{"id":1325,"date":"2019-06-18T11:55:13","date_gmt":"2019-06-18T15:55:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/?p=1325"},"modified":"2022-07-11T09:51:57","modified_gmt":"2022-07-11T13:51:57","slug":"what-is-a-true-emergency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/what-is-a-true-emergency\/","title":{"rendered":"What is a TRUE emergency?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When should you rush to your family vet? When should you go to the emergency clinic? When is it safe to wait until the next day?<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1326 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Emergency-puppy.jpg\" alt=\"A puppy laying on the beach\" width=\"1920\" height=\"907\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Emergency-puppy.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Emergency-puppy-1100x520.jpg 1100w, https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Emergency-puppy-768x363.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Here is a list of 13 true emergencies that require immediate vet care, day or night, week day or week end*.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Severe bleeding or bleeding that doesn&#8217;t stop within 5 minutes.<\/li>\n<li>Choking, difficulty breathing or nonstop coughing and gagging.<\/li>\n<li>Bleeding from nose, mouth or rectum; coughing up blood; blood in urine.<\/li>\n<li>Inability to urinate or defecate, or obvious pain or straining while eliminating.<\/li>\n<li>Injuries to an eye.<\/li>\n<li>Your pet ate or drank something poisonous (antifreeze, xylitol, chocolate, rat poison etc.).<\/li>\n<li>Seizures and\/or staggering and\/or paralysis.<\/li>\n<li>Fractured bones or severe lameness.<\/li>\n<li>Obvious signs of pain or extreme anxiety.<\/li>\n<li>Heat stress or heatstroke.<\/li>\n<li>Severe vomiting or diarrhea \u2013 more than two episodes in a 24-hour period, or either of these combined with obvious illness or any of the other problems listed here.<\/li>\n<li>Refusal to drink for 24 hours or more.<\/li>\n<li>Unconsciousness.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The bottom line is that ANY concern about your pet&#8217;s health warrants, at a minimum, a call to your family vet.<\/p>\n<p><em>Phil Zeltzman, DVM, DACVS, CVJ, Fear Free Certified<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"_GoBack\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>* This list was compiled by the American Veterinary Medical Association.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When should you rush to your family vet? When should you go to the emergency clinic? When is it safe to wait until the next day? Here is a list of 13 true emergencies that require immediate vet care, day or night, week day or week end*. Severe bleeding or bleeding that doesn&#8217;t stop within [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[144,157,22,9],"class_list":["post-1325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-emergency","tag-phil-zeltzman","tag-veterinary-emergency","tag-veterinary-medicine"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What is a TRUE emergency? | Dr Phil Zeltzman\u2019s Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When should you rush to your family vet? When should you go to the emergency clinic? When is it safe to wait until the next day?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/what-is-a-true-emergency\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What is a TRUE emergency? | Dr Phil Zeltzman\u2019s Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When should you rush to your family vet? When should you go to the emergency clinic? When is it safe to wait until the next day?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/what-is-a-true-emergency\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Dr Phil Zeltzman\u2019s Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DrZeltzman\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"PhilZeltzman\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-06-18T15:55:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-07-11T13:51:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Emergency-puppy.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dr. Phil Zeltzman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dr. Phil Zeltzman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/what-is-a-true-emergency\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/what-is-a-true-emergency\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Dr. Phil Zeltzman\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f7a1e1d287769c21b7f44ad05ffdeabe\"},\"headline\":\"What is a TRUE emergency?\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-06-18T15:55:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-07-11T13:51:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/what-is-a-true-emergency\/\"},\"wordCount\":209,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/what-is-a-true-emergency\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Emergency-puppy.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"emergency\",\"phil zeltzman\",\"veterinary emergency\",\"veterinary medicine\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/what-is-a-true-emergency\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/what-is-a-true-emergency\/\",\"name\":\"What is a TRUE emergency? | Dr Phil Zeltzman\u2019s Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/what-is-a-true-emergency\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/what-is-a-true-emergency\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Emergency-puppy.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-06-18T15:55:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-07-11T13:51:57+00:00\",\"description\":\"When should you rush to your family vet? When should you go to the emergency clinic? When is it safe to wait until the next day?