Tails of Truth: The Truth about Veterinary Medicine

Emergency Ready: What Every Pet Parent Needs to Know

• Dr. Angie Krause, DVM CVA CCRT • Episode 11

Share episode

Summary 

In this episode of Tails of Truth, Dr. Angie Krause and JoJo dive into the emotionally charged and essential topic of veterinary emergencies. From real-life stories to practical advice, they explore what it means to be prepared when your pet needs help—fast.

They discuss the critical difference between urgent care and true emergencies, how to plan ahead, and why having pet insurance can make all the difference in the moment. You’ll also hear why Dr. Angie loves open-concept emergency clinics like VEG, where you don’t have to hand your pet off to strangers behind closed doors.

Whether you're dealing with vomiting at midnight, a sudden limp, or something much scarier, this episode offers clear advice to help you feel more grounded and ready when the unexpected happens.

Key Takeaways

  • Preparation saves lives—know your local emergency and urgent care options before you need them.
  • Not every crisis is an emergency—knowing the difference helps you act with confidence.
  • Pet insurance can ease financial pressure and allow you to make the best decision for your animal.
  • Open-concept clinics like VEG allow pet parents to stay with their animals, which can reduce trauma for everyone.
  • Keep a cat carrier ready at home.
  • If something seems off with your pet, trust your gut—it’s always okay to check.
  • Calling ahead can help you avoid valuable time if a clinic can’t handle your situation.

Sound Bites

"Get pet insurance!"

"If in doubt, just go!"

"You don’t want to be Googling ‘emergency vet near me’ at midnight."

"This is so important—it’s not if, it’s when."

Please subscribe and review! xoxo Dr. Angie & JoJo


Dr. Angie Krause (00:01.023)
Welcome back to Tails the Truth where we tell the truth about veterinary medicine. I'm Dr. Angie and this is my co-host JoJo, veterinary nurse extraordinaire. And today we're talking about veterinary emergencies. So emergencies for your cat or dog.

JoJo (00:18.446)
I don't know why this topic seems fun to me. think it's fun because I feel more relaxed when I'm prepared.

Dr. Angie Krause (00:22.724)
does it seem fun?

Dr. Angie Krause (00:30.199)
okay. That makes sense. JoJo wanted to do this topic. This is her, this is her idea. She has some stuff to share.

JoJo (00:39.308)
Maybe that's all it's about. It's about me.

Dr. Angie Krause (00:41.717)
Well, mean, definitely preparedness is good. So we're talking about if your cat or dog has a medical emergency, we should do a whole other episode on natural disasters. would be my topic.

JoJo (00:51.259)
huh.

JoJo (00:54.618)
yeah, that would be your topic. Yeah, we're laughing and it's a really uncomfortable laugh, right? Yeah.

Dr. Angie Krause (01:01.783)
It's a really uncomfortable laugh, but it's been enough time where you can do that uncomfortable laugh. So yes, let's talk about emergencies. I like this because as a veterinarian, I want people to know what's an emergency and where they should go and then what they should expect.

JoJo (01:06.818)
Uh-huh.

JoJo (01:17.569)
Yes.

JoJo (01:22.794)
Yeah, I think it's important because as a pet parent, at some point you're probably going to face the emergency room or the urgent care at some point.

Dr. Angie Krause (01:33.463)
I just did. I broke my cat's foot. Do you want to hear the story? you want the story? Okay. So I went climbing and I went climbing outside. I haven't really been climbing. This is going to be like a little bit extraneous, but you're going to understand this all going to go full circle. Hadn't been climbing much and I felt like, I'm like, Oh, I just am not really strong and I really need to get back to lifting.

JoJo (01:34.946)
Yeah, you just did.

JoJo (01:40.615)
Of course, because that sounded terrible.

Dr. Angie Krause (02:00.266)
So I have this like 35 pound, like, I don't know. It's just a, it's a long stick. You know what I mean? It's not like, it's just a bar, but it's like a padded bar. So doesn't even feel like I can call it a weigh bar. It's not like you could put more weights on it. So it's just for people. I was like, well, I can just do squats at home. I've got this 30 pound.

JoJo (02:07.724)
Yeah, like just the bar that the weights go on?

JoJo (02:19.554)
Okay.

