Anesthetized dog's paw in a hospital
Photo: Christina Weese.

VMC helps prepare pet owners for emergency visit

If you're referring a small animal patient to the emergency and critical care service at the WCVM Veterinary Medical Centre, here's some information that you can share with your clients.

To address recent modifications in patient admissions, the WCVM Veterinary Medical Centre (VMC) updated its "what to expect" document for the small animal emergency and critical care service. In addition to listing hours and the service's phone number, the two-page resource sheet emphasizes the following key points for clients whose pets are being referred to the VMC for emergency services: 

  • a referring veterinarian must send in an online emergency referrral to the VMC. The referral should include all relevant information as well as any diagnostic test results and medical images that have been completed or received from other clinics.
  • a referring veterinarian should call to discuss the case with the VMC's emergency clinical team so our clinicians can provide more information about potential costs and timelines.

The resource sheet also includes information about the VMC's triage system, wait times, diagnostics and costs related to emergency visits. 

Another online resource is a short video featuring Dr. Jen Loewen, emergency and critical care specialist at the WCVM: