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The triage examination is the initial and brief examination that occurs in the first few minutes after a patient presents to the emergency room. The triage examination is crucial to assessing a patient and determining if life-threatening problems are present. Point-of-care testing is a term used to refer to immediate testing in an emergency room.

Assessment and emergent treatment of the dyspneic cat is often considered one of the most difficult tasks of the emergency clinician. Underlying causes of shortness of breath can vary considerably, and must often be decided with only a history and a brief physical

Traumatic injuries of the respiratory system are fairly common in the dog and cat. Most of these injuries can lead to life threatening complications. It is important that the veterinary clinician be familiar with the clinical signs associated with these injuries and be prepared for aggressive intervention when required.

Health management can be a critical component in adding value to calves. Whether calves are sold at weaning, after pre-conditioning or backgrounding or retaining ownership through the feeding phase a health management program is important.

Cats with fevers (103? F-106? F) are a common occurrence in everyday practice. Most cases respond to antibiotic therapy or are self-limiting (abscesses, viral infections, post-surgical fevers). However, the most frustrating case is one in which a routine course of antibiotics does not improve the clinical condition of the cat, routine diagnostics do not identify the cause and the fever is ongoing.

A large focal right sided ping (>3" diameter) is due to an abnormality of the abomasum or large intestine. Rarely, post-parturient cattle with metritis may have a vague right sided ping in the right caudo-dorsal abdomen due to gas in the uterus.

The ability to accurately assess your patient is a key feature of success for a veterinarian. Although the importance of proper patient assessment is applicable to all fields of veterinary medicine, it is most apparent for the emergency/critical care clinician who may need to make rapid decisions based on observations obtained in a very short period of time.

First compartment (C1) fluid examination is a diagnostic aid for animals exhibiting abdominal distension, reduced fecal output, anorexia, and abnormal first compartment texture or motility.

Antidotes can be divided into three broad catagories: chemical antidotes, pharmacologic antidotes, and functional antidotes. Chemical antidotes act directly on the toxicant to make it less toxic and/or more readily excreted.

A small intestinal dysbiosis is an alteration of the small intestinal microbiota in either composition or numbers. There are several different terms that describe similar clinical conditions: antibiotic-responsive diarrhea, tylosin-responsive diarrhea, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), and intestinal dysbiosis.

Oxygen is an ideal therapeutic agent because it is easy to administer, readily available and if used correctly relatively safe. There are very few contraindications to oxygen supplementation.

Cats who cannot breathe are the most fragile patients we treat each day. Cats tend to be more compromised on presentation as they hide their breathing issues better from their owners. It is important to balance diagnostic procedures with therapeutic intervention so that these cats can be quickly stabilized and effectively treated.

Parasite infestations in camelid herds frequently cause insidious disease and go unrecognized until an individual animal succumbs to the disease. For this reason, cases of severe parasitism in an individual should lead to a herd investigation of prevalence and management techniques.

Trichomoniasis is a sexually transmitted reproductive disease of cattle caused by Tritrichomonas foetus (formally named Trichomonas foetus). There has been a re-emergence of the disease due to increased movement of breeding cattle across the country. The disease is characterized by infertility and early embryonic death.

Smoke inhalation injury represents a unique form of lung injury in dogs in cats. Despite the prevalence of house fires in the United States, smoke inhalation is uncommonly encountered in veterinary emergency practice.

There has been a lot of discussion in the past 10-15 years regarding the number of Food Supply Veterinarians (FSV) and/or Rural Veterinary Practitioners (RVP). The difference in these two populations is that FSV include government veterinarians (APHIS and FSIS), researchers, educators and other veterinarians that are somehow connected with a food animal production.

Adverse reactions to food are quite common in both dogs and cats. However, contrary to common believe, only few cases of adverse food reactions are due to true food allergies. Adverse food reactions represent a group of disorders that are defined by gastrointestinal, dermatological, and less commonly respiratory signs in response to ingestion of a certain food. It should be remembered that there are other specific conditions that are either thought to be due to or worsened by diet that are not considered adverse food reactions such as acute pancreatitis, megaesophagus, or portosystemic shunts.

Heatstroke can be defined as severe hyperthermia resulting in thermal injury to tissues. Under normal circumstances, cats and dogs maintain their body temperature over a wide range of environmental temperature variations.

Acid-base balance and electrolytes.

Coliform mastitis is a common and serious disease of housed dairy cattle. Causative bacteria are derived from the family Enterobacteriaceae and are lactose-fermenting, gram negative bacteria.

Immunoprophylaxis is the enhancement of a specific immune response to the specific pathogen. Humoral and cell-mediated immune response are critical to effective immunity. This response is induced by microbes, their components or by-products. The majority of vaccines prevent infectious disease, but not infection.

Congenital, infectious, neoplastic, nutritional and toxic causes of cardiac disease are occasionally encountered in primary and referral bovine practice. The presentation accompanying these proceedings will review the most commonly encountered conditions with an emphasis on dairy cattle in the Northern United States.

Fluid therapy remains one of the essential components of critical care medicine with the goal being to restore intravascular volume. Several choices are available to optimize the treatment of these patients and controversy will undoubtedly continue. Crystalloids have many advantages including they are widely available, inexpensive, have minimal effects on the coagulation system, and do not cause allergic reactions.

Reproductive success is a key component of the successful cow-calf herd. Reproductive parameters should be evaluated in light of the herd's production constraints and overall goals.

The mammalian GI tract is sterile during fetal development, and the fetus is originally exposed to bacteria during passage through the birth canal. Bacteria are ingested from the local environment and travel through the GI tract, competing with other bacteria and ultimately colonizing in their ideal niche.

Omphalophlebitis and arthritis are common diseases in calves from 0 to 90 days of age, being the 4th and 5th most common diagnoses in calves; omphalophlebitis, 0.06 cases per calf year of risk; arthritis, 0.024 cases per calf year of risk. The three most common calf hood diseases are diarrhea, respiratory disease, and ringworm.

Anticoagulants, bromethalin and cholecalciferol (Vitamin D3) are all found in baits marketed for both household and outdoor/industrial areas. In addition, there are a number of baits containing strychnine or zinc phosphide that are labeled for moles, gophers, and similar rodents, that are meant to be placed in burrows or holes.

Why do a CBC?

A complete blood count can be an important extension of the physical examination in ruminants and may be used to suggest certain disease processes when exam findings are vague and is useful for establishing a prognosis in many cases.

The development of the Guidelines for Standards of Care in Animal Shelters was a three-year project of the Association of Shelter Veterinarians. It culminated in the publication of the "Standards" document in December 2010.