Dr. Angie Krause (02:24.8)
Wait, so I get it out. I'm like, you need to do some squats. Cause there was some time on the rock where like you kind of have to like pistol squat it. And I just couldn't get up. So I'm like, okay, we're going to fix this. We're going to get back to our weighted squats. And I don't have time to go to the gym. So we're going to do it in the living room while we're watching TV with the cats. So I get this bar out and do my squats. And then I need to put it down to rest. And what I did is I put half of it down on my kids trampoline and the other half down.

on the floor. And while I was doing it, I thought this is a bad idea. Yeah, I didn't lean to because I didn't want to bend all the way over and pick it all the way back up because I would have to squat again. So was like, I'm going to make this easier. I put it down. everything in my body was like, this is a terrible idea, but I'm like, your kids aren't around. So it's like, what's going to happen. But so I, I set it down and as I stood up, it rolled off and onto Fritz's foot.

JoJo (02:55.801)
like a lean to. Okay.

JoJo (03:02.203)
and squat. Okay.

JoJo (03:20.917)
No.

Dr. Angie Krause (03:20.968)
as he was walking by. And the minute I saw it, I was like, I just broke my cat's leg. And he walked away then three legged limping. He had his left, poor limb up. So anyways, I knew immediately that I had broken something. And so I took him into VEG, Veterinary Emergency Group in Boulder. And it's a nationwide chain, so they have them in other states. And I took him there because I get to stay with him. So it's an open concept.

JoJo (03:30.167)
Hmm.

Dr. Angie Krause (03:49.687)
emergency room. And so was like, Hey, I'm a veterinarian. I just did this. We need to, you know, we need to check this out. And so, but I felt so bad. And I didn't know where my carrier was. And it was a carrier for my last cat, which I felt bad. So like, this smells like my last cat. So talking about preparedness, I was not prepared.

JoJo (04:02.286)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Angie Krause (04:16.086)
And there's such better carrier technology. I'm like, here I am, this veterinarian, and with the oldest carrier technology, it's just so embarrassing.

JoJo (04:23.438)
I can imagine what carrier you might have.

Dr. Angie Krause (04:26.676)
Yes, yes, you know, I'm old. so, yes. And now everyone, all the cool kids have like backpacks with bubbles. And like one woman came in the other day to the clinic with this beautiful leather bag carrier. And I was like, well, that's gorgeous. Kat looked amazing in it too. anyways, so I cut, like I didn't have the

JoJo (04:31.598)
The one where you have to unscrew all the sides to pull the top off? Okay, yeah.

bags and yeah.

JoJo (04:45.784)
JoJo (04:51.51)
I'm sorry you didn't have your Prada cat bag for your emergency.

Dr. Angie Krause (04:56.438)
what I really want is a backpack because you know how you're like carrying the carrier like way out from your body because you've got like 10 to 15 pounds out here but like the kids that come in and I call them kids because they're in their 20s like with a backpack and I'm like oh that's so balanced the cat's so balanced on them anyway so I come out with them come in with my outdated carrier and he is just screaming and he screams at me the whole way so this is the first time that I met my cat in a carrier in the car

JoJo (05:02.816)
Yeah.

JoJo (05:25.859)
Mmm.

Dr. Angie Krause (05:26.196)
because he was a kitten when I took him home from the humane society. He's, you know, anything I've needed to do to him, I've done at home. So I wasn't prepared for how emotionally distressing that moment was going to be, or like the 20 minutes into the drive into the clinic. And so I get there and you know, they actually his foot it's broken. Then we have to anesthetize them and, put a, put a splint on him. So they put a splint on him and it,

JoJo (05:29.783)
Yeah.

JoJo (05:39.171)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Angie Krause (05:55.287)
It immediately fell off in the carrier. It immediately fell off. It cost me like three or $400 to put on and then it immediately fell off, but I could let it go, let it slide off just like the splint because I have pet insurance. And so was like, Oh, that actually didn't cost me any extra because I had met my deductible by that point, but just.

JoJo (06:14.904)
huh.

Dr. Angie Krause (06:23.358)
I know this is stories going a lot of places, but get pet insurance because I was so happy that while I'm in this kind of like emotional place of putting them in the carrier, feeling guilt, feeling panic, that I actually didn't have to worry about how much it was going to be. I just knew I had my 250 deductible, which I wasn't happy about that, but I got there and I just said, yes.

JoJo (06:40.91)
you

Dr. Angie Krause (06:47.39)
I said yes to everything because I was immediately like, get them pain control. I didn't even have to worry about how much it was. We did all the pain control. And so what was so great about VG is that it's an open concept. So you could just stay with them the whole time. Now as a veterinarian. Yeah. So.

