| 345-1231 |
| 345-1231 |
| Looking for a new veterinarian in the Tuscaloosa area? One of the advantages Indian Hills Animal Clinic and Pet Hotel offers is 24-hour on call emergency service for your pets. |
| How can I take advantage of this service? |
| How does 24-hour emergency veterinary care work? |
| Why "emergency vet care"? Is there really a need? |
| What constitutes a veterinary "emergency"? |
| Our clinic is open Monday through Friday from 7 AM until 5:30 PM, and Saturdays from 7 in the morning until 12 noon. Typically, the doctors are in the office from 9 AM until close. Naturally, veterinary medical emergencies do not operate on any particular time schedule. A dog, cat, rabbit, ferret or bird may become ill or be injured at any hour of the day or night. Just as with human medicine, when a patient sees a physician it is advantageous for the doctor to be familiar with the patient and his history. Written records can tell much of the story; however, a patient's typical disposition cannot be easily captured or conveyed on paper. Your regular doctor knows what you look like, how you normally behave, and something about your circumstances. Also, by definition time is of the essence in emergency cases. Hit-by-car or other physical trauma cases require immediate attention, to stop bleeding and reduce the effects of shock. Poisonings are best treated as soon after the substance has been ingested as possible. So, although an emergency 24-hour clinic exists in Birmingham, for purposes of speed and accuracy, a local emergency clinic with a one-on-one relationship with its clients is a must for concerned pet owners in Tuscaloosa County. Don't wait for an emergency situation to strike your household to find out how true this is! |
| Indian Hills' staff consists of two full-time veterinarians and three full-time assistants, as well as several assistants working part-time evening and weekend hours. Calls received after we have closed for the day are transferred to our answering service. Calls regarding hours of operation, kennel services, pricing, appointments and other day-to-day information are answered by the service. Emergency calls involving pet traumas, poisonings, sickness and other issues which require immediate veterinary consultation or care are put through to the full-time assistant on call. If in consultation with our assistant you determine that your pet needs immediate medical care, one of our veterinarians is on call at all times and will be contacted. We will meet you at the clinic as soon as possible, any time of the day or night, be it holidays, weekends, whenever. |
| Any client who uses Indian Hills Animal Clinic for veterinary care (vaccines, treatments, surgeries -- neuters or spays, growth removals, cosmetic work) is entitled to call the Clinic at 345-1231 at any hour for consultation on an emergency situation. Although there are additional charges should the emergency require a clinic visit or a doctor's exam/treatment, there is no charge for calling the after-hours line. So, if in doubt, CALL! Dr. Smith and Dr. Hicks and their assistants will be able to help you assess the particular situation for your pet. On average, about 80% of emergency calls can be dealt with over the phone, either by recommending courses of treatment the owner can pursue onsite, or by providing necesary information to calm a pet owner's fears. Although Indian Hills recommends that a pet owner call their usual vet for emergencies (as that doctor and his or her staff will likely be more familiar with both you and the specifics of your pet's history), we do not turn down emergency calls. When calling the service, simply make it clear to the operator that you have a medical emergency and would like to see a veterinarian. Payment is expected at the time services are rendered. During regular business hours we are able to offer a program known as Care Credit to help pet owners who qualify to cover large bills in the short term. However, we do not "send bills" and Care Credit accounts cannot be set up after hours. We appreciate your understanding in this area. |
| When is it okay to call the Clinic? How bad off should your pet be? Although our staff is trained to recognize medical emergencies in small animals, most owners are unfamiliar with what constitutes an immediate danger to a pet and what will either keep until morning or just pass. Also, there is that fear that one may "look a fool" for calling over an issue which turns out to be essentially nothing, especially at 2 AM. Our course, hit-by-car, gunshot, and blunt force trauma cases all warrant an immediate call to our number. If you suspect you pet may have been poisoned or may have gotten into a pesticide, rodent bait, cleaning solvents, medicines not prescribed for the pet, plants such as poinsettias or dangerous foods (spoiled meats or chocolate, for example), then use your judgment: (1) Pesticides and chemical