Is your pet sick? Vets share five things that should have you considering an emergency vet visit

Just like us, our pets can be in need of emergency care from time to time. Whether you are the owner of a dog or a cat, or any other non-human friend for that matter, you may know all too well that dreaded trip to the vet when a health emergency strikes.

It may be helpful to know you're not alone. Your dog or cat might be suffering from something that vets see all the time. What is the most common reason for this type of visit? We asked veterinarians and experts, and here's what they had to say. 

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Common emergency health conditions for dogs or cats

An animal's proneness to certain illnesses varies based on the individual pet and the environment, Dr. Lisa Lippman, a veterinarian and the Director of Virtual Medicine as New York City's BondVet said.

She lists some of the most common maladies she sees in emergency rooms: 

• Vomiting / Diarrhea
• Urinary obstructions/straining to urinate (mainly cats) 
• Traumatic injuries 
• Toxic or foreign body ingestions 
• Difficulty breathing 

Nancy King, the CEO of Pets Lifeline, a nonprofit animal shelter in Sonoma, California says another common reason for an emergency visit to the vet might be ingestion of something toxic or foreign.

In the event that your pet eats something it shouldn't have, and they start to show physical distress, an emergency trip to the vet might be called for. The key is to keep an eye out for different patterns, King says.

"A lot of times because the animals can't tell us what's going on, we see a change in behavior," she explains, adding it's important to notice if your dog or cat shows signs of lethargy or lack of appetite. Sometimes these are mere symptoms of old age that can't be helped, but other times they are signs of an underlying conditions and reason enough to take a trip to the vet. 

Dr. Jeffrey Levy, a veterinarian and pet acupuncturist who makes house calls, says he used to work the weekend shift at an animal hospital and some of the most common emergency cases involved either some sort of physical trauma, or ingestion of something toxic to animals. 

There were a lot of bite wounds among dogs, Levy says, and especially among younger dogs he would see plenty of cases of a pet eating something they shouldn't, getting into that chocolate cake in the fridge, and suffering GI issues as a result. 

Dr. Yaron Schmid, the Director of Shelter Medicine at the Humane Society of New York also cites GI issues like vomiting and diarrhea as major drivers of emergency veterinary care. 

What can you give a dog for pain?:Never Tylenol or Ibuprofen, only this.