JoJo (06:55.918)
JoJo (07:03.81)
Yeah, explain what that means because it's amazing. And I still can't visualize how it actually works. I haven't been in one, but I've watched their videos and I'm like, this is pretty cool.

Dr. Angie Krause (07:14.474)
Have you been in one?

Dr. Angie Krause (07:19.894)
Okay, they have some in Denver, you should go down there sometime. you, yeah, if you work at VEG, you're cool. I swear to God, all their doctors are always super cool because that's the whole idea is that.

JoJo (07:24.162)
Yeah, there's one like down the street I should.

JoJo (07:34.018)
Well, you have to be relaxed and confident.

Dr. Angie Krause (07:36.756)
Yes, well, it's like you and I, when we're going into house calls, we're like, we know how to do everything. And even when everything is going like horribly wrong, you have to pretend like everything's fine.

JoJo (07:39.496)
huh.

JoJo (07:46.2)
Well, right, there's no back room that you get to go, you know, away from watching eyes like you are there. They are there. Yeah.

Dr. Angie Krause (07:49.856)
There's a

No. The only time you can't go with your pet is in surgery or when they're getting x-rays because of the radiation.

JoJo (07:59.192)
But can you view the surgery? is there?

Dr. Angie Krause (08:01.944)
you know, I didn't look. my God, that would make me so nervous if I were the surgeon, but yeah. So you get to be back there. So you're watching whatever's happening with your animal, but you're also watching, you know, the endoscopy pulling the tennis ball out of the golden doodles stomach next door to you. Like you're watching everything. So it might be disturbing for some, it's nice because you have not left your pet side.

JoJo (08:03.714)
Okay.

Yeah.

JoJo (08:22.227)
huh.

Dr. Angie Krause (08:29.298)
You could, they will literally let you sleep next to your pet. They have cots.

JoJo (08:29.773)
Wow.

JoJo (08:33.58)
Wow. Wow. I think for some people that would be high, like very stressful because they're seeing all the emergencies coming in then, right, which could feel somewhat traumatizing depends on what's coming in.

Dr. Angie Krause (08:37.856)
Yeah.

Dr. Angie Krause (08:42.73)
Yes.

Dr. Angie Krause (08:46.346)
Yes.

Dr. Angie Krause (08:52.692)
I always warn my clients. was like, if you go to VEG, understand you're going to be dealing with your pet and you're going to see whatever else.

JoJo (08:59.566)
Mm hmm. And the emotions that come with that because a lot of guardians are not calm. When a distressing situation is happening. Wow, that's remarkable. Actually. I'd like that. That concept just blows my mind.

Dr. Angie Krause (09:06.045)
No.

Dr. Angie Krause (09:10.41)
Totally. Yes. Yeah. It's like the most transparent situation ever. Like they are the epitome of transparency. I talked to one of the veterinarians there and she was like, yeah, I was in general practice and I just needed a change. And when I heard about this open concept emergency clinic, I knew that's what I wanted to do. I was like, yeah, that's amazing. So, but they have all the things an emergency clinic would need. They can.

JoJo (09:20.002)
Mm-hmm.

JoJo (09:33.442)
Hmm. Well, that is cool.

Dr. Angie Krause (09:40.247)
do all the things that you might need. Yeah. So anyways, I took them and then I found out his toe was broken. The splint wasn't going to stay on. And so I got permission from a veterinary surgeon to not splint him. And it's just going to take a small eternity to heal. But as a medical professional, a veterinary medical professional, that stressed me out and it was traumatizing. So going to the

JoJo (09:42.669)
Wow.

Okay.

JoJo (09:59.214)
Hmm.

Dr. Angie Krause (10:08.626)
ER is traumatizing for everybody.

JoJo (10:11.168)
Okay, and lessons you learned. Know where the cat carrier is. Upgrade to your boutique you won.

Dr. Angie Krause (10:16.47)
And make sure it's like ready to go. Yes. Feel, feel good about your cat carrier. Make sure it's clean. I mean, it wasn't dirty, but it was like, could, there were like ev, there's like evidence of hair from my last cat, which I was like, I don't know. Just felt rude to my current cat.

JoJo (10:23.116)
Yeah.

JoJo (10:29.102)
Yeah.

JoJo (10:35.51)
Well, at least you had a carrier.

