LAKE TAHOE — The South Shore is filled with pets, and now they can receive emergency care at night.
Staci Baker, who previously owned Kingsbury Veterinary Hospital, began offering her expertise four nights a week.
Baker started the service Feb. 2, and has a lot of experience with emergency work.
“Some like the hectic craziness of emergency medicine,” Baker said. “I have a propensity toward it.”
Baker is on call from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays, Saturdays and Sundays. Alpine Animal Hospital and Sierra Veterinary Hospital are alternating on-call service the other three nights.
All the veterinarians in town have worked together to provide emergency service in the area, but many are tired after running their day practices.
“They’re exhausted from working all day, and there’s a real need for night emergency service,” Baker said.
Since Baker isn’t running a day practice, she’s in an ideal position to take on those nighttime emergencies.
There is an emergency fee that must be paid on arrival, Baker said. She informs the client of that fee when they call her. A written estimate of the work will also be provided to the client on site, and it must be paid that night, Baker said.
“Emergency care is not inexpensive,” Baker said.
Baker said she can’t provide advice over the phone because she can’t physically examine the animal. If she can’t see the animal, she can’t provide an accurate diagnosis.
For example, a man called her on Sunday and said that his 13-year-old dog appeared bloated and couldn’t get comfortable. Over the phone, that sounded like gastric dilatation and volvulus — a life-threatening condition where the stomach dilates and twists into an abnormal position, Baker said. The man brought the dog in, and it turned out it had eaten a rawhide bone that wasn’t digesting well.
Baker is using the Roundhill Animal Hospital facility for pet emergencies because she lives five minutes away. She also has veterinary technicians on-call.
And Baker will see any animal. In the past she’s examined horses, birds and even a frog.
“If I can’t help, I can stabilize the animal and find someone who can,” Baker said.
