Veterinary Urgent Care

Veterinary Urgent Care: When Waiting Isn’t an Option, We’ve Got Your Pet Covered

To understand our services, it’s first helpful to know the difference between urgent care clinics and emergency hospitals. Emergency hospitals offer 24/7 care and treat the most critical, complex cases, including life-threatening situations. They have teams of specialists, keep pets under their supervision throughout treatment, and often provide follow-up specialty care once a pet is discharged.

Urgent care clinics like ours offer walk-in services for pets that can’t wait days or weeks to be seen, but aren’t experiencing life-threatening symptoms. They do not provide overnight hospital stays or follow-up appointments, instead referring cases to emergency rooms or back to general practice clinics for any additional care.

At Tucson Veterinary Urgent Care, we provide same-day care for everything from minor illnesses and injuries to triage and stabilization before transferring to an emergency hospital. Our team of doctors and technicians is equipped to provide a wide range of veterinary services that enable your pet to get the best care for their unique circumstance.

Offerings at our newly remodeled clinic include:

• Digital radiology
• Diagnostic tests and in-house lab
• Surgical procedures
• Urgent care services:
  • Wound care
  • Allergic reactions
  • Vomiting, diarrhea and other acute symptoms
  • Heat stroke
  • Breathing abnormalities
  • And more
• End of life care

After we’ve provided care to your pet, we facilitate hand-offs back to your primary veterinarian for follow-up care or referrals to an emergency clinic when more advanced services are needed. And we always check-in to see how your pet is doing the next day. This ensures your pet is getting the best possible care at every stage of their treatment.

Heatstroke

Heat stroke is a life-threatening emergency and immediate care should be sought. Pets are at greater risk for heat stroke when the temperature rises suddenly, there is high humidity, or the pet is confined in an area with poor ventilation. Other risk factors include certain medications, brachycephalic confirmation, laryngeal paralysis, obesity, heart disease, and increased age.

Signs of heatstroke:

• Elevated temperature
• Panting and salivation
• Drowsiness and disorientation
• Collapse

Eye Infections

If you notice any of the following:

• Your pet squinting or protecting an eye
• Any suspected trauma to the eye
• Abnormal appearance of the eyeball
• Excessive redness to the white part of the eye (sclera)
• Any time the eyelid cannot cover the eyeball

You should seek veterinary attention immediately as these signs can indicate potentially serious eye problems that can risk your pet’s vision.

What to Do

• Always seek veterinary attention immediately. Appropriate care could mean the difference between sight and blindness. Referral to an eye specialist (ophthalmologist) may be needed for more severe cases.
• If an eye has been dislocated from the socket or the lids cannot close over the eyeball, keep the eyeball moist with contact lens wetting solution, K-Y jelly, water, or a moist compress.
• If an irritating chemical or other product accidentally gets into the eye, flush it with running water or contact lens saline for a minimum of 15 minutes.

What NOT to Do

• Do not attempt to treat the eyes or remove a foreign object yourself.
• Do not try to push a proptosed eyeball back into the socket. This must be done under anesthesia so as not to cause damage to the eyeball’s interior.

Seizures

Seizures are any sudden and uncontrolled movement of your pet’s body. They are caused by abnormal brain activity. Seizures may be mild, affecting only a portion of the pet, or very severe, affecting the entire body. The pet may or may not seem conscious or responsive and may urinate or defecate. In the period after the seizure, the pet may appear blind or disorientated.

Seizure activity that lasts longer than 3 to 5 minutes can cause severe side effects. All pets that have a seizure should have lab tests to help diagnose the underlying cause.

What to Do

• Protect the pet from injuring themselves during or after the seizure. Keep them from falling from a height and especially keep them away from bodies of water.
• Remove other pets from the area as some pets become aggressive after a seizure.
• Protect yourself from being bitten. Do not put anything in the mouth.
• Record the time the seizure begins and ends, and if it started with a certain body part (such as twitching of an eye).
• If the seizure or convulsion lasts over 3 minutes, cool the pet with cool water on the ears, belly, and feet, and seek veterinary attention at once.
• If your pet has two or more seizures in a 24-hour period, seek veterinary attention.
• If your pet has one seizure that is less than 3 minutes and seems to recover completely, contact your veterinarian’s office for further instructions. A visit may or may not be recommended based on your pet’s medical history.
• f the pet loses consciousness and is not breathing, begin CPR.

What NOT to Do

• Do not place your hands near the pet’s mouth. (They do not swallow their tongues.) You risk being bitten.
• Do not slap, throw water on, or otherwise try to startle your pet out of a seizure. The seizure will end when it ends, and you cannot affect it by slapping, yelling, or any other action.
• Do not submerge the pet in water or cool with ice/ice water after a prolonged seizure.

Special instructions for toy breeds and diabetic pets on insulin:

If your pet is a toy breed, such as a Yorkshire terrier or Maltese, or a diabetic, the seizure may be due to hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). If the pet is able to stand, is not vomiting and acts normally, offer a small meal. If the pet is non-responsive, vomiting or actively seizing, rub some honey or pancake syrup on the gums – take care not to get bitten – and proceed immediately to your veterinarian or local emergency center. Prolonged low blood sugar can cause irreversible brain injury.

Snakebites

Snakebites can happen anytime, but April through June is the peak season here in Tucson. Most bites are obvious with fang marks, swelling, and severe pain.

The severity and type of damage done by venom depend on the type of snake involved, the age of the snake, and the size of the pet that was bitten. The vast majority of pets who are bitten by a snake will survive, but medical attention is vital to ensure the best outcome.

What to Do

• Seek veterinary attention as soon as possible. If your pet is bitten by a snake, assume it is a rattlesnake and seek veterinary attention.
• Try to identify the snake if it can be done without risk: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CAPTURE OR KILL THE SNAKE. It is helpful to identify the type of snake to aid your veterinarian with treatment. Do not bring the snake into the veterinarian’s office – a photograph will do.

What NOT to Do

• Do not cut over the fang marks.
• Do not attempt to suck out the venom.
• Do not attempt to capture or kill the snake
• Do not manipulate the bitten area any more than needed.
• Do not allow the pet to move about freely.
• Do not ice pack or tourniquet the area.
• Do not administer any medications except on a veterinarian’s advice.

Allergic Reactions

Allergic reactions in animals are typically due to insects. Other possible causes of allergic reactions can be from food, vaccines, or other medications. Allergic reactions can vary in severity from mild to severe. Severe allergic reactions can progress to anaphylactic shock, which is a life-threatening condition. If you think your pet has been stung or bitten by an insect, then please bring your pet to Tucson Veterinary Urgent Care for immediate care.

Trauma/Wounds

Severe or bleeding wounds must be dealt with immediately.

You may gently apply pressure with a clean cloth to control bleeding. DO NOT remove any foreign object from the wound. DO NOT attempt to clean an open wound with alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, or any other over the counter disinfectant. Bring your pet to us immediately for wound assessment and repair.