What is an emergency?

[henry20]

Last night my dog was whimpering and limping. On closer inspection, his claw was split and was bleeding. The whole claw was still there, held together by the nerve, so was causing him pain with it flapping around!

I got OH to phone my mum to see what we should do - didn't want to bother with a vet appointment if I was wasting their time and mine if I could do something myself. She said we should phone vets and get it looked at.

No, evening appointments are for emergency only. Who gets to decide what an emergency is? My dog was clearly bleeding and in discomfort (not to mention feeling sorry for himself)

I got OH to search for our first aid kit so I could bandage dogs leg up ourselves, but we couldn't find it. The rest of nail did come off through the evening, but I'd have been much happier if it had been surgically removed causing as little distress as possible!

[fuzz24]

Hi i would off just rushed him up last, thats happened to my dog recently and my cat in the past used to be quite accident prone i would just phone and say i'm bringing so-so up because....., they might not like it but it's their job to help us look after our pets! Hope you're doggy gets better soon.x

[carasmam]

That is a good question.
I'm such a worrier the littlest thing is an emergency I would probably have done what fuzz24 said and waited at the vets if there was a bigger emergency in front of me.

Hope your dog is on the mend now though. Broken claws bleed so much they always look worse.

[KCI]

If any of my cats were hurt, and I was worried enough to think they would need some kind of medical treatment, then I would tell the vet that I was on my way!

Most of my life, I seem to worry about what other people will think or say about me, but if one of my pets is in danger or pain, then as far as I am concerned, they come first, and I don't care if the vet is happy with me or not!

When I had to have my beautiful old girl put to sleep, I knew the time had come. I called the vet's and they told me to take her in to the surgery. I refused, and told them that they would have to come to my house, as I would not put her through that. They were not happy, but they did come to the house, and the female vet ended up being very nice and sympathetic - she cried with me!

[ciderally]

hi i worked for vet emergency calls..when i lived in cornwall...we covered most of the uk well up to inverness anyway...if a call came into the vets it was picked up by us..we take all the info, call the vet, then they would tell us what to report back to the client...but rule of thumb was a lot of blood loss or animal in distress..warrented a home visit by the vet or a meet at the surgery....and was always told to say ...if your worried phone the vet...

[Tilter]

When I had to have my beautiful old girl put to sleep, I knew the time had come. I called the vet's and they told me to take her in to the surgery. I refused, and told them that they would have to come to my house, as I would not put her through that. They were not happy, but they did come to the house, and the female vet ended up being very nice and sympathetic - she cried with me!

I have to say the Thurso vets are very good. Over the years we've had to have two dogs put to sleep (old age). Both times the vet was happy to come out to the house and do the job with the dog in her bed in front of the fire. Plus the vet made sure our other dog at the time was present so would know her companion had died. And the vet was very patient with my bawling and they make you feel better by telling you how you're absolutely doing the right thing etc.