Fully equipped with oxygen, blood pressure, ECG, defibrillator and all medical supplies – similar to equipment on board an ambulance for people – Southwest Florida Veterinary Specialists’ Emergency Pet Transport stands ready to serve emergencies of Southwest Florida’s pets with the arrival of their new 24-hour pet emergency transportation services.

“We are excited to offer this one of a kind service to the pets of Southwest Florida. There are actually very few pet ambulances across the country similar to ours.” comments Dr.  Wendy Arsenault, owner and Board certified Cardiologist at Southwest Florida Veterinary Specialists. 

Some of the services that Southwest Florida Veterinary Specialists’ Emergency Pet Transport can provide include transport for critically ill or injured pets, critical care transfers from the regular veterinarian’s office to our facility for around-the-clock care, and transfer of oxygen-dependent patients or those requiring post-operative overnight care. If specialized medical care is required, a full medical team including a veterinarian and technician(s) will be dispatched with the SFVS ambulance.

“If a pet is in critical condition and requires more advanced or long-term care than their regular veterinarian can provide, we will transport these animals to our 24-hour facility. We work as an extension of the primary care veterinarian.”

The Emergency Pet Transport can also help owners if their pet has an emergency at home and they are unable to transport them. Transport services will be available for non-emergency cases such as at home euthanasia, if this is not offered by the primary care veterinarian, or picking up a deceased pet from a family’s home for body care.

For more information about the new pet transportation service please visit www.EmergencyPetTransport.com or call 239-992-8387.  You can also take a tour of the Emergency Pet Transport on Saturday, February 4^th at Bark in Riverside Park in downtown Bonita Springs from 11am-3pm.

Southwest Florida Veterinary Specialists was established in 2003 and is located at 28400 Old 41 Road in Bonita Springs. The hospital has expanded over the last 8 years and currently offers specialty referral services in Cardiology, Internal Medicine, Oncology, Critical Care and 24-hour emergency. The focus at SFVS is on quality: quality of care, quality of service, and quality of life.

SFVS now offers the ONLY fully medically equipped Emergency pet transportation service in SW Florida!

If you see our pet ambulance out at events or in the community, please stop by and take a tour of our 24-hour Emergency Pet Transport!

Please call for more information please call us at: 239-992-8387

Adapted from the Veterinary Information Network VP Client Information Sheets, by Becky Lundgren, DVM:

“A portosystemic shunt (PSS, portasystemic shunt, portocaval shunt, portacaval shunt,  or porto-systemic vascular anomaly) happens when a pet’s venous blood from the intestine bypasses the liver. The pet can be born with the shunt (congenital) or can get it later (acquired). About three-quarters of the cases are congenital, although sometimes a pet can have both types.

During pregnancy, the portal blood vessel in the fetus bypasses the liver (i.e., the mother’s liver filters out toxins for the fetus). Normally this shunt closes within three days after birth. In affected animals, the shunt doesn’t close and the blood continues to bypass the liver. Because the liver filters toxins, if the liver is bypassed, the toxins build up in the body. This results in the puppy or kitten having slow or nonexistent growth (failure to thrive). If left untreated, puppies and kittens are not likely to survive. Congenital shunts seem to happen more in purebreds than in mixed breeds. Breeds with increased risk of PSS include Cairn terriers, Maltese, Yorkshire Terriers, Irish Wolfhounds, Himalayans, and Persians.

Signs

Signs include stunted growth, not gaining weight, losing weight, vomiting, diarrhea, lethargy, unresponsiveness, temporary blindness, seizures, spaciness (staring into space), disorientation, circling, poor skin and coat, excessive drinking, excessive urination, etc. Sometimes the pet will just act odd after eating or pace around or press its head against the wall. The signs you will see depend on the location of the shunt and how many toxins have built up in the body. Some pets will only have one sign, while others could have several.

Diagnosis

Blood tests, urinalysis, and imaging tests (e.g., radiographs, ultrasound images, portograms [an image of the blood vessels to the liver], or nuclear scintigraphy [a nuclear scan that measures blood flow]) can be used for diagnosis. Blood bile acids are elevated after a meal, so the before-meal and after-meal bile acid levels will be compared. Despite the variety of tests available, a confirmed diagnosis may not be available until surgery is done.

Treatment

Some pets with liver shunts can do well with medical management. However, some of those pets will eventually be euthanized when dealing with the neurologic problems becomes too much for an owner to cope with. In some pets, a change of diet can be enough to control the signs. A typical diet would involve low-protein, low-magnesium, high zinc, and high Vitamin E, in addition to lactulose. Medical management is more a matter of avoiding certain things (diuretics, NSAIDs, barbiturates, infections, etc.).

Surgical repair of the shunt is common, particularly for congenital shunts, but it seems to be more successful in dogs than in cats. It takes about two weeks after surgery before the pet will feel better. During that time, many pets will be anorexic (off their feed). Owners may have to coax their pets to eat, feed canned or strained meat diets, etc. Your veterinarian will have suggestions for stimulating your pet’s appetite.

Prognosis

Complete surgical ligation of the shunt has a very good prognosis. A partial ligation will provide some level of improvement, but will have a less positive long-term prognosis. Some animals will not respond to any treatment, and will have to be euthanized.  Surgery is usually, but not always, the best option for a normal life span.  Affected pets should never be bred because it is too much strain on the body and because this condition runs in families.”

For more pictures of Hallee, please visit our Facebook page!

For detailed information please click here: SFVS Summer/Fall Events

July 30th: Meet and Greet at Miracle’s Baseball Park
Barbecue followed by baseball game & fireworks
Staff & Families welcome

August 19th: Wine Tasting Collier County Veterinarians

Late August – September: 1st installment of our Technician
Lecture/Lab series: “Accurate Assessment of blood
pressure in small animals”

September 24th: CE to the Keys
CE lectures while traveling on the Key West Express

September 19th: Dr. Nichole Hooper joins our staff as head
of Critical Care. We will now be accepting emergencies
24 hours a day. Welcome Dr. Hooper!

To RSVP for any of these events, please complete the sign up form and fax it to us: SFVS RSVP Form

We would like to thank some of our sponsors!

www.bonitaboardingkennel.com
www.Invisablefence.com
www.Transpetters.com
www.Nicolebegleyphotography.com
www.Campbowwow.com
www.Woofgangbakery.com
www.Petsupermarket.com
www.Petco.com
www.Animalwellnesscenterofbonita.com
www.Royalscoop.com
www.Fitzgeraldspub.com
www.Jukeboxhero.com

Thanks again!

If you missed the article in the News-Press, you can view it here: News-Press.com-SFVS Haiti Donation

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We are so happy to be able to contribute to such a worthy cause.

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Our local veterinarians watching the game