What If My Vet Requires My Dog Stay Overnight?
There are many reasons a vet or emergency vet might require your dog remain in the hospital one or more nights. Some of these reasons include:
I allowed my Cocker Spaniel, Dexter, to remain at a veterinary hospital for four nights because a veterinarian or vet tech was available on-site. My dog required IV medication and blood draws after being diagnosed with immune-mediated thrombocytopenia (IMT).
I rushed Dexter to the emergency room at an area veterinary hospital when his gums turned pale and bled. He was immediately triaged, and blood work revealed he had zero platelets. His body was destroying the platelets, and he required hospital care I could not provide at home. I also took comfort in knowing someone was watching him overnight and would call me if anything of concern happened.
If your dog requires an overnight stay at a veterinary facility, make sure someone will be present with the animals around the clock. I would not allow my dog to stay at a veterinary facility for any reason if someone wasn’t present to monitor his condition and watch over him.
If your vet feels your dog requires overnight care in their facility, ask about 24-hour supervision. Vets who insist on keeping your dog overnight obviously feel there is something they can do in-house that you can’t do at home.
I would highly recommend having your dog transferred to a hospital you trust that has 24-hour monitoring and care of their patients, much like a human hospital. My first Cocker Spaniel had a traumatic bleeding experience when I left her overnight at a veterinary clinic after eye surgery.
When it comes to overnight inpatient care, all veterinary practices are not equal
Pets need to be kept in hospital for many reasons, from acute trauma to complications associated with diabetes, and supportive treatment to post-operative recovery. The thing all these reasons have in common is that the animal can receive a level of monitoring and treatment that would not be possible at home. The best 24-hour veterinary care for inpatients is when veterinary care is provided seamlessly, whether it is during regular opening hours or overnight. Much as happens in human hospitals.
The reality is that veterinary practices vary hugely in overnight treatment and monitoring they can provide for inpatients. At one end of the spectrum, there are the large veterinary hospitals and dedicated out of hours services, who have all the equipment in place to care for very sick pets. Crucially, they have a team of veterinary staff (vets or qualified nurses) who work only nights and are onsite continuously throughout the night.
The next level of care is when one vet or nurse is present for part of the night. However, they will also be working the day shift and need to get some sleep at some point (either going home or staying onsite and bedding down in an empty kennel!). This means the inpatients will not be monitored for some part of the night. This is the typical set-up at the main branches of general practice vets.
The other end of the spectrum is those clinics where no one is onsite once the clinic locks up until the following day and is most commonly seen at the small branch clinic. Some vets might use tech, such as webcams, to monitor inpatients remotely.
Typically, when you take your sick or injured pet to the vet, the vet provides the necessary care and then sends your dog home â maybe with some medications for you to keep administering. Sometimes, though, your vet may examine your dog and then determine that they should stay overnight in the vet hospital. Here are the key reasons a vet usually makes this decision.
If the vet finds that your dog needs surgery, but they wont be able to get to the surgery until morning, then they may prefer to keep your dog overnight in the hospital. This way, they can start prepping the dog for surgery first thing in the morning without having to ask you to come to the vet clinic so early.
I have always been one of those people who really loves their animals, but a few months ago I started having problems with one of my dogs. He was really angry and wouldnt eat well, so I started thinking about what I could do to make things better. We met with a pet professional to take care of the problems, and it was great to see the difference. Now I can honestly say that I love my pets and I feel like they are healthy, but I dont think I would be at this place without the trainers help. Check out this blog to learn more.
Dogs who are badly injured, have certain illnesses, or are very restless may need to be sedated for a day or two so that they can be given the appropriate care. This is usually easiest to do in the hospital setting. A vet tech or vet can give your dog a sedative every few hours, which will make caring for them easier. Most sedatives are given by injection, so this would be hard to do at home.
Your dog may be sick enough that the vet is worried theyll get worse and need additional care over the next few hours. Rather than send them home and have you take them to the emergency clinic if they get worse late at night, the vet will usually prefer to keep them at the vet hospital. This way, the vet techs can observe your dog overnight, and if they do take a turn for the worst, they can promptly be given the necessary vet care.