Animal Hospital, P.C.
Noah's Ark
Emergency Information
Noah's Ark Animal Hospital provides after-hours emergency service for established and active patients
of our hospital. A pet is considered an active patient if they have received their annual physical and vaccinations at Noah's
Ark within the last 18 months. Pets that have never been seen at Noah's Ark Animal Hospital, or have fallen to inactive
status should call either the Capital District Animal Emergency Clinic in Latham, or the Northway Animal Emergency Clinic
in Gansevoort.
Active clients of Noahs Ark:
Dr. Stipe can be reached until 10:00 pm for emergency service by calling his cellular telephone and leaving a detailed message.
If you have privacy block on your telephone line you should dial *82 (to unblock), then call (518) 369-2461. If you do not receive
a return call within 10 minutes please try calling again. Since there are times that Dr. Stipe may be in an area without celluar
service, there may be a delay in response time. If, after the second call you do not receive a timely response, please call
one of the emergency clinics below so your pet receives timely treatment.
All patients arriving after 5:00 pm and on weekends
are subject to a $95 emergency fee in addition to any testing or services that the patient needs.
If it is after 10:00
pm, please call either of the emergency clinics listed below.
Non clients and inactive clients of Noahs Ark should immediately call either of the emergency clinics listed below.
Emergency Clinic Contact Information
Capital District Animal Emergency Clinic, 222 Troy-Schenectady Rd. Latham NY
(518) 785-1094
or
Northway Animal Emergency Clinic 35 Fawn Road, Gansevoort, NY
(518) 761-2602
Do I have an emergency?
Because you know your pet better than anyone else, you should trust your instincts to assess if something
is seriously wrong with your pet. Phone consultation with a veterinarian can help give you guidance, however, without seeing
and observing your pet an accurate assessment will be difficult. The list to the right is not meant to be exhaustive,
but rather a general guide to some examples of emergency situations that would warrant prompt evaluation by a veterinarian.
- Seizure, fainting or collapse.
- Eye injury, no matter how mild.
- Vomiting or diarrhea -- anything more than two or three
times within an hour or so.
- Allergic reactions, such as swelling around the face, or hives, most easily seen on the belly.
- Any
suspected poisoning, including antifreeze, rodent or snail bait, or human medication. Cats are especially sensitive to insecticides
(such as flea-control medication for dogs) or any petroleum-based product.
- Snake or venomous spider bites.
- Thermal stress -- from
being either too cold or too hot -- even if the pet seems to have recovered. (The internal story could be quite different.)
- Any wound
or laceration that's open and bleeding, or any animal bite.
- Trauma, such as being hit by a car, even if the pet seems fine. (Again,
the situation could be quite different on the inside.)
- Any respiratory problem: chronic coughing, trouble breathing or near
drowning.
- Straining to urinate or defecate.
If your pet has the following problems they should be seen by an emergency veterinarian:
Why are there times I am I referred to the emergency clinic instead of being seen locally?
Travelling to the nearest animal emergency clinic can be inconvenient, however, for certain types of serious illnesses
it would be what is in your pet's interest. Just as your physician would not hospitalize a seriously ill patient at their office
in the middle of the night, but would refer them to an emergency room, so should seriously ill animals be at a facility where
there is staff that can observe the patient and summon the doctor or make changes to therapy with changes in patient status.
In some cases (e.g. lacerations, porcupine quills, eye injury, mild allergic reaction, etc.) a patient can be seen locall and
treated and safely discharged to home. In other situations (e.g. seizures, trauma, respiratory difficulty, cardiac
problems, extreme weakness or lethargy, etc.), the patient should have ongoing observation and changes to treatment that would necessitate
continual staffing. If your pet is seen at Noah's Ark Animal Hospital on an emergency basis , you have
the option at any time to transfer your pet to one of the emergency clinics so that they have continued observation after 5:00 pm and
on weekends.