Intensive Care

VCA West Los Angeles Animal Hospital offers an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for treating your pet during times of critical need. Our staff and veterinarians will determine if your pet requires the ICU services of a specialty hospital and make appropriate recommendations when necessary. Pets requiring ICU are often very ill and require specialized nursing staff and veterinarians to pull them through a crisis. Specialists in the field of veterinary critical care are often needed to tend to the needs of these very ill animals. These specialists have completed residency training in the field of Emergency and Critical Care, a competitive and rigorous program. The nursing staff are also often trained in advanced techniques and monitoring and may also have undergone additional certification. Special equipment to help critically ill pets, such as blood pressure monitors, ECG machines, pulse oximeters, incubators, oxygen cages and ventilators are available at these facilities. Jugular catheters, chest tubes, arterial blood pressure lines, on site blood analysis, special nutrition services (placement of feeding tubes, total parenteral nutrition provided intravenously), and a variety of therapies to control pain are just a few of the things that will be available for your seriously ill pet. Life resuscitation equipment is also available if needed.