The Critical Care team at Iowa State Lloyd VMC oversees the small animal intensive care unit with the ongoing mission to provide optimal patient care for all hospitalized patients. Four board-certified Small Animal Emergency & Critical Care specialists direct the critical care team. The Hixson-Lied Small Animal Hospital has been named a VetCOT Level II Trauma center, ensuring that not only do we provide the best care for trauma patients, but that we work to improve trauma care for all animals.
The Critical Care service excels in managing patient recovery from major surgery, illness, or trauma. We can also offer advanced patient care modalities such as positive pressure mechanical ventilation, vasopressor and positive inotropic support, and other specialized care. For patients with complex or severe illness, we consult with other services to optimize patient care.
Advanced care techniques:
- Oxygen therapy
- Custom IV fluid therapy
- Component and whole blood transfusion therapy
- Mechanical ventilation
- Nutritional intervention; both enteral and parenteral options
- Central venous access
- Multimodal analgesia
- Intensive and invasive monitoring
- Therapeutic plasma exchange to treat toxicities and auto-immune disease.