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13. Is My Senior Dog Having an Emergency? What to Watch For · Senior Pet Talk | for dogs + cats

• Amanda Steffen: You are listening to Senior Pet Talk, the show where we combine Western and Chinese medicine to give senior dog and cat parents the knowledge, the clarity, and the confidence to make sure that your pets' senior years are their best years yet. I'm Dr. Amanda Stefan. Let's get started. Hello, senior pet parent. Thank you for tuning in to another episode of the Senior Pet Tal Podcast, where we're gonna talk everything. Senior dogs and cats. I'm gonna go through Western, Eastern, all the different modalities. I want you to be a prepared pet parent. And that is what we're gonna do with our podcasts. So today, I want to talk specifically to senior dog parents about common emergencies that I see when I work in the emergency department. So when I graduated veterinary school, I wanted to do one of two things. I either wanted to work in emergency medicine or I wanted to work in shelter medicine and low-income spay neuter, that type of stuff. Well, I did both and I love emergency medicine. I love shelter medicine. I have rotated through both of those things off and on. For the entirety of my 10 year career at this point. However, I eventually landed in the place that you know me, which is in senior pet care. I just over time became more and more like they didn't have a voice and they needed me. So I and I really feel like my heart spoke to senior pets. So that's why I'm aware of that now. However, I do still work on the weekends at an emergency facility that's also a specialty hospital, not too far from me. And we see a lot of senior pets that come through. And I think there are ways that those things could be maybe prevented or pet parents like you could be more prepared for. And that's my hope with today is to maybe take out some of the unknown and some of the big scare that happens when you have to go to emergency hospital. I understand that is very stressful, especially when you have a senior pet. You're just waiting for someone to tell you that they're not gonna come out of this. And that can be really traumatizing. So my hope today is not to scare you in any way. My hope today is to give you more information because information makes us less scared. If we know more about things, then we can be more prepared. And then when we go in when our pet has collapsed. We know in our head some of the things that could be going on. So when the vet comes in and tells us those things, then we feel a little bit more prepared for that, right? That's my goal today. You're gonna be so good at this at the end of it. Okay. I'm gonna talk about five emergencies that I see commonly. And I do just want to preface by saying this is on the eastern coast of the US. I feel like this happens most places. However, diseases and everything like that. are going to be different in different areas. So there is always always potential that these are not going to be the absolute most common emergencies that are seen. They're just the most common ones that I see in the emergency department that I work in on the eastern side of the United States. Okay. All right. Emergency number one. This is a sudden collapse. So if you go home and you find your pet, kind of laid out on the floor and they can't get up. If you are outside with them and all of a sudden they just kind of fall over and then they can't get up anymore. Those are one of the scariest emergencies, obviously. It's very difficult to to deal with that and to handle the emotional turmoil that comes from that. And we have no idea why, right? Because 10 minutes earlier, Max was fine. He was great. And then he just passed out or fell over. And now we can't get up. And I don't know what's going on. So a sudden collapse can happen for a couple of reasons. One of those I'll talk about a little bit more in another component of this emergency, but can also happen here is called syncope or like a truly a fainting episode. And that can happen often correlated with heart disease. So sometimes that happens when they go out and it's very hot outside. They've been panting a lot, or like maybe right after they throw something up, they have ⁓ a an event where they veil out and they pass out. Those things can happen. The other things that we see with sudden collapse is are they having some bleeding somewhere? And often that happens internally. Often, unfortunately, this is due to a a large tumor somewhere on the body. The one that we think of most commonly is one that is deemed the silent killer. And it is called hemangiosarcoma. And this is a tumor that typically grows in the spleen or the liver. It can also form on the base of the heart and also in the brain. And hemangiosarcoma basically when it happens in the spleen, which is the most common place, it Is just going to fill the spleen up with these little nodules of tumor and they fill with a bunch of blood. And when they're full and they're still inside the spleen, then it's not really a problem per