What to expect if you have an exotic pet emergency

The Center for Bird and Exotic Animal Medicine (CBEAM) is the largest exotic-exclusive specialty hospital in the United States. CBEAM is open 24/7, 365 days per year, for emergency services, critical care, and routine preventative medicine.

The CBEAM Team comprises 50+ individuals (including 14 associate veterinarians) that have dedicated their careers to providing state-of-the-art veterinary care to exotic pets. We are staffed 24/7 to provide care to your exotic pets whenever you need it.

Our team is committed to upholding the highest standards of medicine, client care, and patient care. CBEAM is fully equipped with CT, fluoroscopy, digital x-ray, ultrasound, in-house laboratory, and state-of-the-art surgical facilities.

We understand that pet emergencies are stressful and overwhelming. When you bring your pet to CBEAM, you can do so with total confidence that both your pet’s needs and your concerns will be addressed. Our veterinarians will discuss possible causes of your pet’s illness and different treatment approaches, along with a detailed risk/benefit analysis. You will be provided with thorough treatment plans, including the cost of care, to ensure transparency while safeguarding your pet’s health.

CBEAM provides primary veterinary care for exotic pets, and also acts as a referral center to the surrounding emergency, exotic, and mixed veterinary practices in the Pacific Northwest. Patients with an identified primary veterinarian will have their records and all available lab results sent within 24 hours of discharge from CBEAM.

If you are coming to CBEAM on emergency

While CBEAM does accept walk-in emergencies, if at all possible, please call 425-892-0036 to let us know that you are coming. This lets us prepare for your arrival and speeds up the process. If we have a high influx of critical emergency patients and your pet is triaged as being in stable condition, you may be asked to come in at a specific time to try to minimize your wait time and decrease stress for your pet.

If your pet is having trouble breathing, please let us know when you call so that we can have an oxygen chamber prepared for your pet’s arrival.

We will send you a link via text or email with forms that allow us to collect information about you and your pet online (these are also accessible via link at the bottom of this page). Please fill as much of this out prior to your arrival as possible.After your arrival, our nursing and client care staff will work with you to obtain any additional clinically important information about you and your pet.

If your pet requires frequent treatment due to a chronic condition or recurring illness, we suggest maintaining a journal to help keep track of useful information, such as treatment schedules and responses to therapies, and bringing that journal with you so we can ensure appropriate continuity of care for your pet.

Upon your arrival, we will ask you for permission to administer pain medications and other treatments necessary to stabilize your pet. We will also ask you for an emergency code status in the event that your pet has/develops a cardiorespiratory emergency. We will discuss prognosis, treatment plan options, and cost of care (link to FAQs) with you prior to any more extensive interventions.

As an emergency hospital, we cannot predict our caseload from minute to minute. At times, we may have to push emergency procedures or surgeries to the front of the line to try to save those patient’s lives. Our emergency treatment team triages all emergency patients as they enter the hospital, and works to provide care to them in the order that it is most needed. Our ICU care team also works round the clock to re-evaluate the needs of our hospitalized patients. In the case of a heavy patient load, we ask for your patience and promise to keep you informed of changes to the best of our abilities. Patients who appear clinically stable may have a more prolonged wait to hear updates and discuss treatment plans compared to critically ill patients.

Please fill out this Patient/Visit History form:

https://form.jotform.com/CBEAMNVA/history-form

If you are new to CBEAM, please fill out this New Client Registration form:

https://form.jotform.com/CBEAMNVA/client-registration

When to seek ER care

Exotic pets are notorious for hiding symptoms of illness until the disease is advanced. Being able to catch a health problem early can make a big difference in how well your pet responds to treatment.

In most cases, if you see any changes to your pet’s normal appetite, attitude, or activity level, this warrants a veterinary exam. Even slight changes from “normal” can indicate serious underlying problems. In general, we recommend erring on the side of caution and having your pet evaluated promptly by an exotic veterinarian if you have any concerns. We offer several types of appointments to suit the needs of your pet. However, the level of urgency for the exam may vary significantly depending on the species.

Here are some examples of potentially life threatening emergencies that warrant immediate veterinary emergency care:

• Complete physical examination

• CT, Digital X-Ray, and Ultrasound

• Emergency surgery

• In-house laboratory for rapid results

• Isolation ward

• ICU care

• Multi-modal pain management

• Onsite pharmacy

• Oxygen therapy

• Toxin exposure treatment Pet Poison Helpline