Dr. Angie Krause (10:37.054)
I had a carrier. It wasn't the backpack that I wanted, but I had the carrier and I knew where to go. Yes.

JoJo (10:40.971)
Okay.

Yeah, that is key. And that's where my story differs a little bit. Okay, so my story is not as recent, but Bodie, I don't know, I don't keep track of dates, but it must have been like, well, I just had had my knee surgery. So I was like, on the couch. So I don't know, two and a half years ago, and we live in an area with rattlesnakes. And I was sitting on the couch doing my whole recovery thing. And one of my boys is like, Bodie's being weird.

Dr. Angie Krause (10:48.232)
Okay, tell me your story.

JoJo (11:13.432)
Like he's just like whining under the table. And so I go and look at him and I just know immediately he's been bitten by a rattlesnake. He can just, he had neurological symptoms. Like his eyes were nystagmus, like he was having nystagmus and like he was a little drooly. He just wobbly. I'm like, my gosh, he got, he got bit. It was hard to convince my family of that, which was so interesting.

Dr. Angie Krause (11:22.432)
Wait, how did you know?

Wait!

JoJo (11:43.502)
Maybe I just wasn't very convincing. I'm like, he needs to go to emergency now and I can't drive. But I knew enough to know that some emergencies are not fully staffed. And so they close randomly. And that was more toward COVID, but I just saw it happen this weekend, this past weekend too. So they're understaffed and they're closed. So my first tip is have a list of emergency rooms, not just a single one that you think you can go to.

Dr. Angie Krause (11:55.562)
Yes.

Dr. Angie Krause (12:12.842)
Mm-hmm.

JoJo (12:13.09)
Call while you're in the car if it's that emergent or someone else is calling for you. So first one was closed Second one. I called just to make sure that they have the medication that we need Because the antivenom is not something that everybody stocks And so if you don't live in an area with rattlesnakes is not an issue but And to make sure they have enough files because he's a 70 pound dog, right? So I didn't know how many files he was gonna need

Dr. Angie Krause (12:24.724)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Angie Krause (12:29.386)
Nope.

JoJo (12:42.454)
So those were my two key tips, but to take him in and it was a corporate place because that was what was closest and it just was not the nicest experience. I don't know, he just felt like it wasn't, I didn't get to stay with him. I had a call to get information on him. I did not have insurance. So I was thinking about the bill. I was thinking like,

Dr. Angie Krause (12:51.24)
Dr. Angie Krause (12:59.146)
Mm-hmm.

JoJo (13:10.958)
Oh my gosh, from my memory of when I worked in Arizona, this could be $10,000 easily, depending on how many vials he needs. Luckily, it's less expensive than it used to be. I don't know. Yeah, I don't remember how much per vial it is, but he only ended up needing one vial. And just second guessing myself also was part of it, because as a veterinary professional, I felt like I should have all the answers. I couldn't find the bite wound.

Dr. Angie Krause (13:16.49)
Yeah. Easily.

Dr. Angie Krause (13:24.224)
That's good.

JoJo (13:40.534)
You know, they could never find it either, but they found just a scrape and I guess that's all you need is like, they just need a scrape. They can get enough venom in from just like scratching, you know. Yeah, I mean, he's a furry dog. No, it's likely we can't just find him. I mean, he's swelled up so bad, Angie, that I thought this is the end. Like, his face was so...

Dr. Angie Krause (13:41.169)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Angie Krause (13:48.797)
Dr. Angie Krause (13:53.566)
I didn't know that. I knock on wood don't see that many rattlesnake bites. Yeah.

Dr. Angie Krause (14:02.73)
Yeah.

JoJo (14:08.896)
swollen and we laugh at it now is so freaking cute. He was cute with his ginormous face. Wasn't funny then. And then the other piece that I knew was coming that really caught me still caught me off guard is when I had to fill out the forms about DNR and DNR is do not resuscitate. So basically if he if his heart stops, do you want

Dr. Angie Krause (14:13.397)
Yes.

Dr. Angie Krause (14:31.765)
Yeah.

JoJo (14:38.102)
us to revive him. And that question broke me.

Dr. Angie Krause (14:43.102)
Yeah, but I'm sure it made it real. Like that's the situation you were in. Like that's the territory of he could become so sick so quickly that that would be the situation. Yeah.

JoJo (14:44.558)
And...