se. Like it's not something that we would notice. Sometimes they may have a little decreased appetite. Sometimes they may like look a little bloated or heavier or something, but typically we're not gonna notice any major clinical signs. until that mask gets so big that it pops or they fall and it pops and it ruptures. And then they will bleed internally and they it just will not stop a lot of times until they have to go in for a surgery or talk about, you know, end-of-life conversations. So this this happens in more pets than I would ever want to see. You know, this is, I feel like, one of the Most common things that I see in emergency medicine right now. There are a lot of studies trying to look into why this is happening. Is it genetic? Is it based on food? Is it based on all these things? Everyone has their theory. I will tell you, working in the 10 years that I've worked, I have seen dogs who have this who have lived on a farm their whole life and never been to a vet or had a single vaccine. I have seen this in pets who are fed only a raw diet. I have seen this in pets who are fully vaccinated up to date on everything and go to the vet regularly. I've seen this in, you know, all types of pets. So I think there's a lot of like stuff on the internet that will tell you, ⁓ it's because of the food. ⁓ it's because of the vaccines. ⁓ it's because of this. And that's just not true based on what I've seen. I I think there is a genetic component to it because we see it more predisposed in certain breeds like golden retrievers, German Shepherds, Boxers, and those types of breeds. However, I don't know that there's really a ⁓ set thing that we can identify it with right now. And unfortunately, that is just the way of cancer a lot of times. We oftentimes cannot find out what is correlated with. It's the same with people. And if we don't have the answers for humans, we're likely not going to have the answers yet for animals because, you know, we typically are a couple of years behind what we find in the human world of medicine. So just a lot of cancers and things like that, we don't have. Have a reason at this point. So another good tidbit of information for you to have, if you ever do have your pet that like falls over in the yard and you can't get them up, you know, one big thing to do is to put your fingers in front of their nose. Do you feel air moving? Do you feel them breathing? That's really important. Do you see their chest rising and falling? Are they breathing? Obviously, that's step one. And then another thing is how are you going to get them in the car? Right. A lot of times these are big dogs and sometimes you're alone. So a good tidbit of information that I've been able to give people is to get a sheet or a comforter, a really big comforter, and then just put it beside them, roll them onto it and slide them. Whether I mean maybe you put them onto a like we're in Ohio, I have a sled. So I could always like put them onto the sled onto the comforter or whatever it may be, just Put them onto something, whether it may be a dog bed that has really good sides to it, like the one that you, if you're watching on video, you can see Mabel is laying on down here, you know, and you slide that to your car. And then typically in that scenario, you you probably are gonna need someone else to help you get them up in the car, but just run over to a neighbor's house and be like, Hey, please, I need you to help me get my dog in the car. Grab four corners of the comforter, lift them into the back of the car and head out, right? So a comforter or sheet can be really helpful in those specific situations. If you feel like it could be heat induced, heat strokes can happen from collapsing events. So you can always, if it's, you know, warm outside, and that can mean 75 degrees for like a brakes phallic dog or a senior dog. But if they've been running around, they were panting and then they they passed out, you know, you can tell if you touch them and they feel very warm, then it may help to cool them down. So that may mean like dunking them in water, helping something like that. And then it's always airflow is a big thing with that too. So if you could put them in the front seat and then cut the AC on on them while you rush them to the hospital. If you have a thermometer that you use just for your dogs, I really recommend having this. And that would be like a rectal thermometer. So if they've collapsed, they're not really going to fight you for erectile temperature. Right. So just Pop the rectal thermometer in there, check their temperature. Normal for dogs is 99 to 102. So if we're 103 or above, that could be indicative of an overheating type of event. So the active cooling process is important. Don't do this if you don't know their temperature. Okay. Because that can be counterintuitive to what may be going on with them. So, you know, that being said, typically when you go into the hospital setting after you're pet has collapsed, you're gonna get seen pretty quickly. Another at-home tip for you when and if this does happen is to