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Emergency Vets 24/7 was established specifically to provide quality Cairns after hours vet services. We’re not here to take the place of your usual Cairns GP vet, we’re here to enable them to have weekends and nights off, knowing quality care is available and being provided to their clients. We don’t do preventative care such as vaccinations. We treat the presenting emergency condition and work in collaboration with your vet, providing them with relevant reports and diagnostics. All pets in our care receive constant monitoring and treatment, throughout the night and day. An overview of our Cairns after hours vet services and processes, is provided below for your convenience. We’re available for walk-ins and referrals and if in doubt, give us a shout on (07) 4015 3459.
One of our nurses will escort you to a private consultation room for triage. In very serious cases, or in the case of breathing difficulties, your animal may be taken straight through into the prep room for immediate treatment.
Our nurses will take a full history, including vaccinations, history, age, neuter status and may include current diet. Please bear with our nurses as they ask these questions, they may not seem relevant, but this is a very important part of the diagnostic process. All these things can have a significant impact on the treatment of your pet. They will then do a brief physical examination, which may include the vitals of your pet: heart rate, temperature, mucous membrane (gum) colour and listen to the breathing.
Your case will then be graded by the nurse, as to the urgency and severity. This means that we might ask you to wait a short while, as we treat more urgent patients. We’ll always get to you as soon as possible, and bear in mind, in this instance you don’t necessarily want to be first in the queue!
A vet will then examine your pet. They may re-ask some questions and confirm some findings. They will then do a thorough examination of your pet. Again, some things they may ask or do, may not seem relevant, but the more information they get, the more accurate a diagnosis they can make.
Once a full examination has been done, the vet will go through the findings and options with you. This may include medication to take home, or may involve admission for further treatment and diagnostics, like bloods and X-rays. In some cases, we can take the bloods and get results within minutes, as we have an in house laboratory, and you may be able to wait for results.
The vet will also discuss the potential costs involved with procedures and diagnostic work ups, as well as the risks involved. Please understand that our costs are slightly higher than a regular vet, due to the 24-hour staffing and the urgency and convenience of being open all day, every day. Also, our hospital is fully equipped with specialised machines, enabling us to provide an exceptional level of critical care.
If we do not need to admit your animal, we are happy to recheck your pet for the same condition within 24 hours, without charging any additional consult fees.
To admit an animal, a vet or nurse will generate a consent form for you to review and sign. It will have an estimate of costs for the procedure discussed. This will be as accurate as possible, but there will be times when the vet is only able to provide an estimate to the initial work up costs.
Please let us know any contact details and preferred methods of communication at this stage. Also, we will require a deposit of the estimate, before providing treatment. Unfortunately, we are not legally able to offer payment plans or credit ourselves. However, we do partner with some credit facilities for payment plans and would be happy to discuss these options if needed.
Once admission is completed, we take your animal through and start treatment and diagnostic tests. We have an isolation suite, with glass viewing doors, and an infra-red seizure camera at the back for any potentially contagious diseases, or stressed patients. Otherwise, they will be housed within the main prep areas, enabling your pet to be constantly monitored by our staff. The kennels are spacious in size and filled with comfortable bedding, and when medically appropriate, food and water.
We have staff on site 24-hours a day, enabling us to constantly monitor all our patients. We also complete full exams regularly, tailored to the medical needs of the individual patient. We will keep you updated at least every 24-hours but often more frequently, especially if your pet’s status is changing. You’re free to call for an update at any stage, throughout the day or night.
Visiting can be arranged at certain times, depending on how sick your pet is and the current activity in the hospital. We will always try to accommodate you at a convenient time, but keep in mind that for some cases, like tick paralysis and toad poisoning, it’s better to leave the animal to rest than over stimulate them with contact.
When an animal is stable enough to be either treated at home with medication, or returned to your regular vet, we will be happy to do this. A vet will endeavour to go through all the discharge instructions with you. If your regular vets are one of our associates, using our after-hours service, then follow up exams must be done at your regular clinic. However, we are more than happy to answer any questions you might have, relating to the case, either at the time or after discharge.
If after your pet has been discharged, you feel they are not ‘right’ and need to be rechecked, we can do this free of charge within 24 hours of being discharged, providing it is for the same condition.
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