2015 Pan Pacific Veterinary Conference

Small animal patients that are presented collapsed are common emergency situations that offer a number of challenges to veterinarians. These patients may be suffering from cardiovascular, respiratory, metabolic, or neurological abnormalities that require prompt recognition and stabilisation. The approach to such patients will be the focus of this presentation with an emphasis on triaging, major body systems assessment, prioritizing problems and initiating therapy (eg, oxygen supplementation, fluid therapy) that address life-threatening conditions (eg, dyspnoea, hypovolaemic shock). Whilst the most important aspects of triage involve simple physical exam assessments, more advanced modalities of patient assessment are becoming the standard of care in emergency medicine, such as venous blood gas analysis, assessment of plasma lactate, electrolytes, emergency thoracic and abdominal ultrasonography. The importance of cross-referencing diagnostic findings to physical exam findings and ancillary testing will also be emphasized in this presentation. Newer concepts such as the use of the Shock Index will also be discussed and the merits and disadvantages of this assessment tool will be outlined.