lift up their lip and look at their gums. Are their gums a pretty bubblegum pink color? Or have they turned this dark white color or this gray color or this like black color? Sometimes pets have normal pigmented black gums, so that is something to be aware of one way or the other. But if not, and it's turning this like purple or gray or white color, that means we're having some issues with the amount of red blood cells that are in our bloodstream and we're anemic, or we're having some issues with moving oxygen in our body. And, you know, that could be for a couple of different reasons. But regardless, it's a big emergency to get into the hospital setting. It's likely that a lot of things are going to happen rapidly in that scenario. But I do think if nothing else you take from today to know that homangiosarcoma exists and they will have normal blood work typically until it ruptures. And you may not find this on a typical exam, you know, before it ruptures. So I do I'm a huge advocate for getting x-rays once a year or twice a year. That may still not catch it, but it is a I have caught many that way by just saying, hey, let's just do some screening abdominal x-rays. This is a larger breed dog. You know, it can happen in quirgies, and I've seen it in Dawsons and little dogs too, like Maltises, but it's more common in those bigger dogs. Why don't we just check some x-rays to look for any abnormalities that we may see, right? It may take as much as an ultrasound if you're a crazy person like me who has the benefit of a discount at your local emergency facility or the cost to be able to handle this. I get yearly ultrasounds on my dogs once they're seniors. So for my large breed, 75 pound dog, that was considered around she's seven or eight years old. We started yearly ultrasounds of her belly and my Frenchie also started around seven because Frenchie sometimes can be a little finicky on their age into seniorhood and everything like that. So that would be great. I understand that's not feasible for a lot of people. So x-rays would be a great thing to do one to two times a year to screen for those things, right? Okay. Emergency number two. This is a what people deem as bloat or GDV, gastric dilatation of bovulus. So basically, what this is, is this is much more common in larger dogs and giant breed dogs like German shepherds, ⁓ deep-chested dogs. Like Great Danes, Mastiffs, Bernese Mountain Dogs, those types of guys, right? We can also see it in Lynchum Retrievers and like big pit bulls and things like that. So essentially what happens here is there is either a mass or something in the abdomen that's pushing on this stomach, or they've just eaten food very quickly. They have some laxity in their ligaments and things like that because they're slightly older. And they have basically just this big pendulum that's happening in their abdomen, right? Their stomach is full and their chest is deep and that stomach is just swinging around in the belly. And if it's just swinging around in there and then it just flips onto itself, then it can cut off all the circulation. They can't throw up. So oftentimes people come in and say, well, he's like retching like he needs to throw up, but he's not able to get anything out. That is a big red flag for us, right? And this is something that is gonna require emergency surgery. I will tell you guys about one of my patients, Harley Quinn. She is a German shepherd. She is nine years old. She was on a course of steroids for inflammatory bowel disease symptoms. And that course of steroids made her ligaments lack. And her tendons kind of loose, right? So what happened was that she ate her dinner one night. Her parents are wonderful. All of my clients have my personal cell phone number and all do a very good job of respecting my time. But I am more concierge based. So if something happens, they can contact me. I can't always go see them. I have kids and I have, you know, things I have to do, but I can usually navigate most things via conversation. phone communication with them. And they reached out to me and I was I was in the shower and I got the message through my headset and my like my headphone, I read this message from Harley's mom and she said, Hey, Harley ate her food and then she's just pacing a lot and panting and she can't seem to lay down and get comfortable. And she's like trying to throw up, but she's not able to I don't know what's going on. We're gonna keep an eye on her, but I just wanted to like update you. I ran down those stairs so fast, so fast. And my husband was like, What is wrong? It's like I have to call these people right now. So I called her and I said, No, no. Donna, you have to go to the emergency room right now. You need to go to MedVet. I will meet you there. That is our local emergency facility who has a a surgeon on call. I said, We need to go to the emergency facility right now. I I can meet you there to help you, but I'm worried that she's flipped her stomach. And it was exactly what had happened. So grateful that night for the emergency veterinarian who was on. They