Critical Care
Your pet’s health and wellbeing is our priority.
Our Critical Care service operates out of our state-of-the-art, intensive care unit.
We understand that your pets are cherished members of your family and if your pet faces a life-threatening situation, and you need a dedicated, highly skilled team to provide immediate and expert treatment, our Critical Care team will be there.
Our Critical Care service comprises a specialised team of registered specialists and senior clinicians, amassing over 40 years of clinical experience, who are dedicated to providing exceptional, 24/7 lifesaving care for pets facing critical medical emergencies.
Our team of specially trained nurses support our ICU veterinarians to provide continuous gold-standard care to your pet. Similar to a human hospital, the intensive care unit is integral to the running of our medical centre, allowing for continuous provision of veterinary supervision and high-quality medicine to the patients who need it most.
Primarily being an inpatient service, our ICU veterinarians’ schedules focus on maximising contact time with our patients, rather than on consults or surgeries. Our multi-disciplinary, collaborative approach to patient care, means that it is common for our critical care team to have input on pre- or post-operative patients and complex medical cases.
Whilst patients treated by the Critical Care team may be admitted to our pet ICU through our 24-hour Emergency Department or those undergoing treatment with other specialty departments, they may also be referred directly from your general practice veterinarian.
Critical Care Experts for the Most Advanced Veterinary Care
Our critical care service offers:
- Mechanical ventilation (life support)
- High flow nasal oxygen therapy
- Temperature and humidity-controlled oxygen cages
- Continuous multi-parameter monitoring (ECG, blood pressure, capnography, pulse oximetry)
- Blood transfusions
- Bedside ultrasonography
- Digital radiography
- Endoscopic foreign body retrieval
- Advanced diagnostic imaging techniques (CT and MRI)
- Fully equipped in-house laboratory including viscoelastic testing
- Enteral and parenteral nutritional support
While our knowledge and practical skills are second-to-none, we also pride ourselves on compassion and empathy. Our clinicians treat your pet as if they were their own.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why might my pet see the Critical Care Team?
Some of the cases we see include:
- Acute abdomen (gastric dilation and volvulus (GDV), unstable gastro-intestinal foreign body obstructions, septic peritonitis and gall bladder rupture)
- Bleeding disorders (immune mediated disorders, rodenticide toxicity, haemabdomen)
- Cardiac disease (congestive heart failure, pericardial effusion, arrhythmias)
- Endocrine disorders (Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), Addisonian crisis, hypoglycaemic crisis)
- Respiratory distress (non-cardiogenic pulmonary oedema, upper airway obstructions, aspiration pneumonia)
- Trauma (road traffic accident, traumatic brain injury, high rise syndrome, dog bite wounds)
- Toxicities (acute kidney injury, hepatotoxins, snake and tick envenomation)
- Other (cluster seizures, sepsis, electrolyte disorders and more)
When is the Critical Care Team Available?
Our Critical Care service is available for direct referrals to our Stafford hospital 7 days a week from 8am – 5pm, including public holidays.
Outside of these ours our team provides consultancy and procedural support to our 24/7 emergency service.