The goal of the critical care service (or ICU) of the Veterinary Specialty and Emergency Center is to provide the highest level of intensive 24-hour care to our critically ill patients as well as provide consistent and effective communication with our clients and referring veterinarians.
Our ICU is led by four board-certified critical care specialists who are Diplomates of the American College of Veterinary Emergency & Critical Care or ACVECC.
Only Diplomates of the ACVECC have completed a 3-year residency in emergency and critical care and passed a series of national qualifying examinations. No other veterinarians have received as much rigorous and complete training and testing in the field of veterinary emergency and critical care.
Patients are transferred directly from our referring veterinarians into the ICU or from the VSEC emergency service or other specialists. Walk-in critical patients are also treated in our ICU.
Services Offered:
- 24-hour staffing by doctors and nurses for your pet's intensive care
- Placement and management of feeding tubes for nutritional support: PEG, esophageal, nasogastric and nasojejunal
- Continuous electrocardiography monitoring for patients with cardiac problems
- Arterial, indirect and central venous blood pressure monitoring for critical patients
- Advanced pain control including continuous rate infusions for your pet's comfort during times of illness and stress
- Blood typing, cross-matching, blood and plasma transfusions for anemia and bleeding disorders
- Oxygen therapy and respiratory support for patients with respiratory distress
- Full-service, in-house stat laboratory including blood gas analysis for critical care diagnostics and monitoring
If your pet is in our ICU, you can expect to be in close contact with our veterinarians and nurses. Daily visitation is encouraged for most of our patients. We also keep in touch with your primary veterinarian with daily faxed updates and phone calls.
VSEC’s Emergency & Critical Care Specialists:
- Laura W. Tseng, DVM, DACVECC
- Melissa A. Java, VMD, DACVECC
- Garret E. Pachtinger, VMD, DACVECC
- Rebecca S. Syring, DVM, DACVECC
Testimonial
All of you showed exemplary compassion to us during the critical days. Mandy was critically ill with encephalitis and all of you in some way helped us through this difficult time. We will never forget each one of you and how compassionate you were to our precious Mandy and to us!
Dave & Donna, Philadelphia, PA