took her back. When they brought her in, they said, you know, my vet is worried that she could have bloated her stomach. They took her straight back. They took x-rays. They got they confirmed that she had flipped her stomach. And they quickly were able to do what we call a trocar, which is where we place a needle from the outside of the body into the belly, because the belly fills with gas and we can drain all that gas off. So it it relieves a lot of the pressure. Think if you have like a huge abscess or something, or like you're really gassy and you've ever had that gas that's like debilitating. That's what it feels like. It is so painful. And then it's starting to cut off circulation and flow. And they're getting a lot of discomfort from this, right? So they placed ⁓ what we call a trop, released all the air pressure that was in the in the abdomen and placed IV catheters, went ahead and got her some good pain medications on board, got her some IV fluid therapy going. The doctor came in and talked with me and the family, and they said, Well, we're not ready to lose her. So we want to try surgery. In a GDB situation, there's really no other. You're either going to surgery or we're talking about end of life because that stomach is likely not going to flip back on its own. And it is a very painful, unfair process for a pet to go through otherwise. So thankfully, they were able to proceed with surgery. The surgeon came in and did the surgery. Harley went home the next day. By the time the surgeon had gotten in, Her stomach was back to normal color. She was doing okay. They just tacked it. So basically, what they will do is they'll go in surgically and unflip that stomach. And then we actually cut like a small incision in this side of the stomach, not all the way through, but just partially through. And then a small incision on the side of the rib cage. And we attach them together like you would a zipper. And we zip that up with suture. So that the stomach cannot flip again. They can bloat, so they can fill with gas or food, but the stomach cannot actually flip again, which is the really important part and the part that requires surgical intervention. So because of how quickly we got to that, she did very well. The mortality, even with immediate surgery, can be up to 30%. So That rises even higher if it's been more than six hours since it happened. So this happened around 730 p.m. She was in surgery by 10 and out by eleven and all all better, right? So speed is very important in these scenarios as well. It is typically more common in dogs seven plus dogs, usually like nine to twelve, and the risk. Increases yearly in our large and giant breed dogs, like great Danes, things over 80 pounds, basically. So dogs over 100 pounds actually have like a 20% lifetime risk. Great Danes are up to 40 to 42% lifetime risk without preventative. So here's the thing with this: there is a way to prevent it. And it's exactly the procedure that I just told you about that a Harley had, where they go in, but this is before it twists. And this can be whenever they get spayed or neutered or if they have something else going on, or you can just do it on on their own. I do know some surgeons do this laparoscopically. And essentially they will go in and tack that stomach so that this can't happen. If you have a great dane, I think this is a fantastic idea because there's a 42% lifetime risk of this. Like almost one in two Great Danes is going have this happen. So why not get it done and prevent this, you know. Very expensive surgery, very painful endeavor for your pet. I think this is something very important that we need to offer a lot more of in general practice to these larger breed dogs for sure. So again, the warning signs of this are like this pacing, this panting, this unproductive retching without having any vomit come up, you may notice that their belly is descended. You may see the distinction in their in their abdomen. They're gonna be restless, they're not gonna wanna lay down, they're gonna lay down and get right back up, they're gonna be distressed and just not able to get comfortable. If it gets really bad, then they will start to just lay down and essentially start to pass. So this is something to be aware of if you come home after a couple hours and you notice their belly is bloated and they like won't get up. Again, back to emergency number one, get them on something, get them in the car, get them to the ER, right? But just be prepared when this happens, if you are concerned about a GDV or torsion, the first thing they're gonna want to do is to perform some x-rays to see whether it truly is or not. And then it kind of goes straight from there, right? The third emergency that I see in senior pets is pain. They'll come in because they are having a flare up of some chronic pain issue, whether that's intervertebral disc disease, whether that's osteoarthritis, can also be oral pain if they have severe dental disease. So these guys come in because they're having a hard time getting around, they're whining, they're painful, they're