[January 21, 2026] Practical Approach to the Small Animal Emergency Patient 1st Edition

Practical Approach to the Small Animal Emergency Patient

This book is a concise, accessible guide to clinical decision making in veterinary emergency medicine, focused on the thought process in selecting diagnostic and treatment options. It helps veterinarians identify the critical questions needed to determine diagnostic and therapeutic priorities in emergency situations, emphasizing how to think, not just what to do.

Key Features

• Decision-Focused Approach: The book reviews important decision points for common emergencies, focusing on current research and decision-making tools to help the clinician decide if a certain intervention is appropriate.
• General Principles: The first section covers essential general principles of emergency medicine, such as triage, sedation, analgesia, and laboratory work selection.
• Applied Emergency Presentations: The latter part applies these principles to common emergency presentations, including:
  • Fluid therapy: Covering fluid selection, requirements, patients with heart murmurs, and correcting electrolyte abnormalities.
  • Diabetic emergencies: Including diabetic ketoacidosis, hyperglycemic nonketotic syndrome, and hypoglycemia.
  • Trauma treatment: Management for car accidents, penetrating trauma, and dog bite wounds.
  • Gastrointestinal distress: Assessing surgical versus non-surgical causes, the need for imaging, and differences between inpatient and outpatient assessment.
• Client Communication: Each chapter includes a section on client communication to guide new clinicians in speaking with family members about diagnostic testing, treatment approaches, and prognosis.
• Target Audience: An essential guide for clinicians, particularly new graduates and emergency doctors, seeking to gain confidence and improve their decision-making in emergency situations.