Valley Central Emergency Veterinary Hospital

Valley Central Emergency Veterinary Hospital is proud to announce that we have 
received accreditation following a comprehensive evaluation by the American Animal Hospital Association. The evaluation includes a quality assessment review of the hospital’s facility, medical equipment, practice methods and pet health
care management.

Only 15 percent of all small animal veterinary practices in the U.S. have achieved accreditation by the American Animal Hospital Association. In order to maintain accredited status, Valley Central Emergency must continue to be evaluated regularly by the association’s consultants.

“Valley Central Emergency belongs to a select group of practices that are committed to meeting the standard of veterinary excellence,” says Gregg Takashima, DVM, AAHA president. “AAHA hospitals pass a stringent evaluation of over 900 standards covering patient care, client service and medical protocols. By
attaining accreditation, Valley Central is demonstrating its dedication to offering the best care to its patients and clients.”

Established in 1933, the American Animal Hospital Association is the only organization that accredits veterinary practices throughout the U.S. and Canada for dedication to high standards of veterinary care.


Approximately 3,200 AAHA-accredited practices pass regular reviews of AAHA’s stringent accreditation standards that cover patient care, client service and medical protocols. 

For pet care information or more information regarding AAHA, go to www.healthypet.com

Unfortunately, toxins are a common cause of illness and death in dogs and cats.  Most of the time, these incidents are a result of dogs and cats eating things that they shouldn't or their owners giving them or applying medications that are poisonous. 

There is a promising new treatment for some toxicities that were formerly very difficult to treat. This is a 20% lipid solution that has been found to sequester fat soluble toxins away from metabolism and quickly alleviate symptoms of toxicity. 

This treatment is being used in humans for certain drug overdoses and it is being used now in small animals over the past few years.

It is used to treat toxins such as baclofen, ivermectin, moxidectin, diphenhydramine, marijuana, flea products containing permethrin, and other potential fat soluble toxins.

When a pet comes into the ER with a potential toxin exposure, we recommend calling ASPCA Posion Control to determine if IV lipid emulsion would be helpful. 

We are still in prime flea season so please, for the sake of your pet's health, comfort and well being, continue to use a quality flea control product such as Frontline Plus year round.  We see so many pets every day that have a significant flea infestation and have seen several cats this year that have died or needed blood transfusions to recover from severe flea bite anemia.

Most people don't realize that fleas carry several diseases that are harmful to cats and humans. 

These are such diseases as tapeworms, cat scratch disease and several blood parasites. 

Once fleas get in your house, the immature stages can survive or stay dormant for as long as a year.  If you only do flea control part of the year or start it when you see fleas.  It typically will take 6 months for the flea problem to be under control.

For more information about flea control, go here or discuss with your family veterinarian.

Ouch!! 
That is all I can say.  With spring comes more outdoor time and lots of people going in and out of the house.  At this time of year, Valley Central Emergency sees a lot more traumatic injuries associated with the improvement in our weather.  On any given weekend day, it is not unusual to see multiple dogs or cats hit by cars or multiple pets coming to the ER with wounds from fighting.  We also see ligament injuries, fractures and other serious injuries from dogs that are playing, running, catching frisbees or running into objects such as trees and walls. 

IT is so sad to see preventable injuries, especially when they are severe.  A lot of these injuries are treatable but some are fatal.  

When an animal comes in with trauma, they may be covered in blood or have obvious injuries to their legs.  we are always concerned about these injuries but our first thoughts often go to more serious concerns such as internal bleeding, collapsed lungs or ruptured bladders.  We usually address pain as a first response, then treat for shock and look for life threatening injuries to the body and brain.  Once we address these issues, we then move on to stabilizing or treating wounds and fractures.

I guess my take home message in this brief post is to always keep your dog or cat on a leash when outside or confined in an area such as a fenced in yard so they can't get in trouble.  Also, be wary of public "dog parks" as not all dogs are on a leash and may not be as well behaved as yours.  Dog attacks can be fatal and even breeds that you may not expect to attack your dog can severely injure or kill your pet. 

When you go to the emergency room or when you bring your pet to the emergency hospital, a common term that is heard or used is "triage". This is a very important concept that may help you understand your visit to Valley Central Emergency. 

According to Webster's dictionary, triage is: 
1a : the sorting of and allocation of treatment to patients and especially battle and disaster victims according to a system of priorities designed to maximize the number of survivors
b : the sorting of patients (as in an emergency room) according to the urgency of their need for care

This concept was originally designed for treating the wounded on a battlefield where the wounded need to be categorized based on severity of injury and urgency of the care required.

In the emergency veterinary hospital, including Valley Central, we often need to use a similar system. When your pet first arrives, a nurse is usually called to triage your pet. Nurses are trained and have experience with a large variety of illnesses of cats, dogs and other family friends and provide an intitial evaluation to determine if your pet needs to take priority over other patients that may be waiting. 

If the nurse is concerned that immediate care or evaluation by a doctor is needed right away, they will ask if it is ok to bring your pet to our treatment area. Some of the things a nurse will look for are severe pain, shock, bleeding, seizures, severely elevated or low heart rate, trouble breathing or pale mucous membranes (gums). 

