Emergency Transfers

At CARE, in addition to submitting a referral to one of our specialty services, patients with urgent or emergency needs can be sent as a direct patient transfer from your practice. Direct case transfers are received by our Emergency team and evaluated by one of our ER Veterinarians who will then direct next steps for the pet, including any immediate care required and coordinating a plan for involvement of the specialty services and further diagnostics, such as advanced imaging. This is in contrast to more standard referrals to one of the specialty services, wherein after receiving the referral we will contact the owner to schedule an appointment with the specialist at earliest convenience. For direct patient transfers, we strongly recommend that you contact us at 403-520-8387 prior to transfer to speak to one of our ER Veterinarians to discuss the case so that we are prepared for their arrival and so that we can relay any expectations for your client. Please send patient records and a case summary using our online form.

At CARE, our Emergency department functions much like a human hospital wherein upon arrival pets undergo a triage assessment by one of our RVTs. This includes direct patient transfers. All pets are then seen by an ER Veterinarian in order of their stability, with more unstable pets being seen before those that are more stable. The goal is to ensure that pets in most urgent need of treatment are always prioritized. Like a human emergency department, emergency caseload can vary at any given time so wait times to see an ER Veterinarian may apply particularly for pets that are more stable from a cardiovascular, respiratory, or CNS standpoint.

Our ER Veterinarians see a combination of pets arriving as direct transfer from other practices as well as first presentation arrivals. For pets being directly transferred from your practice, information already gathered from your hospital can factor into our triage assessment of how stable or unstable the pet is. The most urgent cases will be seen first while more stable pets (even if they arrived as a direct transfer from another hospital) may be subject to wait times to see an ER veterinarian. This ensures that the pets who need treatment most rapidly are always prioritized.

We will endeavor to keep pet owners updated as to an estimated wait time to see an Emergency Veterinarian, though estimated wait times are subject to change.

To transfer a case through our Emergency service, please contact the CARE Centre at 403-520-8387 to speak to a member of our emergency team, then submit your case summary, records, diagnostics, etc. to [email protected] or via our online form.

Our fax line 403-692-4350 is still available for those who prefer this method.