JoJo (14:53.858)
right. It's kind of like how you and I've been talking about with youth in Asia, like it's just this burden of decision making. And so I want to prepare people that that question is something that may be asked and something they may want to be prepared to answer. And maybe insurance and no insurance makes a difference in how you answer that question. I don't know.

Dr. Angie Krause (15:17.126)
Absolutely. I mean, that makes sense. then also, yeah, so many things influence the DNR status.

JoJo (15:22.894)
Yeah, I chose not. I chose to not do that because I have this idea of like if you're, I don't know, just if he's that far gone. I don't know. And I'm still questioning obviously, was that the right answer? But.

Dr. Angie Krause (15:36.092)
Yeah. If we're doing s-

Yes, I think so, because if you're doing CPR, then our patient's already dead. That's bad. And usually when we bring him back, it doesn't go well.

JoJo (15:47.532)
Yeah, right. Right, usually it's not, exactly. And if they're under anesthesia, I think you might have to sign those for, do you have to sign those when you're going in for surgery now?

Dr. Angie Krause (15:53.502)
Yeah, and you know that.

Dr. Angie Krause (15:59.905)
Some clinics do. Yeah.

JoJo (16:01.26)
Yeah, and I'm always like, man, if for myself, if I die while under anesthesia, please just let me be. Like, that seems really peaceful. So I think that would be, but it was just an experience of, I'm so glad I knew to call ahead of time because I don't know if those extra minutes of having gone to an emergency room that's closed or an emergency room that didn't have the vials.

Dr. Angie Krause (16:08.918)
Yeah.

Dr. Angie Krause (16:13.332)
No heroics. Yeah.

JoJo (16:31.488)
if those were precious minutes that would have cost him. I think they would have. I'm pretty sure they would have. I mean, he was swelling quickly. just those are the preparedness that I would like people to have a list of emergency rooms. I don't expect you to know what kind of medication you need, but tell them what your pet is coming in for because they may or may not have the treatments available.

Dr. Angie Krause (16:35.4)
Yeah, yeah, time really matters. Yeah.

Dr. Angie Krause (16:54.144)
Totally.

JoJo (16:55.803)
And that's something you want, like what's emergency and what's urgent? You know, because there are urgent cares now that are not emergency rooms and they're not equipped the same.

Dr. Angie Krause (17:00.906)
Yeah.

Dr. Angie Krause (17:04.992)
They're not equipped the same. So I've been doing some relief in urgent cares and it's a pretty cool model because it's kind of like that in-between space of, know, maybe your primary care is closed, your regular vet's closed or they're full, but it's not really an emergency, but needs care now. like dog, dog bites, know, poisonings, like my dog ate chocolate.

Those are great applications for urgent cares. The minute you need surgery, like, so if your cat can't pee, we need to be like have more sedation than just, Hey, we need to sew this laceration up. I feel like the ER is better. So if your pet's really, really sick or has been traumatized, like hit by a car or had a big fall, I feel like emergency clinics are much better and more prepared.

JoJo (18:02.998)
Okay, let's do some, let's do, just making this up on the fly. Okay, so let's do, I'm gonna give you a situation and you tell me where to go. Okay, ready? My dog's having a seizure.

Dr. Angie Krause (18:06.282)
Okay.

Dr. Angie Krause (18:11.528)
Okay, I'm ready.

Emergency. Yeah.

JoJo (18:18.08)
Okay, my dog's stomach is so extended and bloated.

Dr. Angie Krause (18:23.868)
emergency, we're worried that could be a GDV, which is where the stomach bloats and flips. That's surgical. Immediately.

JoJo (18:32.556)
Okay, yeah, my kitty is yelling when they urinate.

Dr. Angie Krause (18:41.238)
Hmm, are they urinating though?

JoJo (18:44.162)
I think so, but it doesn't seem like much output.

Dr. Angie Krause (18:49.738)
That's a tough one. think you could go either way. But I would maybe tend more towards emergency. Because a lot of times these kitties, when they have urinary blockages, need to be hospitalized for

JoJo (18:56.482)
Okay.

JoJo (19:04.098)
My dog. I'm gonna, I have so many dog ones. Dogs are probably more in the emergency room more than cats.

Dr. Angie Krause (19:10.294)
100%. They make more poor life choices.

JoJo (19:12.822)
Yeah, I'm like, wait, what are the kitty options here? My person dropped their weight on my toe. That's like, no, I don't know. My dog. I have two dog ones. My dog ate my weed.

