Helpful Places
Pet Health Insurance
To help with medical expenses, you might consider having pet health insurance. The majority of the plans reimburse you for a set percentage. Research the available plans before making a decision, and always read the fine print. A few recommended sites are:
www.petinsurance.com
http://www.gopetplan.com/
CareCredit is a personal line of credit for healthcare treatments and procedures for your entire family, including your pets. It works like a credit card but it has two advantages. It can only be used for healthcare services and you can get No Interest* financing every time you use it.
Quality patient care is very important at AEC. Your pet is here because of illness or injury. We understand your concern and provide the best possible care. Many of our staff members have seven or more years of experience in emergency and critical care.
Our main cage area is right in the heart of the clinic...our treatment area. We also have a large dog kennel and an isolation area. This allows not only our biggest patients to rest comfortably, but also allows isolation of patients with contagious diseases. AEC has treatment sheets for each patient to allow the staff to see at a glance when a treatment needs to be performed. The doctors are always aware of any changes in a patient's status. Should a significant change occur, you will be notified quickly.
Our treatment area contains all the supplies we might need to treat your pet. We have a stocked pharmacy of both injectable and dispensable drugs. In addition, some of our tests and monitors, i.e. blood glucose and pulse oximetry are in this area. We prep our surgical patients here and handle minor injuries in this area.
Fluid Treatments & Pain Medications
We use infusion pumps to deliver IV fluids at a set rate and a smaller syringe pump for delivery of medications. Both of these allow us to monitor fluid and medication delivery; at any given time we can see how much product has been infused. We also use infusion pumps for constant rate infusion (CRI) setups. This allows AEC to administer medication at a set rate throughout your pet's stay. We can use this setup for seizure patients, diabetics, and painful patients.
For painful patients, we have both NSAIDS (non steroidal antiinflammatory drugs) and narcotics. We are equipped to manage both minor and major pain in your pet.
In addition, AEC stocks canine fresh frozen plasma and packed red cells for transfusions. We also maintain a list of volunteer blood donors, both feline and canine.
AEC also has a monitoring unit allowing us to monitor heart rate and rhythm, blood pressure, and pulse oximetry, which allows monitoring of blood oxygen saturation.
We have oxygen supply in the treatment area for patients needing supplemental oxygen. We use nasal cannulas, face masks and O2 cages to deliver this. Animals needing oxygen are often very stressed--we try to minimize that and diagnose the problem so that it can be addressed.
For patients with eye problems--we have a tonopen to check eye pressures. This is an important tool for pets with glaucoma.
Hands on Approach
We believe in a hands on approach here. Reducing stress is an important part of healing. Our cages and kennels are in a climate controlled area. Patients, who are able, are walked regularly throughout their stay.
Every patient gets a temperature, pulse, and respiration at least every six hours, or more frequently if needed. Animals with urinary catheters have their urine output monitored via a closed collection system.
Our goal is always compassionate care.
Animal Emergency Center does see exotics. Rabbits, rodents, birds, and reptiles--we will see your pet in an emergency. Please contact us for more details. We are here to help in a crisis.
Here at AEC, we treat wildlife that are sick or injured and then place them with licensed rehabbers. Our goal is to help as many animals as we can. If you find injured or sick wildlife, please call us for advice.
