The Small Animal Hospital at the Veterinary Health Center provides around-the-clock, around-the-calendar care for ill and injured dogs and cats. Please see our current small animal emergency service policies.
Our service provides two types of care: emergency care and critical care.
Emergency Care
Please see our current small animal emergency service policies. The MU Veterinary Health Center offers emergency services 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Due to temporary staffing shortages and a high volume of emergencies, our Small Animal Emergency Service is currently unable to provide 24-hour emergency care for all animals. At present we are prioritizing care to animals likely to suffer significant morbidity without immediate care.
Although we welcome any information in advance of us seeing a patient on emergency, it is not necessary. If circumstances allow, please call 573-882-7821 (8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays) or 573-882-4589 (after hours) so we can be prepared for your arrival.
If this is not possible, we welcome walk-in emergencies. Patients admitted on emergency are triaged upon arrival and provided with lifesaving emergency care as necessary. All patients receive a complete evaluation by the emergency veterinarian on duty, and the client is informed of the findings of the examination. We will recommend diagnostic and treatment plans and provide a complete estimate for emergency stabilization. We can perform routine diagnostics such as lab work and standard radiographs at any time, and we can provide stabilization, intensive-care hospitalization and 24-hour monitoring as indicated.
More complex diagnostic and surgical procedures can be performed on an emergency basis if the patient is not stable enough to wait for times when the hospital is fully staffed. Emergency diagnostic, surgical and treatment decisions are made on a case-by-case basis and in consultation with the appropriate specialty service. Communications with the primary care veterinarian for each patient seen after hours include an emergency fax sent the next business day to inform the pet’s veterinarian of initial findings.
Critical Care
As a tertiary referral center, the patients seen at the Veterinary Health Center are often extremely ill and suffering from critical illnesses. Our faculty specialists in critical care are equipped to provide the most intensive and comprehensive care possible to these sickest pets. Animals in our intensive care unit are monitored 24 hours a day, and a veterinarian is always present to cope with any change in medical condition. This care is available to pets admitted for emergency services as well as to pets admitted by our other community practice or specialty services.
We are able to monitor animals using such advanced methods as cardiac telemetry, blood gas analysis, blood pressure, electrolyte and metabolic assessments, and more. We are able to provide supportive care that is not available anywhere else in mid-Missouri, including ventilatory support for animals unable to adequately breathe on their own.
