Wisconsin Veterinary Referral Center – Grafton
  • The HIP
  • Phone: 262-546-0249
  • Our Services
    • Diagnostic Imaging
    • Emergency/Critical Care
    • Ophthalmology
    • Social Work
  • For Your Pet
    • Client Registration Form
    • Emergencies + Appointments
    • Client Portal
    • When Your Pet is a Patient
    • Blood Bank
    • Online Store
    • Pet Insurance
    • Payment Options
    • End of Life Arrangements
      • Grief Resources
  • For Veterinary Teams
    • Submit Referrals
    • Veterinary Team Resources
    • At a Glance
    • Clinical Studies
    • VetBloom CE
    • Ethos Materials for Clinics
    • Continuing Education
  • About Us
    • Our Hospital
    • Our Team
    • Why Ethos
    • Ethos Discovery
    • Contact Us
  • Blogs & Videos
    • Our Blogs
    • PAWEDcasts
  • We’re Hiring!
    • Apply Today
    • Ethos Job Fairs
    • Benefits and Perks
    • Veterinary Training Programs
Wisconsin Veterinary Referral Center – Grafton
  • Our Services
    • Diagnostic Imaging
    • Emergency/Critical Care
    • Ophthalmology
    • Social Work
  • For Your Pet
    • Client Registration Form
    • Emergencies + Appointments
    • Client Portal
    • When Your Pet is a Patient
    • Blood Bank
    • Online Store
    • Pet Insurance
    • Payment Options
    • End of Life Arrangements
      • Grief Resources
  • For Veterinary Teams
    • Submit Referrals
    • Veterinary Team Resources
    • At a Glance
    • Clinical Studies
    • VetBloom CE
    • Ethos Materials for Clinics
    • Continuing Education
  • About Us
    • Our Hospital
    • Our Team
    • Why Ethos
    • Ethos Discovery
    • Contact Us
  • Blogs & Videos
    • Our Blogs
    • PAWEDcasts
  • We’re Hiring!
    • Apply Today
    • Ethos Job Fairs
    • Benefits and Perks
    • Veterinary Training Programs
  • The HIP
  • Phone: 262-546-0249

Emergency/Critical Care

Our Emergency and Critical Care team is on site 24 hours per day, 365 days per year at our Grafton hospital.

WVRC-Grafton provides 24-hour emergency and critical care services to dogs and cats, 365 days per year.  Patients in our ICU are never left unattended and you can rest assured that as your pet recovers, he or she will be cared for at all times.

What to Do in an Emergency:

Call or Come in:

1381 Port Washington Road, Grafton, WI 53024
262-546-0249
What to Do if You Suspect Your Pet Has Eaten Something Toxic

Gather up any packaging or remains of anything that was eaten, or suspected as having been eaten! This step will help speed up the diagnosis. Please don’t be shy, if it was marijuana or any other embarrassing (or illicit) product, please be honest with our team about it, it will speed up diagnosis and treatment.

Poison Control Centers:

  • ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center: 888-426-4435
  • Pet Poison Helpline: 800-213-668


The team in our critical care departments work with other specialists, and your regular veterinarian, to provide the comprehensive care your pet needs. Our board certified emergency and critical care specialists have extensive training in a complete range of emergency and critical care services and are supported by a team of experienced emergency veterinarians and technicians.

Emergency Services
  • Comprehensive Emergency Medical Exam: what does it include?
  • Surgical Services through Emergency/Critical Care: What we can treat
  • Laboratory diagnostics
  • Immediate blood test results
  • Transfusion Medicine
Diagnostics
  • Radiography (X-Rays)
  • Ultrasound

What is Critical Care?

Critical care helps pets with life-threatening injuries and illnesses. Critical Care specialty teams, including our Critical Care specialists, emergency clinicians, and nursing staff, help treat complications from surgery, trauma, accidents, infections, organ failure, and severe heart and breathing problems.  The critical care team is a group of specially trained veterinary caregivers who work in both the emergency room and in a special area of the hospital known as the Intensive Care Unit, or ICU. Their main focus is to help very ill patients get better. The critical care nursing team serves as a valuable source of information regarding the minute-to-minute status of critically ill patients, and they are committed to teaching patients’ families strategies for continued care at home.

