Emergencies

Selwood House offers out of hours emergency services seven days a week for critical illness or injury. Clients calling the main phone number after hours will be given the emergency telephone number. Occasionally a house visit can be arranged after hours, however due to the need for diagnostic and treatment facilities the vast majority of emergency cases will need to attend the clinic. We will keep you updated regularly on prognosis and costs during the course of your pet's stay in hospital. In some instances we may need to refer to a veterinary specialist centre or 24-hour emergency facility.

There are a number of toxicities commonly seen in small animal veterinary practices. These include, for instance, rat bait, snail bait, chocolate toxicity, paracetamol and other drug toxicity, permethrin toxicity and lily toxicity to name a few. Treatment approach is influenced by the type and volume of toxin, the animal’s weight and the time elapsed since ingestion. For instance, rat bait toxicity involving broudifacoum rat bait may require Vitamin K therapy for up to 3 weeks following ingestion. If you suspect your pet has been exposed to a toxic substance, you should seek veterinary advice as soon as possible.

Road trauma is unfortunately an all too common injury for our domestic pets, in particular wandering cats. If your pet suffers a road traffic accident they should receive immediate veterinary care for assessment of any injuries sustained and treatment such as for shock. Whilst some animals manage to escape a road trauma with little more than a scratch, all victims should be initially treated as an emergency and assessed for shock, musculoskeletal injuries and internal organ damage. Selwood House offers out of hours emergency services seven days a week for critical illness or injury such as road trauma.

Ticks are present year round in the mid-mountains. Not all ticks are toxic to pets and it is often very difficult to distinguish between tick species. The paralysis tick (Ixodes holocyclus) carries a toxin which causes paralysis of many muscle groups, progressively worsening over one to four days. Signs can vary from fairly vague (vomiting; lethargy) to very specific (wobbly or weak hindlimbs; breathing with a grunt; change in bark or miaow). If you see any of these signs during tick season, you should look for any ticks and remove them, keep your pet cool and calm, do not offer them food or water and seek immediate veterinary attention.

Pets in the Blue Mountains are at a higher risk of snake bite than their metropolitan cousins. If you are aware or suspect that your pet has been bitten by a snake you should immediately seek veterinary advice. Selwood House carries snake antivenom and if it is unclear whether a bite has been sustained we can carry out tests that may detect envenomation. Treatment is typically very intensive and may require extended hospitalisation and monitoring depending on the severity of the toxicity. Given the high costs of antivenom and treatment, please ensure that you are fully apprised of estimated fees and updated prognosis at all times.