Dr. Angie Krause (19:19.198)
Ha ha ha.

Dr. Angie Krause (19:27.304)
Okay. urgent care. We can take care of that in urgent care. Yeah.

JoJo (19:31.574)
Okay. that's good to know. I bet a lot of people would want it. And tell the truth when you get there, please. Yeah, please tell the truth. What about my dog ate a bar of chocolate?

Dr. Angie Krause (19:35.135)
Yeah.

Dr. Angie Krause (19:38.844)
Yeah, we don't care. You can tell us that your dog ate weed. We don't care.

Dr. Angie Krause (19:47.849)
Urgent care.

JoJo (19:49.537)
even if it's dark chocolate.

Dr. Angie Krause (19:51.254)
Yeah, yeah, even if it's dark chocolate, we've got what we need there. Yeah.

JoJo (19:54.304)
Okay, what am I not thinking of?

Dr. Angie Krause (19:57.655)
I mean, think lacerations, my dog's toenail is like half hanging off and it's 7 PM. that's a good urgent care application. I mean, or even if like your dog has like a, an infection that suddenly become really uncomfortable, that's a good urgent care application. The seizures too hard because if your dog just had one seizure and then isn't going to seize again, that could wait for the primary care like the next day, but.

JoJo (20:18.702)
Hmm.

Dr. Angie Krause (20:27.318)
If your dog continues, or your cat for that matter, continues to have seizures, then that's definitely an ER thing.

JoJo (20:33.07)
Mmm. My cat is limping. They do do that.

Dr. Angie Krause (20:36.824)
they do. That is definitely your GP that can wait until the next day. Unless you think it's broken like my cat's foot. If you have reason to believe it's broken, could, know, urgent care could have taken care of that. But I went to VEG because I had insurance and they're so cool.

JoJo (20:43.67)
Okay.

JoJo (20:58.826)
Mm-hmm. Yep. my cat hasn't eaten a few days and now it's the weekend.

Dr. Angie Krause (21:07.69)
Hmm. I think you could start out at urgent care and if need be hospitalized, depending on what they find. But like your diagnostics and some of your treatments are going to be a little cheaper at urgent care.

JoJo (21:23.192)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Angie Krause (21:24.666)
And it's, you're going to get better attention there. So it's like, there's kind of a hierarchy in an emergency room. so if your animal's stable, it's not that they won't see you. They, do want to help you, but you might kind of, depending on how busy it is, keep kind of getting bumped as far as when you're seeing next.

JoJo (21:42.455)
Yeah.

So here's another one that I actually don't know if it's urgent care or emergency, but my puppy has really smelly liquid diarrhea.

Dr. Angie Krause (21:55.498)
Virgin care. You could totally do that.

JoJo (21:57.326)
What if it's Parvo?

Dr. Angie Krause (21:59.851)
they could totally take care of Parvo. if it's Parvo needs to be hospitalized, they would turn over to an emergency room. Yeah, they would do a transport.

JoJo (22:00.812)
It'll still do it.

JoJo (22:07.768)
their transport.

Well that was a quick Q &A. Boom, boom, boom. Yeah, and if you have questions about it, you can always call, like if your pet has ingested something that you're not sure, like lilies for cats is a big one, you can contact ASPCA and they have a hotline. I don't know, they charge like $50 or something.

Dr. Angie Krause (22:13.386)
Boom, boom, Yeah.

Dr. Angie Krause (22:21.77)
Yes.

Yes.

Dr. Angie Krause (22:32.886)
They charge $50. Veterinarians use that hotline all the time. We pay $50 for the toxicologist to tell us if it's going to be OK and what to do. And so it's something you have access to as a pet parent. But if you're calling the ASPCA about something your pet just consumed, maybe call en route. Because the sooner we can get activated charcoal after your pet has vomited,

the better. we like to make your pet vomit. And we have better ways than hydrogen peroxide, but hydrogen peroxide will do in a pinch. It's got some downsides, but they're

JoJo (23:11.284)
I have that hanging on my fridge, the dose amount, and how often. Yeah, I've saved myself so many emergency visits. Yes.

Dr. Angie Krause (23:14.024)
Do you?

Yes. So, you know, we have hopefully some better ones in the, in a GP, but not always. or even in urgent care, they have better ways to make your pet vomit. And, but yeah, be in route to something if you're going to call the ASPCA. Yeah.