Critical Care management involves close, constant attention by a team of specially-trained pet health care providers. Critical care takes place in an ICU or trauma center and typically relies on specialized monitors, point-of-care ultrasound, intravenous (IV) tubes, feeding tubes, urinary catheters, breathing machines, and other medical equipment. Critical Care specialty medicine is a rapidly growing area of specialty medicine and has seen tremendous advancements that are now helping many pets survive conditions that were once considered fatal. We are here for you when you need us the most and our Critical Care specialists are prepared to provide you and your pet with the highest level of emergency and critical care medicine.

Our Critical Care Specialists

Board Certified Criticalists have undergone rigorous specialty training focused on caring for every aspect of the critically ill patient and work with our veterinary specialists from other fields to manage patients with multiple co-morbidities affecting a number of body systems. Our Criticalists’ high level of broad interdisciplinary expertise allows for the unique collaboration amongst specialists to care for the most severely ill and injured pets. Specialized services at the core of critical care include trauma management, mechanical ventilation, CPR and post-arrest care, transfusion medicine, post-surgical recovery, acute organ failure, sepsis management, and tailored pain control planning.

Our Criticalists partner closely with our emergency clinicians and nurses to provide expedient and problem-directed care to our most urgent patients. Together, these teams use innovative approaches such as point-of-care emergency ultrasound and fear-free handling techniques to gently assess and care for beloved pets in times of crisis.

All pets admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) are closely monitored and continually assessed by our Criticalists and specialized ICU nursing team. Our Criticalists work closely with the families of our critically ill patients to coordinate the highest level of care while ensuring each step of the process is clearly communicated and understood by family members and caretakers alike. Our Criticalists are instrumental in the transition of care not only between specialists here at WVRC but also partner with your family veterinarian to allow seamless case management for future and ongoing care.

Pet-Specific First Aid Kit:

We recommend that you keep a pet-specific first aid kit in your car as a best practice, just as you would a human-first aid kit.  Click the link for a printable PDF that you can keep in your kit for when you need to restock.

Emergency Transfers

If you are a veterinarian, transferring a patient to our emergency department, please call our hospital at 866-542-3241.

  • Patient Form & Records

    • Client Registration Form
    • Client Portal

    Related Articles

    • 5 Tips for the Waiting Room of a Veterinary Emergency Hospital
    • Pet Emergencies: What Can’t Wait until Tomorrow or Monday
    • Why Is Veterinary Care Expensive?

    Meet Our Team

    • Claire Afflerbach, DVMEmergency Veterinarian
    • Greer Brander-McCaffrey, DVMEmergency Veterinarian
    • Krista Carlson, DVMEmergency Veterinarian
    • Kayla Doucette, DVMEmergency Veterinarian
    • Natalie Greco, DVMEmergency & Surgical Associate Veterinarian
    • Melissa Hayes, DVMEmergency Veterinarian
    • Carolyn Jochman, DVMEmergency Veterinarian
    • Diana Lewis, DVMEmergency Veterinarian
    • Christine Mallo, DVMEmergency Veterinarian
    • Molly Mason, DVMMedical Director, Emergency Veterinarian
    • Stephanie Pagel, DVMEmergency Veterinarian
    • Shanna Reed, DVMEmergency Veterinarian
    • Kari Severson, DVMMedical Director, Emergency Veterinarian
    • Kerri Wiedmeyer, DVMEmergency Veterinarian
    • Kristen Temo, DVM, DACVECCVeterinary Emergency and Critical Care

    Helpful Links

    • Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Society
    • American College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care
    Wisconsin Veterinary Referral Center – Grafton
    262-546-0249 | 1381 Port Washington Road Grafton, WI 53024
    • The HIP
    • Phone: 262-546-0249
    • Our Services
      • Diagnostic Imaging
      • Emergency/Critical Care
      • Ophthalmology
      • Social Work
    • For Your Pet
      • Client Registration Form
      • Emergencies + Appointments
      • Client Portal
      • When Your Pet is a Patient
      • Blood Bank
      • Online Store
      • Pet Insurance
      • Payment Options
      • End of Life Arrangements
        • Grief Resources
    • For Veterinary Teams
      • Submit Referrals
      • Veterinary Team Resources
      • At a Glance
      • Clinical Studies
      • VetBloom CE
      • Ethos Materials for Clinics
      • Continuing Education
    • About Us
      • Our Hospital
      • Our Team
      • Why Ethos
      • Ethos Discovery
      • Contact Us
    • Blogs & Videos
      • Our Blogs
      • PAWEDcasts
    • We’re Hiring!
      • Apply Today
      • Ethos Job Fairs
      • Benefits and Perks
      • Veterinary Training Programs
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