Analgesia is the relief from pain. Pain can be difficult to assess in animals due to their inability to communicate directly about what they are experiencing. Instead, we must rely on indirect signs of pain. It is safe to assume that anything painful to a person is also painful to an animal. It is ideal for analgesia to be administered preemptively, or before, instead of waiting until after clinical signs of pain are observed. Analgesia is most often achieved pharmacologically, or with drugs.

Emergency & Critical Care

VCA Colonial Animal Hospital offers emergency care to our community from 8am-10pm seven days a week, 365 days a year and patients under care 24/7. Our emergency services give your pet access to all the resources of our specialty hospital, including a board-certified surgeon, acupuncturist, ultrasound, endoscopy, blood product therapy, in-house laboratory services, and 24 hour care.

If your pet is ill, please call our office at (607) 257-3650. Our receptionists handle calls and will arrange for your pet to be seen as soon as possible. Pets are seen on a triage basis, which means the most critically ill pets are seen first. Our receptionists should be able to advise you of any potential wait. Please note that our emergency veterinarians are unable to discuss problems or offer advice over the telephone without a thorough examination. If your patient would be better served by a specialist that is unavailable at our hospital we will stabilize your pet and offer you a referral.

Note to Patients of Other Veterinary Hospitals:
Please alert us if you are a regular client of another veterinary hospital. We see patients of all other veterinarians between 8am-10pm seven days a week. We will send a summary of our work with your pet to your veterinarian the day after examination.

Our Emergency & Critical Care Services

Aggressive Analgesia
Cardiac Output Monitoring
Central Venous Pressure Monitoring
Continuous ECG Monitoring and Telemetry

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