poisonings almost always require veterinary attention. You first step is to call Poison Control -- in Tuscaloosa County: 345-0660 or 1-800 292-6678. Have the bottle or a label from the substance your pet has ingested or "gotten into" at the ready: the operator will want to know exactly which chemicals have been swallowed or come into contact with your pet. In most cases (but not all!), Poison Control will advise you induce vomiting for pets who have consumed a potentially toxic substance or flush and/or wash the affected site for pets who have come into contact with a pesticide, herbicide or other poison. Your next step is to call your veterinarian. Indian Hills Animal Clinic's number is 345-1231, anytime day or night. The assistant and veterinarian on-call can advise you further. (2) Spoiled foods. We do not recommend the feeding of scraps, food cleaned out of the refrigerator or any other human foods to dogs and cats. However, sometimes our pets do get into the garbage or someone unwittingly feeds a pet questionable meat. Pets may even get into roadkill or find a carcass in the woods on occasion. Typically such cases will result in nothing more than a bout of diarrhea. If, however, vomiting occurs and continues for a period of hours, or diarrhea persists beyond a single episode, your pet may become dehydrated. Colitis, or inflammation of the bowel resulting from the introduction of the spoiled or spicy food, may produce bleeding in the intestinal tract. Bloody diarrhea and dehydration do require veterinary intervention. As to whether a case of diarrhea will keep until the Clinic reopens is entirely up to your judgment as an owner. You know your case, your pet and your situation better than anyone. Isolating a pet until we open will save you incurring the emergency charges, but a dehydrated or vomiting pet who is weakening needs care sooner rather than later. Use your judgment. Emergencies must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. There is no one measuring stick which works with every patient. (3) Plants and other possible poisons should be treated like chemicals and pestcides: call Poison Control first. Then, based on the information they provide, decide whether a veterinarian's assistance is necessary for treatment. If you aren't sure about a particular houseplant or mushroom your pet may have eaten, call Poison Control and find out. The old saw better safe than sorry certainly applies here! OTHER TYPES OF EMERGENCIES: Epileptic fits or seizures: Although there is nothing we can do immediately to ease the effects of an epileptic seizure, such attacks do often alarm pet owners. If you believe your pet is having an epileptic episode, you may call the Clinic and an assistant be be glad to assuage your worries with detailed information about the causes, effects and treatment procedures for such a case. Be careful! Pets recovering from the effects of a seizure can behave unpredictably. The world's sweetest golden retriever, left stunned and disoriented by an electrical storm in its brain, may bite or lash out at its loving owner in the time period immediately following an epileptic episode. The best thing to do is to isolate a pet insofar as it is possible to do so, shielding him or her from hard or sharp objects against which they may thrash during the episode. Surrounding a seizuring pet with pillows is not a bad idea. Do be careful not to suffocate a pet, however, as motor control is greatly reduced during a seizure. Recurrent seizures during a short time period (more than one major episode during a 24-hour period) are veterinary emergencies requiring intervention. Pets suffering from epileptic fits not spaced by at least a month are at risk of facing a cascading effect, with seizure activity building on itself. Medications can usually reduce the frequency of seizures. For an animal to go into convulsions in the morning and then again a few hours later or again that evening is an unusual occurence: it is time to call the Clinic. Avians: ANY bird resting on the bottom of its cage is an emergancy situation. In fact, whenever you suspect your cockatiel, macaw, African Gray, lovebird or any other winged pet is feeling under the weather, COME SEE US RIGHT AWAY! Please do not call the Clinic for wild bird emergencies after hours. Wildlife emergencies are best dealt with by Alabama Wildlife Rescue. Call them at: 1-(205)320-6189 |
| Your assessment of the situation is the most important factor in potential emergency cases! |
| When you call, we can give you specific information about typical symptoms, reactions, treatments and options; however, you are the ULTIMATE JUDGE of whether or not a situation is an emergency. When in doubt, CALL! 345-1231 |
| (1) Why emergency veterinary care? (2) How does EVC work? (3) Can I take advantage of these services? (4) What constitutes a veterinary emergency? |
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