Emergency Care

If your pet experiences a medical emergency outside of our opening hours we recommend you contact your nearest 24 hour emergency hospital.

Advanced Vetcare, Bundoora Animal Hospital and Essendon Accident and Emergency are excellently equipped with round the clock care to ensure your pet gets the very best care available.

Common emergencies relate to car accidents, heart conditions, poisoning, snake bite, attack or fight wounds, and a range of injuries. We recommend you call ahead so that we can be prepared to assit without any loss of time.

Upon arrival, your pet will be assessed by one of our veterinarians. We will aim to provide an estimate of the costs involved with your case, however, please be aware that with emergency procedures costs can vary depending on what services and treatments are required. Our veterinarians will keep you updated regularly during the course of your pet's stay in hospital. In some cases we may need to refer to a veterinary specialist centre or 24-hour emergency facility.

 

Download the pet first aid app to your monbile phone or tablet to get the best advice for stabilising your pet until you can get help.

 

Snake bite

Snake bites are common from October to late March every year. Our pets often come across snakes on walks or in our backyards. If left alone most snakes will prefer to get out of the way. If your pet corners or hassles a snake they risk becoming envenomated. 

It is important to note that the signs of snake bite can take anywhere between 10 mins to 2 days to become evident. Your pet may become seriously unwell in a matter of minutes. You do not need to wait for clinical signs of snake bite to become apparent before seeking medical attention. We recommend seeking help immediately if you find your pet interacting with a snake or exhibiting any of the following symptoms.

Signs to look out for

- Vomiting
- Muscle weakness, lethargy or collapse
- Fixed, dilated pupils which do not respond to light

How is snake bite treated?

If your pet is no exhibiting symptoms of being envenomated your vet will perform an examination which will likely include a clotting blood test to confirm whether treatment is needed.

If envenomation is confirmed your vet will seek your authorisation to administer anti-venom. Your pet may need to be hospitalised for a number of days for monitoring, pain relief and further doses of anti-venom depending upon the severity of the envenomation. 

Anti-venom gives your pet the best chance of surviving the snake envenomation.