Vet Care Express

I see many sad things in my business. One of the saddest is when a family pet is injured by ingesting the owner’s own medication. Somehow, a pill is dropped or a bottle is chew open and disastrous consequences occur. This happened recently when a young dog chewed open a bottle of muscle relaxants.

The effect was within minutes. There was vomiting and loss of muscle strength. He was immediately transported to our clinic. We began supportive measures and monitoring. Activated charcoal was administered. Typically, this is a real lifesaver. Activated charcoal inhibits the body from absorbing any of the drug. However, I this case there was no ability of the muscles of the intestines or stomach work properly. We worked for hours but then it was time for our office to close and we had the owner’s take their pet to an after hours facility. Once there it became obvious that the medication was starting to affect the ability of the diaphragm (also a muscle) to move and inflate the lungs. They advised the owner’s to transport again but to a facility in Tampa. There was great concern for the long transportation so they had an idea. Why not call Vet Care Express?

I had never heard of this business. I got their number from the emergency clinic and called and spoke to Chris. He told me all about their ambulance. I invited him to come see me and he showed up last week. I toured his custom made ambulance (purchased from a firehouse). Chris worked as an EMT so he really understands what is needed to transport critically ill patients. This is an amazing service to be able to offer my clients.