Pet Emergency

What do you do if your pet has an emergency? Like say, your dog vomited twice. Would you give him a medicine first and observe or do you bring him to the vet right away?

I wouldn't class vomiting twice an emergency, but in those circumstances I would certainly watch the dog for other signs of illness. If it was a real emergency I would not wait, I would take her straight to the vet even if I had to pay more to use the out of hours service.

Kristen, I would say know your dog and trust your instincts. If you feel the dog needs help don't risk waiting. My dog had fairly non specific symptoms but something told me that I needed to get her to the vet urgently. It turned out that she had a potentially fatal womb infection and she had surgery the same day. The vet told me that if I had delayed it would probably have been too late to save her.

I agree with kernow. Watch the dog. If he is still energetic and seems to feel good, don't worry a lot and just keep an eye on him. If he is lethargic, depending on the degree, you must act more quickly. Panting, tongue hanging out, back humped up, tail between his legs, refusing to get up are all signs that he is in definate trouble.

Well if I really thought he needed to go to the vet I would take him. My fiancee had to do that last year with our baby kitty. He was very lethargic and just could not hold his head up. So he took him to the vet and they gave us some food that was made for gaining weight and he had to have an IV. The vet said if he had not taken him he would have died that night.

I watch closely. You get to know your dog and their habits. You know when they are 'off' or if they've just eaten something they shouldn't. Sometimes I call and ask advice, but I go with I feel in my gut.

I'll surely keep those things in mind. I'm still adjusting to being an owner of a dog. I hope our family will be able to cope up with the adjustment. My daughter loves the dog very much so it's really an easy thing for her to welcome the pet to our family. :)