LSU Veterinary Hospital Offers Emergency Care for Animals Following Hurricane Ida
BATON ROUGE—The LSU School of Veterinary Medicine’s Teaching Hospital has remained open for emergency service following Hurricane Ida. Since the storm struck Louisiana, LSU’s veterinarians, staff, and students have treated more than 100 pets, 60 large animals (horses, cattle, goats, sheep, and llamas), and 13 wildlife cases. At this time, the hospital plans to begin seeing regular appointments again on Tuesday, September 7 in addition to emergency cases.
LSU provides a valuable resource to pet owners as our veterinary hospital is one of the only high-level care facilities in the affected region that remains fully operational as recovery efforts continue. The Veterinary Teaching Hospital never lost power and was able to offer round-the-clock care for its patients during and after the storm. The caseload has increased as people seek emergency care for their animals and because many surrounding area clinics and hospitals are unable to open due to damage or lack of electricity. We are grateful to our faculty, staff, and students who have stepped up to help augment the emergency service, despite dealing with their own hurricane-related issues.
Our Veterinary Teaching Hospital offers emergency care 24/7, 365 days a year. We do ask that you call before bringing your animal to LSU so we can help assess your needs and give you estimates for cost and time. Due to the current circumstances, wait times may be longer than normal.
Pets
If your pet requires emergency veterinary care, please call 225-578-9600 before coming to the veterinary school. Cases are assessed upon arrival, and we take the most critical patients first. We ask that you be patient as we evaluate cases.
Horses and Livestock
For large animals, please call 225-578-9500 before coming to the veterinary school. As with our small animal patients, we triage cases upon arrival.
Wildlife
While our wildlife service does not go out and rescue wildlife, we do accept wildlife cases every day until 10 p.m. Before approaching wildlife, we ask that you go to our website at https://www.lsu.edu/vetmed/veterinary_hospital/services/wildlife_hospital/injured_wildlife.php to ensure that you do not bring us non-injured animals.
Animal Rescues
A team of volunteer faculty and staff from the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine is working with the Louisiana State Animal Response Team to rescue animals and offer veterinary care. Since the clean-up began, 15 students and two faculty members, as well as LSU veterinary school alumni, have volunteered to help people and animals in Jefferson, Lafourche, Terrebonne, and St. John the Baptist Parishes. People that need help with animal rescues should contact the parish Office of Emergency Preparedness, which will then work with first responders and volunteers. A list of parish OEPs can be found online at http://gohsep.la.gov/about/parishpa.
How You Can Help
Disaster Relief
To aid our disaster relief and animal rescue efforts, please go to www.lsufoundation.org/givetovetmed, choose Other for the fund, and enter “Disaster Relief.”
Wildlife
There is no charge for wildlife cases brought to the LSU veterinary hospital, but we do accept donations to cover the cost of care. To help support the wildlife program, please go to www.lsufoundation.org/givetovetmed and choose the Wildlife Support Fund.
Students
To support veterinary students affected by Hurricane Ida, please go to www.lsufoundation.org/givetovetmed, choose Other for the fund, and enter “Sullivan Fund.”
For information on the LSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital, please go to www.lsu.edu/vetmed.
About the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine
The LSU School of Veterinary Medicine is one of only 32 veterinary schools in the U.S. and the only one in Louisiana. The LSU SVM is dedicated to improving the lives of people and animals through education, research, and service. We teach. We heal. We discover. We protect.