not able to go to sleep, and you know, they're they're just uncomfortable, right? Sometimes with intervertebradis disease, if this is a flare-up of that, they may have some difficulty using their back legs or their front legs. And, you know, we have some panting that happens with pain, with dental pain. We also see like not eating, dropping food, a foul odor from the mouth, not closing their mouth very well. being hesitant to eat food, not wanting to take treats, all those things can be signs of pain, right? Appetite changes are a sign of general pain. Not taking treats when they normally would can be a general sign of pain. So to me, this is one of the most important parts I can give you as a pet parent. In my program, we have a flare plan for pets and I go through how you how you make that between me and your family that Because I want you to know if this does happen where they're in this acute pain episode on a Saturday night, I would prefer to have a protocol that you can give them at home. So you're not having to go take them into this waiting room for three hours, them sit on a hard floor and get even more painful over that timeframe, right? So what I would love is if we could for all of our senior pets when they come through. have this flare plan made where we say, okay, look, it is likely they could fall and hurt themselves. And this may be something that happens on a weeknight or weekend or something like that. So let's have a plan together of like, is it massage therapy? Is it heat? Is it ice compress? Is it that we're going to do this like P EMF MAT, or, you know, is there something specific we're going to be able to do? And medications. I would love for you to have whether that's like an herbal, like Arnica, tea relief, or whether that's going to be something like an anti-inflammatory that you have on hand or like a nerve pain medication or something like that that you have on hand that you can give for these flare ups. I think it's extremely important to send pet parents with like a week of pain medications to have just as needed. Obviously, make sure it's safe if you don't have. you know, ⁓ blood work that's been done prior, maybe you can't have incids, but they can have gabapen or a mantidine or, you know, something else for pain that can help, right? So I I think it's very important for these guys to have this flare plan in place. And I think for dental pain, I think it's very important to ask your vet when you go in for routine visits, are my pet's teeth okay? And do I need a dental cleaning? And Senior pets can have dental cleanings. Senior pets should have dental cleanings. Dental disease is linked to chronic pain, dementia, heart failure, liver disease, kidney disease, a lot of different problems, right? And it's not fair to just say, well, he's 12, we don't want to put him under anesthesia because we're afraid he might pass to say. That's why we're gonna leave him in chronic pain and increase his risk of dementia and heart-related disease that could kill him. In my opinion, I think that should always be an open conversation. So there are definitely things we can do in emergency setting for that, but I would prefer that you have an opportunity to treat that at home before you have to come in. Right. Have you ever left the vet with more questions than answers? And then you drive home and you go straight on to Google. Yeah, I hear that a lot. And honestly, is exactly why I created my senior pet virtual consultations. Imagine we have 45 minutes where we go through everything. Your pet's full history, their specific challenges, their daily life, no rushing. We're gonna cover nutrition, integrative options, whole modifications, and quality of life. And I send you a personalized plan after so that nothing slips through the cracks here. But don't just take my word for it. Chelsea called it a senior pup therapy session and said she felt so much better afterwards. Adiba got recommendations her own vet had never thought to suggest, and Denise said that the consult was incredibly informative and helpful, giving her many options to help her dog Loki feel better. This is the conversation that your senior pet deserves. And honestly, The one you deserve too. The link is in the description. I'd love to help you. All right, emergency number four, this is going to be labored breathing. So 25% of dogs over the age of 10 are going to have an aspect of heart disease. That number goes up to 35% of dogs over the age of 12. So it is likely, you know, there's a one in four chance that your dog can have heart disease as they get older. So labored breathing in the sense of an increased respiratory rate. If you guys do not know how to do an a a respiratory rate at home, then I will teach you real quick. You just get a stopwatch, put a minute timer on it, and you watch their chest rise and fall. While they're resting, like if you see here, Mabel was resting until Emmett is now sitting on top of her. This is how they live their life. But while they're resting like this, I can watch their chest rise and fall and I can count