Emergencies can happen at any time. That's why we have highly qualified and caring staff available around the clock, every single day of the year. Just like a human hospital.
What to do if your pet has a medical emergency
Just like in a human medical emergency, it's important you remain calm but act fast to get your pet to us. In most cases there is little first aid that can be done at home and so the best thing is to get to us as soon as possible.
Handle injured or painful pets carefully
Remember, that although our pets don’t want to hurt us, they may bite when in severe pain. If you are having difficulty getting your pet into your car, consider using a small blanket or towel to handle your pet to help protect yourself and help your pet feel secure.
Stop the bleeding
Regardless of the type of emergency, the best thing you can do for your pet is to contact The Animal Hospital straight away.
Emergencies can happen at any time. That's why we have highly qualified and caring staff available around the clock, every single day of the year. Just like a human hospital.
Specialised equipment
Our intensive care facilities and specialised medical equipment include:
- Advanced in-house laboratory facilities for assessment of blood counts, biochemistry, and coagulation testing
- Stored blood and plasma products for all blood transfusion needs
- Three critical care ventilators that provide breathing support for patients with respiratory failure
- Two oxygen chambers to supply supplemental oxygen to patients with breathing problems
- Haemodialysis for patients with kidney failure, and removal of certain toxins
- Advanced continuous monitoring equipment – cardiac output, telemetric ECG, invasive blood pressure, central venous pressure
- Iternally connected oxygen and suction equipment accessible to all cages in quick reach
- Management of multiorgan dysfunction
- Advanced nutritional support; and
- A purpose-built isolation unit.
Our team
Associate Professor of Emergency and Critical Care
Dr Sharp is an Associate Professor in the School of Veterinary Medicine, and the Section Head of Emergency and Critical Care in The Animal Hospital at Murdoch University. After graduating from Murdoch in 2002, Claire pursued specialty training in the United States becoming a specialist in Small Animal Emergency and Critical Care in 2010.
Claire teaches students in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th years of their curriculum. She is an active researcher in the fields of sepsis, coagulation, transfusion medicine, and other emergency and critical are diseases.
Senior Lecturer in Emergency and Critical Care
Corrin is a Senior Lecturer in Emergency and Critical Care (ECC). He has worked at Murdoch University in ECC since graduating in 2009, becoming a specialist in 2017 and permanently joining the academic team in 2022. He teaches ECC and other small animal topics in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th years of the course, with a passion for shock, fluid therapy, coagulation, and kidney injury. He also actively researches these topics, coordinating clinical trials within The Animal Hospital.
BSc BVMS (Hons II) MANZCVS (SA medicine)
Caroline is a Consulting Vet in the Emergency Department at Murdoch University Veterinary Hospital. Originally from Adelaide, South Australia, she moved to Western Australia in 1992 to study Veterinary Medicine at Murdoch and graduated in 1997. She worked in Mixed Animal Practice for 2years, then transitioned to General Practice and Small Animal Medicine. She sat her Membership Exams in Small Animal Internal Medicine in 2003 and joined the Emergency Department at Murdoch in 2005.
She enjoys the technical and advanced critical care procedures available in ICU, teaching students and new graduates as they join the hospital, enrolling patients in the numerous research projects available and working with an incredible team of people.
In 2010, Dr. Nikita Vanwonterghem earned her veterinary degree from Ghent University. Following graduation, she embarked on a diverse professional journey, completing a rotating internship and gaining extensive experience in both general practices and university clinics. Eventually, she found her home in Perth.
For the past eight years, Nikita has been a member of The Animal Hospital at Murdoch University, working as an emergency veterinarian during after-hours shifts. Her keen interest in Emergency and Critical Care prompted her to pursue and successfully achieve ANZCVS memberships in ECC in 2022. Currently, Nikita serves as one of the veterinary leads, overseeing the supervision of the ECC New Graduate Program, showcasing her commitment to mentoring and shaping the next generation of veterinary professionals.
Jack is an Emergency and Critical Care veterinarian at The Animal Hospital at Murdoch University. After graduating from Murdoch with distinction in 2022, he has since completed a rotating internship in Emergency and Critical Care, anaesthesia, diagnostic imaging and cardiology. During his internship, Jack presented at ANZCVS Science Week on intracranial empyema in the Emergency and Critical Care chapter.
Ann graduated from Murdoch school of veterinary medicine in 2016. Upon graduation, she’s been practicing in multiple emergency/after-hours practices across Perth.
