Any patient coming in for a procedure spends the day with us.  However, on occasion it may be necessary to hospitalise patients for longer.  This may be because they require a drip (intravenous fluid therapy), medication that cannot be administered at home (such as strong pain relief) or because they need very close monitoring.

If your pet has to come and spend longer than a day with us then they will not be on their own overnight.  We have a nurse in the practice 24 hours a day to ensure that your pet is closely watched, that they have the appropriate medication when needed and to make sure they don’t get lonely!

We have separate wards for cats and small animals (like rabbits or guinea pigs) and for dogs, to ensure that any stay here is as stress free as possible. We have clean kennels with plenty of comfortable bedding and warm blankets.   Our isolation facility is available for any patients that we are concerned may be infectious.  This has all the same comforts as our other wards but gives us the ability to keep any risk of infection away from other inpatients.

 

 

Each hospitalised patient has a ‘Hospital Sheet’ that details when they should receive checks and medication and allows staff to note down when they have passed faeces and urine, if they have vomited and when they have eaten or drunk.  These accurate records allow us to closely monitor your pet and act quickly if there is anything we are concerned about or if anything new develops. To help guide how often these checks should be carried out we use an in-patient grading system. The patient’s grade is then reassessed throughout their stay to ensure their needs are being met.

Whenever your pet is staying with us we will call you with an update of their progress at least twice a day and more frequently if needed.  If they are just in for a short stay we normally try to avoid having visitors as this can often lead to them becoming unsettled when you leave.  If patients are in isolation then unfortunately we cannot allow visitors due to the risk of infection. Patients staying longer that are not in isolation can sometimes have visitors and we will always discuss this with you on an individual basis.

By the very nature of being hospitalised your pet will be unwell.  We understand that is a stressful and worrying time for both your pet and for you and will do everything we can to try and ease your worry as much as possible.