy.

Several effective physical rehabilitation techniques can be used in critically ill patients.

Important interventions to help you improve a patient's chances of survival.

A Q&A with emergency and critical care veterinary practitioner Susan Barnes

A number of respiratory emergencies may ultimately require surgical intervention, but the surgical techniques most likely to be indicated on an emergent basis are tube tracheostomy, tracheal resection/anastomosis, tube thoracostomy, and diaphragmatic hernia repair.

Acute abdomen is the acute onset of abdominal pain that requires prompt diagnosis and immediate intervention to prevent patient deterioration. The decision to operate depends on efficient diagnostic evaluation, and the timing of the surgery should be based on what will maximize survival and minimize morbidity.

Adequate nutrition is essential for the critically ill patient. Nutrients are necessary to provide substrates for normal cellular functions, protein synthesis, and daily metabolic processes. The critical patient is often in a hypercatabolic state, so early nutrition is essential to prevent glycogen depletion, immune dysfunction, and loss of body mass, and to provide substrates for wound healing.

Watch how Dr. Tim Crowe uses these three innovative tools in his critical care patients.

The numbers of oiled wildlife in the Gulf region continue to grow.

Ithaca. N.Y. -- Cornell University?s College of Veterinary Medicine isn?t planning on waiting for customers to come through its hospital doors. Instead, the school has signed a 10-year lease to open the Cornell University Veterinary Specialists (CUVS), a satellite referral and 24-hour emergency care hospital, in the New York metro area, by early 2011.

New York -- The ASPCA donated $15,000 to the Texas Veterinary Medical Foundation to help pay for curriculum and training of personnel to handle animal emergencies during disasters.

Acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) are challenging and frequently lethal respiratory disorders encountered in veterinary medicine.

Wounds of the lower limbs of the horse can be challenging to treat successfully, especially those that may involve tendons, ligaments and synovial (joint) spaces.

Cats with respiratory distress represent a significant diagnostic and therapeutic challenge to the small animal veterinarian.