Stamford's ER Vet: Cornell University Veterinary Specialists

The husband went to India for work for the entire month of July, leaving me with a toddler and 9 year old English Coonhound to care for. With only a week left until the husband returned, I started bragging to friends that I'd managed to keep both the child and the dog alive for over 3 weeks. Of course, the next day the dog got into some baby ibuprofin, which in high enough doses can cause major problems like kidney damage and seizures. (This picture is of my dog, in one of her two modes: asleep or neurotic.)

Even though I was pretty sure the dog hadn't gotten much of the liquid, I wasn't about to blow my three week "keeping dog alive" streak. I called the vet, who recommended giving her hydrogen peroxide to induce vomiting. Of course, that remedy didn't work on my stubborn hound. After another call to the vet, we agreed I should take her to the ER Vet. They'd be able to give her fluids to flush the kidneys, or keep her overnight so she'd be supervised if she had a seizure or something. So, at 8:45 on a Saturday night, I packed the dog and kid up into the car and headed off to Cornell University Veterinary Specialists.

CUVS is located in the South End, just south of Fairway. It's a pretty deserted area at night, which made me a little nervous, but once I got inside the building, wow- it's spacious and brand new. Best of all, the staff is great and really seems to have their system down. I filled out some paperwork while the woman at the front desk took our dog back to be looked at. The vet did some calculations and figured out that the dose she could have gotten was only enough to give her indigestion- whew! In just about an hour, we left the vet with doggie Pepcid (and the dog). The whole visit, including the 30 dollar phone call to Poison Control to confirm the calculation, only cost us 188 bucks. So much better than what I was expecting, which was leaving the dog overnight, her possibly being sick, and 4 or 500 bucks for fancy medical care.

I was very impressed with the CUVS staff. While I was there, a family with an injured cat came in, and the front desk lady was so prompt and attentive with them. She calmly said she was worried about how fast the cat was breathing and hustled the cat back to the exam rooms, but she was so gentle about it. She could have really freaked that family out, and she didn't. When the vet came out to talk to me and tell me what he'd figured out about our dog, he explained everything thoroughly and slowly- a nice change from many of the doctors I see who rush in and out of the exam rooms as fast as they possibly can.

I highly recommend Cornell University Veterinary Specialists if you ever need emergency care for your pet, and I think we are really lucky to have them in Stamford.