JoJo (23:38.08)
advice and I believe on their site they actually have a chocolate calculator I think it comes from them so I think so if not there are chocolate calculators so if your pet has ingested you can put in your pet's weight what type of chocolate and how much and then they'll be like yeah that's not an emergency or that is you know the darker the chocolate the smaller the pet the more likely we're gonna have to take care of that

Dr. Angie Krause (23:44.228)
do they? Okay, that makes sense.

Dr. Angie Krause (23:57.76)
Yeah.

Dr. Angie Krause (24:01.258)
The bigger theme. Yeah.

Milk chocolate is hardly ever a problem. I mean, it can cause diarrhea, but it's hardly ever, you know, fatal. In fact, I don't know, have you ever heard of milk chocolate being consumed in such quantities?

JoJo (24:07.181)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

JoJo (24:15.314)
No, you know what though I've heard of more is gum ingestion. The xylitol. That one gets, I feel like I've seen more of that than I have milk chocolate. So, but we have it in our head that chocolate is immediately an emergency. And that may not necessarily be true. So just equip yourself. yeah, raisins are not good.

Dr. Angie Krause (24:19.923)
the xylitol? Yeah.

Dr. Angie Krause (24:25.982)
Yeah, yeah, more of a problem.

Dr. Angie Krause (24:33.269)
Right.

People forget about raisins.

Raisins are not good for some dogs. They're not toxic at all, but let's not find out if that's your dog or not. But for other dogs, it takes out kidney function. So call, you can always call the emergency room too, and say like, Hey, am I 70 pound dog ate one raisin? Is it okay? And spoiler alert, it is okay for one reason, but, we can kind of help you figure out if we need to induce vomiting and then just see if they're one of those dogs that's sensitive to raisins.

JoJo (24:52.332)
Mm-hmm.

JoJo (25:06.882)
Yep, and if in doubt, just go.

Dr. Angie Krause (25:10.026)
go. Yeah. Usually the people there are so happy that you didn't, want to help you and they don't care if your dog got into drugs. They are not mad at you. They just want to help your drugs or drugs, dogs. I just want to take your drugs. especially here in Colorado, it's like where weed is legal. And if you live in a state where weed is legal, we see it all the time. It happens to, you know,

JoJo (25:11.235)
Yep.

JoJo (25:17.634)
Mm-hmm.

JoJo (25:22.286)
Okay, now. Do you want to help your drugs? Yeah.

Dr. Angie Krause (25:37.074)
anybody, the best of people. doesn't mean you're irresponsible.

JoJo (25:40.606)
No, and I've heard that now that psilocybin is becoming more mainstream that we are seeing more ingestions of that too because it's like in a chocolate treat. It's more about they want the chocolate treat and then they've accidentally have taken a psilocybin trip.

Dr. Angie Krause (25:56.15)
Yes, I actually, saw one last week and there was definitely a lot of vomiting and I think it's pretty uncomfortable for dogs.

JoJo (26:04.366)
Well, I think it's uncomfortable for humans too and often involves vomiting too, so I just can't imagine going on a trip that I didn't plan for.

Dr. Angie Krause (26:07.872)
Yeah.

Right, right. Or speaking of mushrooms, the mushrooms in the yard. Those can do some interesting things neurologically. So steer clear of those.

JoJo (26:19.584)
yeah.

JoJo (26:23.386)
Yeah. So when in doubt, call in route to where you're going, but have a list on your fridge. That's ideal. And choose your choice. If you have a veg, like a VEG in your area, I would totally try that out. That just sounds amazing to me.

Dr. Angie Krause (26:31.152)
Yes.

Dr. Angie Krause (26:43.071)
I love them so much. can't say enough good things about them. Like, no one has ever been unhappy with veg. No one.

JoJo (26:50.078)
No, people are so, especially after COVID when we couldn't go into clinics with our pets, which was devastating for the pets and for the people. The idea to be able to sit with them and be there is just, it makes my heart happy. That is all I have. No, that's all I have. Thank you for letting me talk about emergencies. It is important.

Dr. Angie Krause (26:55.218)
Yeah.

Dr. Angie Krause (27:04.502)
What else should we cover?

No, it's so important. It's so important. Well, we would love to hear from you. Tell us about your pet emergency. And you could leave us a comment or you can give us a review. Five star only, please. Please review our podcast wherever you're listening to it. And we will see you next time. Bye.

JoJo (27:32.696)
Take care.