People sometimes get frustrated when they see another patient taking priority over theirs and being treated first.  This only occurs when the arriving pet is in need of immediate care due to its illness or trauma that may have occurred. 

A classic example of this is if your dog or cat that has vomited a few times but is otherwise bright and alert. You are about to see a doctor when a cat or dog comes in that is having trouble breathing and needs life saving care immediately. Sometimes, these pets are minutes away from dying if they don't receive oxygen and other medications. We have to prioritize the order of patients seen based on urgency of needed care and not just on the time someone has been waiting. 

We would love to examine and begin treatment on everyone's pet immediately upon arrival at Valley Central because all of our patients are important.  Sometimes many emergencies will arrive within a very short time frame and we have to consider which of these pets is in need of immediate care due to the concept of treating the most serious or life-threatening illnesses first (traige). 

I hope this brief overview of triage helps you better understand the system we have for caring for your pet during it's time of need.

The Center For Animal Health and Welfare provides an incredibly valuable service to the Lehigh Valley and Northampton County.  No kill shelters sound good in theory but take dedication, hard work, faith and a lot of money to run properly and fulfill their mission.  Without the proper financial and monetary support, stories like this cannot happen...

"At most animal shelters, that's three strikes and the dog is out — literally. But the Center for Animal Health and Welfare in Williams Township is a no-kill shelter, so Snow has been there for nearly five years waiting for someone to take a chance. ..."

Morning Call 3/19/2011

Too often, no-kill shelters or rescues run out of money and then the animals begin to suffer and are neglected.  Happily, this does not happen with this great local resource.  Help them continue providing a great service.
Go here for the great story and to make a donation or adopt a pet, go here

One of the most dreaded emergencies we see is an illness called parvoviral enteritis: "parvo" for short.  Unfortunately, we had two young dogs in the hospital this weekend with parvo virus. The most common areas we see parvo puppies from are Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton, Catasauqua and Northampton.

The reason I dread this disease so much is that it is a preventable disease that mostly affects puppies.  It makes them very sick and painful and without intensive treatment, many puppies die.  Most of the time, we can make a preliminary diagnosis based on what the client tells us and what the puppy looks and smells like.  For pictures of a typical parvo puppy, look here. 

The disease is common in the environment, especially in areas where dogs are present in high densities, such as cities.  Dogs can walk through contaminated dirt, go home and lick their feet and get infected.  Usually within a few days they lose their appetite and can begin having extremely foul smelling diarrhea, bloody diarrhea and vomiting.  They often appear very uncomfortable and become dehydrated very quickly. 

With intensive care, they can often be saved and once recovered are immune to the disease.  Today's vaccinations are very effective at preventing parvo as long as boosters are given at appropriate times.  This is critical in the young dog. 

Please see your Lehigh Valley Veterinarian to get your puppy vaccinated for this deadly disease. 

For more information, and a detailed description of this disease, go to veterinarypartner.com.

Now that Valentine's Day has passed and Easter is approaching I thought it would be a good time to talk about a very dangerous toxin we are seeing with increasing frequency.  When given the chance, most dogs will eat things that taste good, whether they are good for them or not.  Most people know that dogs and cats shouldn't eat chocolate but are not as familiar with the sweetener, xylitol. Xylitol is present in many sugar free gum and baking products.  At this time, we do not believe that cats are sensitive to this ingredient.  If your dog eats sugar free gum or products with low sugar and artificial sweeteners, bring them to your vet or an ER right away.  A small amount of this ingredient can cause a severe drop in the blood sugar and ultimately liver failure and death.  If you are concerned and have questions about this you can read about more about xylitol or call the ASPCA Poison Control Hotline at 888-426-4435. 

We in the veterinary community know all too well what a foreign body is but many of you may not.  Basically it is something that is inside a pet's intestines that shouldn't be there and is something we see way too often.  An obstruction of the intestine often occurs when a dog or cat eats something other than food such as string, rocks, socks, underwear, toys, hair ties, nails, fishing hooks, knives, light bulbs and the list goes on and on.

Please try to keep these things out of reach of your pets; especially any of the young Retriever breeds! Unfortunately, when we see a vomiting Golden Retriever or Lab, they often need to be screened for intestinal obstructions.  Cats are also prone to eating things they shouldn't such as thread, small toys, and fishing lures. 

The most common symptom is vomiting.  Other symptoms include loss of appetite and lethargy.  A diagnosis can sometimes be difficult and may require multiple x rays, blood tests and even surgery.  Treatment is often surgical removal, although some small foreign bodies can be retrieved from the stomach with an endoscope.

My name is Dr. Christopher Smith and I'd like to welcome you to the blog on the Valley Central ER website.  We are available to help you and your pet when your veterinarian isn't available.  I'd like to use this space to inform you of unique emergencies or trends that we are seeing.  We commonly see toxicities, viral diseases and other life threatening illnesses and hopefully by sharing our experiences, we can help you avoid the stress of having to come to the ER!