that for one minute. And ideally we should be somewhere between like 15 and 30. If we're consistently over 40 when they're resting, that is concerning. If they are panting a lot without seeming like they can catch their breath, they can't get comfortable, they can't lay down, that could be related to pain or something else, but it could also be difficulty breathing. Now, a lot of times, especially with Brighthalx, I can tell the difference in Emmett's breathing when he's actually not able to catch his breath. It sounds much more raspy and like stressed than when when he's just panting, right? So if you're watching this on video in any way, they're resituating themselves over here. And it looks very pitiful, but they are okay. They've shared a bed forever. Okay. So this labored breathing, this increased risk free rate, you may also notice in this regard, these like blue gums almost or like blue tongue that can happen and that means they're not oxygenating appropriately. can also look like muddy almost. So those are all signs that's an emergency right now. This could be again related to heart disease. It could also be related to lung disease if they have fluid or if they have cancers or things like that that are going on with their lungs as well. More commonly we see it associated with heart disease. If you're in a southern state, heartworm disease can also happen. That is not specific to older pets, but that can also cause these symptoms and heart failure eventually with that. All right. Another thing with heart disease is it typically comes more as like a wet sounding cough and more so when they lay down and often more at night. So if they like go to lay down and then they get right back up and then they cough, that can often be more related to heart disease as opposed to some some dogs also get tracheal narrowing as they get older, tracheal collapse. And that can win more of this like dry hacky honking cough. Okay. All right. Emergency number five, neurologic disease. So this could be seizures or this could be old dog vestibular disease. So if we're starting to have seizures and we've never had a seizure event before the age of five to seven, then we do start to get worried that this could be something big like a cancer or something like that. Right. So It's not to say that a dog can't start having seizures at the age of 10 and not have a tumor, but it is just to say, like, this is something we need to keep a really close eye on. If you guys don't know the story of Floyd, my dog Floyd had a brain tumor, and he never had seizures, but he did have neurologic changes. So he had what we call Horner's disease, which is where one of his eyes, like the third eyelid came up, the eye looked like it was sunken back and he had like a droopy eyelid and stuff like that. And it went away. And then he had other symptoms like he was seemingly lost, almost seemed like dementia symptoms. And then he one day Food would have never bitten me, but he did try to like put his mouth on me to get me to stop doing something. And he would have never done that. Right. So I knew something was wrong. Subsequently he did get an MRI. We did find that he had a brain tumor. We did try to treat that to the best of my ability at that time. It did not have Chinese medicine in my wheelhouse. But it doesn't always have to be a full blown seizure to mean they could have a brain tumor or something like that. So these neurologic side effects can happen or these neurologic symptoms can happen. So we can start to see these neurological things like seizure activity. The other big one that I see is vestibular disease. And this is what we often deem old dog vestibular disease. And it is basically where you come home, your dog cannot stand up. You may notice that their eyes are dilating back and forth. That's cognitis. And they Try to get out, maybe walk around, but they're like stumbling over or they're falling into the wall. They're sometimes they're actually like alligator rolling because they can't, they they feel like they're on roller coaster. The best way to compare this to Sunaian humans is vertigo. I don't know if anyone has ever had vertigo. I don't know if you've ever had vertigo, but if you have, this is this is the best way to describe this, basically. It means they feel like their world is spinning, they feel like everything's been turned upside down, they don't know what side is down, what side is up, where the sky is, where the floor is. Everything feels very off. And the the true wording of it is called idiopathic vestibular disease. Anytime you see idiopathic in front of something, idiopathic just means we don't know why it's happened. So I think one of my teachers described ⁓ it as we're idiots because we don't know. But I think that obviously like we just don't have all the answers to everything in in medicine. So Either your pathic vestibular disease or as deemed old dog vestibular disease, because it usually happens in older dogs. Sometimes it can be related to like an inner ear infection as well. It can also be related to like a brain