Matthew is an emergency veterinarian at The Animal Hospital. He graduated from The University of Queensland with a Bachelor of Veterinary Science in 2020. Following that, he moved to Perth to undertake a rotating internship at Perth Veterinary Specialists in 2021, and a specialty internship in emergency and critical care at Murdoch University in 2022, where he also completed a Master in Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care.
Apart from enjoying the clinical and teaching aspect of working in The Animal Hospital, Matthew is also very interested in research, and is currently researching sepsis biomarkers. Outside of work, he loves travelling, reading, and spending time with his 2 cats (Marlin and Dory).
Graduated from the University of Melbourne in 2012. She has always had a love and passion for emergency veterinary medicine having worked as an emergency veterinarian since graduation. Jess has been in her current role at Murdoch for 7 years and is currently studying to sit her membership exams.
Peter is a 2012 Murdoch graduate with a passion for emergency veterinary care, exotic pets and wildlife. Peter Loves teaching and working with the amazing team at The Animal Hospital. Peter has been working as an emergency vet in Perth for 11 years and has also worked with exotic, zoo and wildlife species at the Unusual Pet Vets, Perth Zoo and currently also works at WA Wildlife. Peter lives on a farm east of Perth full of animals and is a qualified cavy (guinea pig) judge and judges guinea pigs all over Australia and New Zealand.
Registrar in Emergency and Critical Care
Suzanne is a Registrar in Emergency and Critical Care (ECC). Suzanne graduated from University of Sydney in 2014, followed by a rotating internship, Suzanne pursed specialty training in Melbourne and Brisbane. Suzanne moved to Perth and joined The Animal Hospital at Murdoch after finishing her residency training in 2022. Her interest in ECC is on sepsis, trauma and mechanical ventilation for critically ill patients.
BSc DVM
Lu graduated from Murdoch University in 2018 and started her career in general practice. After a few years in practice an interest in imaging emerged and she undertook an internship in imaging here at Murdoch University. Lu has always had an interest in emergency medicine and was involved in 2 research projects in the field during university and the first few years in practice.
With a few years of experience under her belt, Lu joined the ECC team at Murdoch in 2022 is loving the new and exciting challenge of emergency medicine.
At home Lu and her family have a Labrador named Harriet, a Golden Retriever named Agatha and two cats named Gary and Morris.
Dr Jesse Hanson obtained his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine at Murdoch University becoming a veterinarian in 2019. After doing a research project on a topic related to emergency medicine as a student, and working as an assistant in the emergency room, Jesse knew that he wanted to become a specialist in emergency and critical care. Jesse’s first role after vet school was an emergency internship Perth Veterinary Emergency, before 8 months in Sydney at the University teaching hospital. In late 2021 Jesse moved back to Perth working as an emergency vet at The Animal Hospital, before a specialty trainee position in 2022, and becoming an ECC resident in January 2023. Along the way Jesse has obtained further qualifications in emergency and critical care including a Graduate Certificate from the University of Melbourne, and an Accelerated Research Masters with training from Murdoch University in 2023. Jesse is often accompanied by his spritely 13 year old Rottweiler Bane; who spent most of his life as doggie blood donor.
Vany is one of our Emergency and Critical Care residents. After graduating from Sydney University, Vany spent a short time in general practice before realising her passion in ECC and spent a few years in Sydney and Canberra doing Emergency work.
She moved to Perth in 2021 and finally pursued her dream to undertake the residency training program in the hope to be a criticalist. Vany completed her master’s thesis in Iron toxicity and is working on her research on snake envenomation. She has a special interest in blood transfusion and toxicity. As a resident, she supervises & tutors 5th year veterinary students.
Dr Ella Yarsley obtained her Bachelor of Veterinary Science from James Cook University in far north Queensland, becoming a veterinarian in 2016. Ella has been in emergency practice ever since, first at The Animal Emergency Service in Carrara on the Gold Coast, before moving to Perth and joining The Animal Hospital in January 2022. Ella passed her membership examinations in 2021, becoming a Member of the Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists (ECC). In 2023 Ella completed a Masters in Veterinary Clinical Sciences with a focus on emergency and critical care. Ella is in the third and final year of her emergency and critical care residency, and will sit board examinations to become a specialist in emergency and critical care in late 2025. Ella is often accompanied by her Italian greyhound Fig, although they do get a little cold in the Perth winter.