Illness, Injury & Veterinary Emergency: the full procedure

Spot signs of illness or injury early, isolate the animal, contact the owner and the authorized veterinarian, transport per authorization, and document everything.

• Applies to: All animal-care staff & shift lead.
• Frequency: As needed — the moment any sign of distress, illness, or injury is observed.
• Scope: Defines the operational response to a sick or injured animal. All diagnosis, treatment, and medical decisions defer to a licensed veterinarian or emergency veterinary hospital.

What you need

• Owner & vet authorization file
• Emergency vet contact list
• Isolation area
• Incident / injury log
• Transport carrier & leash

The procedure, step by step

1. Recognize the signs — Watch for vomiting, diarrhea, coughing, lethargy, refusal to eat, limping, bleeding, collapse, or any change from the animal’s normal behavior.
2. Isolate immediately — Move the affected animal to the designated isolation area to protect it and prevent any spread to other animals.
3. Assess urgency — Treat collapse, severe bleeding, difficulty breathing, suspected bloat, or heatstroke as emergencies requiring immediate vet transport — do not wait.
4. Contact the owner — Notify the owner promptly using the file on record and relay what you observed; never diagnose or speculate on the cause.
5. Contact the authorized vet — Call the owner’s vet or the facility emergency vet listed in the authorization and follow their instructions.
6. Transport per authorization — If care is needed, transport to the emergency vet exactly as the signed boarding authorization permits.
7. Keep the animal stable & calm — Keep the animal quiet, warm/cool as appropriate, and supervised while waiting — provide no medication unless a vet directs it.
8. Document everything — Record the time, signs observed, who was contacted, actions taken, and outcome in the incident log.

Quality check before you finish

• Affected animal isolated from all others.
• Owner contacted and the contact logged with time.
• Authorized/emergency vet contacted per the file.
• Transport followed the signed authorization on record.
• No medication given without veterinary direction.
• Incident log completed with signs, times, and actions.
• Emergency vet contact list current and posted.

This is a free, source-anchored standard operating procedure (SOP) you can print and hand to staff. It documents the work sequence for a Pet Boarding & Daycare business — not safety or regulatory rulings, which defer to the cited authorities, the applicable code, and your own health-and-safety plan. Open the tool above to print it, toggle ink-saver, or (with a free ToolFluency Business account) edit it to match your own workflow.

Sources

• AVMA — Recognizing Pet Emergencies (avma.org)
• ASPCApro — Isolate Ill Animals First (aspcapro.org)
• Fear Free — Recognizing Stress & Distress (fearfree.com)