What Is Overnight Care?

[Guest suzye]

This is a simple question, but the other thread with a poll about overnight care got me wondering. If a dog needs even a basic IV, that means they need overnight care, right? I can't imagine you should leave a dog on IV all night long with no one there to monitor it. My vet will keep dogs overnight but not if they need monitoring.

[RobinM]

I will be paying $300.00 cash for what I call the "babysitter" for someone to sit with Beau all night, tomororw night. I did that the 2 nights Polli was in the hospital as well as the other time Beau was in.

 

I just don't want him being alone in a crate. My vets close at 9 pm, and reopen at 8 am and I would sleep in the crate with him if they allowed it.

[Guest Migreys]

My Kayla had to stay overnight 2 nights in a row with an IV. My vet told me there is no one present overnight. It broke my heart thinking about her all alone in a strange place and nobody there to check on her overnight.

 

I'm with RobinM, I think I'd sleep in the crate with my grey too if they allowed it.

[RobinM]

My Kayla had to stay overnight 2 nights in a row with an IV. My vet told me there is no one present overnight. It broke my heart thinking about her all alone in a strange place and nobody there to check on her overnight.

 

I'm with RobinM, I think I'd sleep in the crate with my grey too if they allowed it.

 

For a "fee" you can have a tech stay usually. There is this one woman who I have that stays and I have her call me every 3 hours (work for her money!!!!) during the night so I can get updates. It's tough just leaving them all alone.

[greyhndz]

Like most vets in my area (NH), none of the vets in my practice take emergency call. They are part of the cooperative that has a piece of the local E-clinic and refers their emergency calls there. They can accommodate stable patients overnight in my vet's office, but any animal needing monitoring is transferred out.

 

I've found a happy medium, but this probably wouldn't be right for most people -- just those trained in medical/nursing fields, or vet techs/nurses: Iggy Lexi required IV hydration for the better part of a week, and because I'm comfortable managing IVs, and I knew I could provide better care for her at home, where I could watch her constantly, I was given IV solution, tubing and special IV administration kit that allowed me to set a drip rate. I was able to check the IV, ensure that it was running, and change the IV bag when it ran out.

 

If someone weren't intimidated by doing this themselves at home, I wonder if some of your vets wouldn't be willing to have their techs instruct you in managing IVs yourself. If anyone were to run into trouble, or the IV stopping running, the E-clinic is still available to help deal with the problem.

[Guest EmilyAnne]

I remember how surprised I was when I first learned vet offices are often unstaffed at night when I had a pet neutered and they wanted him to stay overnight to recover from anesthesia more. I saw no point to that as my house was quieter, more peaceful, and better yet, someone (Me) would be there supervising the care and recovery of my dog. There has been a few times since then, that I overrode the advice of my vet and took my pet home at closing as opposed to the next morning. I've had pets stay all day, but it's been 13 years since I had a pet actually stay overnight, and that was when my late pointer mix sustained massive life threatening injuries and stayed at the vet for almost a week. (he survived and lived another ten years)

 

Keep in mind, different vet offices have different ways of handling this. I am sure vets or their vet techs check in with their patients during hours their office is closed, particulary if there is a dog that is a special case.

[ahicks51]

When Minerva had her lower canine removed, the vet's office was in transition and they had no empty bays for such a large greyhound (she's almost 70 pounds, and VERY tall- as tall as some of the 80+ pound foster boys we get). They had to put her in this big pen they had for CATS. And, of course, she's this super-prey-intensive alpha bitch from hell, and she wakes up in this cage with the pervasive smell of cats.

 

I got a call, and all I could say was, "Be there in 15." I probably broke some laws and maybe the sound barrier getting there.

 

I never did ask why they had such a big pen for multiple cats.

[Trudy]

I've only had to leave Ryan over night and that was only once.

But the specialist hospital he was at was also the 24 hour evet hospital, so there was somebody there to watch him all night - which is why they wanted to keep him all night anyway.

 

Our old vet wanted to keep Jet once, but he changed his mind and told us to come get her - he'd wait until we got there, she'd be more comfortable at home.

[Guest KennelMom]

I only know of two vets in the area that are staffed 24/7 - the emergency hospital/specialty hospital which charges $300 a day for hospitalization, including overnight care - basically, to have the vet and/or techs monitor them, give meds, continue care, etc...(of course that price doesn't include the cost of meds or procedures). The other vet offers medical boarding for, oh, $30 or so a night to be in a staffed office. Additional charges for any care the vet would have to give. We ended up doing that with Grandpa when we went out of town and he had a minor breathing episode with the sitter. Easier to just have him already at the vet.

 

Our regular vet will keep dogs overnight, but no one is there I guess unless they have a reason to pop in overnight for some cases. We've never had a dog there overnight, but a couple of our kitties have stayed there when they were ill.

Edited January 21, 2009 by KennelMom

[Guest SoulsMom]

When Soul needed to be on fluids for 24hrs due to HGE, my vet said he could stay overnight in their office but there would not be anyone there to monitor him and he would feel more comfortable if he stayed at the emergency hospital which has round the clock staff to care for the patients.

[Batmom]

To me, overnight care means a trained tech is there all the time. It means someone calls you at 12:30 a.m. (half an hour past midnight) to report that your dog passed an interesting object and seems to be stable.

[Guest LokisMom]

When I worked at the vet clinic, overnight care only happened in very rare circumstances. Or should I say overnight care that was actually staffed. I have always wondered why some vets think it is safer for a dog/cat to be at a clinic overnight unsupervised then at home.

 

We had a few dogs that were so sick that shuttling them back and forth between clinic and home was not an option, but not so sick they needed someone with them 24 hours.

 

Oh and when someone did stay overnight, it was usually me, the kennel person, not a trained vet "tech." I did know how to do most of the stuff they did anyway but...

 

 

[Bevd]

My vet will keep dogs overnight but not if they need monitoring.

I don't get it (as I said in the other thread). If a dog is poorly enough to remain at the vets overnight then it needs monitoring IMO. If nobody is there to monitor, I would bring the dog home and monitor it myself and then call the vet out if I was concerned.

[mom2zeus]

We're lucky, our vet has a tech there over night to watch over all the animals that are there (boarding and hospital) and give meds if they are needed over night. But our vet also USED to be a 24 hr emergency vet. They changed over to only having a tech there over night a few years ago. They were having a really hard time keeping the good vets at the practice because of all the overnight hours. But they still have a vet on site from 7 am to 10 pm 7 days a week and have night and weekend appointments and most importantly really know greyhounds so we're happy (and know how lucky we are).

[Guest suzye]

My vet will keep dogs overnight but not if they need monitoring.

I don't get it (as I said in the other thread). If a dog is poorly enough to remain at the vets overnight then it needs monitoring IMO. If nobody is there to monitor, I would bring the dog home and monitor it myself and then call the vet out if I was concerned.

I'm with you. Why keep them there if no one is doing anything? Maybe just to keep them on IV? But I think if they have an IV they should be monitored. That's scary to me. What if they have meds dripping in the IV and start having a reaction or something? What if they hurt themselves in their cage?

 

Until a few months ago I just assumed someone would be there to check. I didn't even realize this was a question I should be asking. Wow.

Edited January 21, 2009 by suzye