I like to err on the side of caution.

This actually happened to me Sunday evening. My Darlene, who had multiple serious health problems for 2 years, vomited and began rapid, shallow, open-mouth breathing. She had congestive heart failure so this was particularly frightening.

I was prepared to whisk Darlene to the ER, but thought I'd take a chance and call my vet at home. I'm so lucky. The vet answered his phone and he met us at the clinic.

Her breathing had improved just a little so we tested what we could (ultrasound, PCV, temperature). Her demeanor was very telling because she would look around for a minute, then lay her head down like she was going to take a nap.

After a long, heart-felt discussion and the vet saying that he didn't think she had 24 hours, the decision was made to let her go.

I asked for a necropsy and it was found that, on top of all her other problems, she had inoperable cancer throughout her abdomen. The right decision was definitely made.

If we didn't have the most wonderful vet in the world, Darlene would have spent her last night, alone and afraid, in a cage at the ER.

I'd never hesitate to go to the ER if I had concerns and didn't have access to our regular doctor.

Very wise... when in doubt, sooner is better. :( So sorry to hear about this tough situation though...

Thanks, Dr. Lee. I never hesitate to take a critter to the doctor. As I've posted previously, I'd rather the staff have a good laugh at my expense ("She brought the cat in for THAT?") than to wait a couple of days and be told that the critter could have been saved if they had just seen the doctor earlier.

Darlene had chronic kidney failure, anemia, high blood pressure, low potassium, congestive heart failure and an unknown (prior to the necropsy) mass in her abdomen that hadn't grown in quite awhile.

She was on a plethora of medications including Procrit, Tumil K, Amlodipine, Cobalamin, Famotidine, Spironolactone, Furosemide and LRS spiked with Potasiject.

It was quite a balancing act between the congestive heart failure and fluids for CRF. She was always getting her respiration and heart rates taken at home so the vet would have "normal resting" numbers.

She fought the good fight for two years. She had full checkups including a full blood panel and blood pressure checks 2 to 3 times a month. Heck, the vet got a call if she meowed funny. (Yes, she actually went to the doctor for that one!) The doctor gets all the credit for her having two additional years of a good quality of life. He's amazing.

Yes, Darlene was labor-intensive for both the vet and me. She was very expensive. I wouldn't trade a minute with her for anything.

everytime I've had to call the er their answer is ALWAYS to bring the pet in. I have yet to get ANY help from them over the phone - sorry this is one of my pet peeves.
But I do have a question regarding the possible signs for a possible er trip:
HOW do you tell if a dog is peeing blood when they pee on the grass...?????
HOW can you tell if the dog is straining? or is it just not the "right spot"?
HOW many times per day is too much to urinate?
Issues like this abound over here. Dogs are female and spayed.
Would appreciate any comments.

When in doubt, you can always bring your pet in for TRIAGE. Ask them to triage, and if it's necessary that you be seen (they can potentially palpate the abdomen and determine if your pet is bladder obstructed, etc.).

You're lucky - as spayed female dogs, they are LESS likely to run into problems, as females have a larger urethra diameter (tube from the bladder to the external vulva), so they are less likely to ever develop a life-threatening obstruction (it's possible, but not as commonly as in males, who have a much narrower diameter urethra!). Using a paper towel to soak up the grass to see if there's blood may help.

My key tip is if your dog or cat stops eating, is acting lethargic, acting painful, having difficulty breathing, or feels "off" (distended abdomen, unusual behavior), it's ALWAYS worth a vet visit to be sure.

It might be one of your pet peeves, but attempting to triage over the phone is risky, at best.

It bothers me that clients are irritated when I put their pet's welfare above an office visit fee.

If clients want to play the odds that whatever ails their pet can wait until the morning, that's fine - but don't put that responsibility on me, especially when I don't have all the information available (i.e., an actual exam) to make the best decision for your pet.

Great point. To clarify, I did mean triage in person... We need to lay our hands on your pet to be able to tell what's going on! I've seen the rare animal die via inappropriate phone triage (a dog retching that was triaged to monitor at home.... It died of a GDV bloat!). When in doubt, get to a vet stat for peace mind.

It's like you were listening in on my conversations with my mom last night.

Their ancient kitty is not doing well but it does take a check list to decide if the expense of an emergency vet is worth it or would help her. In the end I had them confine her to a single, warm room and I'm taking her to the regular vet today.

We all just want to do right by our pets but it's not always easy.

Even more important in "ancient" geriatric cats. Typically their disease is more chronic, but cats are so stoic they don't show signs until it's really severe. When in doubt, seeking a general vet early may help ward off the emergency visit (for example, if your older cat is acting slightly off on Friday, go to your vet right away! Otherwise, it'll be an emergency visit on Sunday when your cat has really deteriorated).

I never knew the signs of bloat before it happened to my dog.Thankfully I was with him when it started and he had unproductive vomiting.The things that made me bring him to the vet were that he kept looking at his abdomen and he kept trying to stretch.I then palpated his abdomen and it was as tight as a drum.I went to the closest vet who took two litres of air out of his stomach and then had to drive with a very sick dog about 30 miles to the emergency vet.They did surgery and he made it through.Jack was 7 at the time and he is a very healthy 14 now.We just had a senior blood panel done and everything was WNL.I took some flack for having the surgery done on an older dog,but I would not have done anything else.