\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/what-is-a-true-emergency\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/what-is-a-true-emergency\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/what-is-a-true-emergency\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Emergency-puppy.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Emergency-puppy.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":907},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/what-is-a-true-emergency\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What is a TRUE emergency?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Dr Phil Zeltzman\u2019s Blog\",\"description\":\"Serious advice for true pet lovers\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Dr Phil Zeltzman\u2019s Blog\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/logo.png\",\"width\":529,\"height\":79,\"caption\":\"Dr Phil Zeltzman\u2019s Blog\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DrZeltzman\/\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/drphilzeltzman\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/drphilzeltzman\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f7a1e1d287769c21b7f44ad05ffdeabe\",\"name\":\"Dr. Phil Zeltzman\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c0716bcce983917b17547ea6ef8cad3e572c2a103cfa0fb8feb134b55c266187?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c0716bcce983917b17547ea6ef8cad3e572c2a103cfa0fb8feb134b55c266187?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dr. Phil Zeltzman\"},\"sameAs\":[\"PhilZeltzman\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/author\/christiekeith\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What is a TRUE emergency? | Dr Phil Zeltzman\u2019s Blog","description":"When should you rush to your family vet? When should you go to the emergency clinic? When is it safe to wait until the next day?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/what-is-a-true-emergency\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What is a TRUE emergency? | Dr Phil Zeltzman\u2019s Blog","og_description":"When should you rush to your family vet? When should you go to the emergency clinic? When is it safe to wait until the next day?","og_url":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/what-is-a-true-emergency\/","og_site_name":"Dr Phil Zeltzman\u2019s Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DrZeltzman\/","article_author":"PhilZeltzman","article_published_time":"2019-06-18T15:55:13+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-07-11T13:51:57+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Emergency-puppy.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Dr. Phil Zeltzman","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dr. Phil Zeltzman","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/what-is-a-true-emergency\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/what-is-a-true-emergency\/"},"author":{"name":"Dr. Phil Zeltzman","@id":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f7a1e1d287769c21b7f44ad05ffdeabe"},"headline":"What is a TRUE emergency?","datePublished":"2019-06-18T15:55:13+00:00","dateModified":"2022-07-11T13:51:57+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/what-is-a-true-emergency\/"},"wordCount":209,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/what-is-a-true-emergency\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Emergency-puppy.jpg","keywords":["emergency","phil zeltzman","veterinary emergency","veterinary medicine"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/what-is-a-true-emergency\/","url":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/what-is-a-true-emergency\/","name":"What is a TRUE emergency? | Dr Phil Zeltzman\u2019s Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/what-is-a-true-emergency\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/what-is-a-true-emergency\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Emergency-puppy.jpg","datePublished":"2019-06-18T15:55:13+00:00","dateModified":"2022-07-11T13:51:57+00:00","description":"When should you rush to your family vet? When should you go to the emergency clinic? When is it safe to wait until the next day?","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/what-is-a-true-emergency\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/what-is-a-true-emergency\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/what-is-a-true-emergency\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Emergency-puppy.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Emergency-puppy.jpg","width":1920,"height":907},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/what-is-a-true-emergency\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What is a TRUE emergency?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/","name":"Dr Phil Zeltzman\u2019s Blog","description":"Serious advice for true pet lovers","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Dr Phil Zeltzman\u2019s Blog","url":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/logo.png","width":529,"height":79,"caption":"Dr Phil Zeltzman\u2019s Blog"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DrZeltzman\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/drphilzeltzman\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/drphilzeltzman"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f7a1e1d287769c21b7f44ad05ffdeabe","name":"Dr. Phil Zeltzman","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c0716bcce983917b17547ea6ef8cad3e572c2a103cfa0fb8feb134b55c266187?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c0716bcce983917b17547ea6ef8cad3e572c2a103cfa0fb8feb134b55c266187?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dr. Phil Zeltzman"},"sameAs":["PhilZeltzman"],"url":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/author\/christiekeith\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1325"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1325\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2173,"href":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1325\/revisions\/2173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}