In Northern Arizona, foxtail season runs a long time, and the consequences of a foxtail that finds its way into a nostril, ear canal, paw web, or skin fold can be severe and difficult to detect with conventional imaging. The grass awn that starts as a surface irritant does not always stay there. Foxtails are [...]
There is perhaps no more alarming thing to witness than your dog passing large volumes of bloody diarrhea. Acute hemorrhagic diarrhea syndrome (AHDS), also known as hemorrhagic gastroenteritis (HGE), can develop so rapidly that your dog who was completely normal at breakfast can be in life-threatening shock by early afternoon. The severity and speed of [...]
Few moments are scarier than watching your pet go from "a bit off" to clearly very sick in the space of an afternoon. With auto-immune blood diseases, that's often exactly how it plays out. Conditions like immune-mediated hemolytic anemia and immune-mediated thrombocytopenia happen when your pet's immune system, which is supposed to be defending against [...]
Fractured Limbs in Pets: How Emergency Veterinarians Diagnose and Treat Broken Bones A broken bone is one of the most painful injuries a pet can experience, and it almost always requires immediate veterinary care. Whether the fracture happened from a fall, a car accident, rough play, or an underlying condition that weakened the bone, the [...]
Your dog comes in from the yard limping and drooling, or your cat starts crying and pawing at its face after investigating a corner of the garage, and there is no obvious injury to explain what happened. Venomous spider bites and scorpion stings are more common than many families realize, and in northern Arizona, where [...]
Your cat is limping and has a soft, warm swelling on their leg that wasn't there yesterday. Your dog's face looks different on one side, with a swelling that appeared below the eye seemingly overnight. An abscess has a way of producing signs that feel both alarming and hard to interpret, partly because the word [...]
One day your dog seems a little wobbly getting up. The next morning, they can't quite find their footing at all. Or maybe your cat has started missing jumps they used to nail without thinking, or staring blankly at a wall like they're processing some very deep thoughts. These kinds of changes are alarming, and [...]
Your dog ate dinner an hour ago and seemed fine. Now their belly looks swollen, they're pacing and can't seem to get comfortable, and they keep retching without producing anything. Drool is stringing from their mouth. Something is clearly wrong, and it is escalating fast. Is this a pet emergency? Yes, without question. What you are [...]
A bleeding wound has a way of making everything feel urgent at once. You are trying to stay calm, your pet is stressed, and you are not sure whether this is something you can handle at home or whether you need to be in a car right now. The honest answer is that most bleeding [...]
One question nearly every new puppy or kitten owner eventually asks is, “How will I know when I should panic and rush to the ER?” The honest answer is that you don't need to panic, but you do need to move quickly. Young animals have less physiological reserve than adults. Their immune systems are still [...]
