Small Animal Emergency Care. Quick Reference Guide

1. Triage and initial assessment
Remote triage
In-person triage
Primary assessment
Secondary assessment

2. Cardiovascular emergencies
Hypovolaemic shock
Cardiopulmonary arrest
Congestive heart failure
Arrhythmias

3. Respiratory emergencies
Upper airway obstruction
Allergic bronchitis/feline asthma
Pneumonia
Pleural space diseases

4. Haematological emergencies
Anaemia
Coagulopathies

5. Gastrointestinal emergencies
Gastric dilatation-volvulus
Acute pancreatitis

6. Urological emergencies
Acute renal failure
Feline urethral obstruction

7. Neurological emergencies
Seizures
Cranioencephalic trauma (CET)

8. Metabolic emergencies
Addisonian crisis
Diabetic ketoacidosis

9. Reproductive emergencies
Dystocia
Pyometra

10. Environmental emergencies
Heat stroke
Hypothermia

This handbook about small animal emergency care contains the diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to the most common emergencies seen in small animal practice, classified by organ systems. For each emergency, a definition of the condition that has caused the situation, its causes, the diagnostic approach, and the most appropriate treatment are provided. The goal is to provide an easily accessible quick reference guide to save valuable time during stressful emergency medical cases.

Carlos Torrente Artero received his veterinary degree from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) in 1995 and performed an internship at the UAB Veterinary Teaching Hospital in 1996. He obtained a master’s degree in veterinary medicine and animal health in 2009 and a PhD in veterinary medicine in 2014, both from the UAB. He has been director of the Postgraduate Programme in Small Animal Emergency and Critical Care of the UAB since 2015.

He worked in private practice with a focus on emergency and critical care until 2006, the year he became an associate professor in the Animal Medicine and Surgery Department of the UAB School of Veterinary Medicine and director of the Emergency and Critical Care Unit at the UAB Veterinary Teaching Hospital.

He has performed residencies and received specialty training at various universities and private referral centres in Europe, the United States, and Canada. He is currently a member of IVECCS (International Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Society), member of the Member Relations Committee for Standards of Practice of EVECCS (European Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Society) and associate editor of the Journal LAVECCS (Latin-American Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Society).

He has written several publications and delivered conference presentations and lectures, both in Spain and internationally, in his areas of interest: acid-base alterations, haemodynamic regulation, and ventilator management of critical patients. In 2011, he and Lluis Bosch jointly published Medicina de urgencia en pequeños animales, tomos I y II (Small Animal Emergency Medicine, Volumes I and II) (Editorial Servet).