In case of Emergency

Part of our commitment as Vets is to provide care for our patients at all times. At Castle Vets we provide our own out-of-hours cover, which we believe is the best solution for our patients. One of the advantages of having a small team of Vets is that it is likely whoever you see will be familiar to you (and your pet); one disadvantage is that the Vet who you see in the small hours will usually be back at work the next morning, facing another full day. To help us provide the best care day and night, please do not call out-of-hours to discuss on-going cases (unless the situation has changed), or to make or cancel appointments. If you do call, do tell us your phone number, and stay off the phone for a few minutes so that we can call you back. The Vet will be alerted by text, by page and, if the message has not been collected already, at 15 minute intervals by phone. This is the longest you should have to wait for a call back: in most cases, it will be much less than 15 minutes. Please do not leave messages every two minutes - or we will be checking messages when we should be speaking to you.

EMERGENCIES include:
- bleeding which has not stopped after 4 minutes of constant pressure
- a suddenly-swollen abdomen
- non-productive attempts to vomit
- collapse
- RTA
- difficulty breathing, blue gums or tongue
- ingestion of chocolate, slug bait, rat poison, human medicines, ....especially paracetamol for cats, ibuprofen for dogs.
- eye injury

NOT EMERGENCIES:
- cat bites, and most dog bites
- vomiting and diarrhoea for less than 24 hours
- small wounds with little bleeding
- cancelling/changing appointments
- long-term problems
- difficulty rising due to arthritis that has been present for some time