lesion or something like that. There is some new research going on that says maybe it's like beta flac formation on the brain. Maybe it's more common in our patients with dementia. Maybe it is a vascular event in the brain. So like some sort of like a mini stroke that happens in the brain, or like a physical anomaly in the brain, like a tumor, right? So there can be a couple of different reasons. The reason that we don't have more information about why it happens in our senior dogs is because most people are not going to be able to fund or do not want to put their pet through their senior pet through an MRI or a CT scan to find out because. with old dog vestibular disease, typically they're gonna get substantially better in three to five days with just some supportive care for that vertigo for vomiting, things like that. We actually give them, you know, meclosine typically, which is like a non drowsy drinamine and a couple other medications. Obviously never do that on our own. Please do not, but it's gonna be something where we're helping to support the body and you're doing a lot of the heavy lifting with trying to keep them comfortable and safe. away from stairs, you know, anything like that, using a harness or whatever it may need to be until they're able to get all that figured out. And usually three to five days they're able to stand and walk on their own. They may still be a little stumbly within two to six weeks, depending on the pet, they are usually back to normal. They may always have a head tilt or a turn of their head, but usually they do fine. I've had a couple recently with my in home pets One dog was better two to three weeks later, pretty much back to normal. Another dog pretty much back to normal at about four to five weeks. Another one had a pretty substantial head tail and staggering for like two months, and then one day was just better. So again, none of them had a C tier and MRI because they didn't want to put their pet under anesthesia. So we don't always get to the bottom of why, you know. So that is just something to be aware of. If those things happen, they're very scary. Seizures are obviously very scary. Seizures can also be due to like toxins or liver disease or kidney disease, some other metabolic diseases can cause this as well. So it doesn't always have to be like a brain tumor. It can also be like toxins or disease of the other organs. But typically in those scenarios with vestibular disease or with seizures, they're gonna talk to you about doing some blood work initially, maybe some imaging depending on what we find on blood work. ⁓ and stuff like that. And obviously you should always be offered C T or MRI of the brain with a neurologist to rule in or out things. But, you know, that typically dies around, I know here where I am, three to five thousand dollars. So it can be rather expensive to go through that process. But you know, if we do anything and everything for our pets, I know that. So okay. So those are the five emergencies, true emergencies that I see. And I hope that this gives you a little more insight onto what they are. We never expect an emergency to happen, but if it does, I always wish you to know what a closest ER is, how to get there, have all their information as far as like what medications that they're on. If you don't know, just take the whole like drawer with you. I don't care what supplements that they're on, everything is very important, what dog food they're sample picture of food, whatever it may be, all those things are important to like just have somewhere ready to go to an ER if you ever need that. Okay. And my goal here is to always empower you as a grandparent to know some of these things so that if you ever do have to go to emergency hospital, you are a little more prepared for like what's gonna happen as you walk in that door, because that's one of the scariest first. And then like what's going to be the recommendations that they have for you and a little bit as to what they're thinking, what could be going on so that you're able to feel a little bit more at ease with the more knowledge that you have. You are the most important part of your Pets care team. I am a firm believer in that. I am here to create amazing caregivers out of everyone. Okay. All right. Thank you for tuning in today. I appreciate you being here. I hope this helped you. If it did, please hit the rate button below. Please subscribe. The only thing that I asked for you for all of this free content that I put here is just to subscribe and share and follow me. Okay. Right. Thank you. Have a good day. That's it for today. If this episode helped you, please leave a review or rate this podcast so we can get the word out to more pet parents who need to hear that they are doing a good job. And if you're interested in working more with me, you can find me on social media or at senior petconnection.com because we all need to stay connected. Remember that you are doing a great job with the information that you have in this moment. And I am just here to give you more of it. See you next week.