Coastal Care Veterinary Emergency & Referral Hospital

08/30/2025

Coastal Care is thrilled to host certified behaviorist, Dr. Junita Ashton for a two-part series for general practice veterinarians and RVTs this September. Sign up today to ensure you have a spot!

08/29/2025

Did you know that birds are extremely sensitive to air quality issues?

Birds have a unique respiratory system: Air sacs throughout the body are connected to the lungs, so a huge surface area is exposed to any air pollutant, making birds sensitive to poor air quality. Birds can become sick or even experience sudden death due to air pollution.

Inside the home, many products are strictly forbidden to use if you have birds. Cooking fumes from regular food preparation (even without PTFE cookware) can also be dangerous to birds: Never allow your birds to be in the kitchen while cooking, and always ensure that your cooking space has adequate ventilation. Keep an eye on whatever you’re cooking to prevent foods from burning.

Homes with birds can invest in a HEPA (high efficiency particulate air filter) air purifier. This is especially important if you have multiple species of birds.

Keeping your bird’s living area clean is also extremely important: Microscopic bacteria and fungal spores can build up in the environment, causing problems over time. Cleaning the cage and all furnishings weekly with hot and soapy water is required for pet birds (as well as removing any droppings and uneaten food daily). Regular dish soap is absolutely fine for this: Products like vinegar are not very effective as they lack the soapy cleaning action that dish soap (or other bird-safe cage cleaning products) create.

When the air quality outside is poor (for example, with recent wildfire activity here in Nova Scotia), take the following steps to keep your pet birds as safe as possible:
-Close all windows and avoid opening doors unless necessary.
-Ensure that your bird is in a room with a HEPA filter air purifier.
-Keep air circulation moving with fans or air conditioning with a filter. Always keep birds caged if a ceiling fan is in use.
-Ensure that your pet’s food and water are fresh and clean.
-If windows and doors to the outside are not completely sealed, roll up a dampened towel to place at the base of doors/windows to create a barrier.
-Do not bring your bird outdoors until air quality warnings have been lifted.
-After a poor air quality event, thoroughly clean and vacuum the floors, walls, and other surfaces in your home in case of particulate debris accumulation.

If you are forced to evacuate your home with your pet bird during an air quality-related emergency, we recommend moving your bird to a transport carrier (prior training for this always helps!), and wrapping the carrier in a damp towel before exiting the home to reduce air pollutant exposure. The American Veterinary Medical Association has a great resource on making a disaster plan with your pets’ safety in mind: https://www.avma.org/resources-tools/pet-owners/emergency-care/pets-and-disasters

After a poor air quality event, birds can take time to develop signs of illness. Even pet birds will hide illness to the best of their ability, as it’s their instinct to do so. Coastal Care's Emergency Department will always see companion birds on emergency.

To book an appointment with Dr. Webb and her exotics team, no referral is necessary. Call (902) 703-2323 ext. 5 to speak with our referral coordinators, or see our website: https://www.coastalcarevets.ca/site/veterinary-exotics-request-appointment

08/28/2025

Installation Day 1 is in the books! Today was a big day for the trades and delivery teams. There are a lot of people who should be proud to be part of such an important project. From ensuring the space was ready to getting the equipment in place. High fives all around. Their work continues as the installation is brought to completion over the next few weeks.

Leave a ❤️ to help us send a shout out to all the hard-working tradespeople and engineers who are helping make this happen.

Follow along as we share more progress reports and for the launch of Nova Scotia’s very first veterinary MRI scans! Our team is eagerly awaiting the ability to provide their patients this service right here in Halifax.

08/25/2025

We would like to remind the veterinary community about our upcoming meet-and-greet! On August 28th at 6pm, we are looking forward to discussing your patients and referral experience.

To ensure we have accurate attendance (snacking) numbers, please RSVP today.

See you soon!

Coastal Care is inviting our referring partners and their teams to join us for a social meet-and-greet on August 28th at 6pm. This is an opportunity for you to meet the team of individuals who care for your patients on an emergency basis, and provide on-going specialty care. Let’s continue building a trusted referral community — together.

📅 Date: August 28th, 2025
🕔 Time: Open invite 6pm to 8pm

👉 Clinic staff can RSVP by emailing [email protected]

✨ Click the share button to ensure that others in your local veterinary community are aware of this opportunity.

08/25/2025

🌟 Staff Spotlight 🌟

We were thrilled to have two incredible AVC veterinary students join our team this summer. As their time with us comes to an end, we’re truly grateful for the dedication and energy they brought to Coastal. Wishing them every success as they return to school!

Maria (Class of 2028) joined us while on summer break and is working closely with our Anesthesia Team. She’s been diving into hands-on learning, gaining valuable experience, and bringing her dedication and enthusiasm to every shift.

Karetta (Class of 2027) returned for her second summer with Coastal! Last year, she gained experience with our Emergency & Critical Care Team, and this year she’s expanding her knowledge with our Exotics Team.
We’re thrilled she chose to come back and continue learning across different specialty areas.

At Coastal, we are proud and honored to support the next generation of veterinary professionals. By offering summer employment and occasional volunteer opportunities, our students get to experience the unique learning environments within our specialty departments, all while helping us provide the very best care for our patients. 🐾

08/21/2025

We are excited to extend a big congratulations to our own Dr. Jocelyn Marchiori for achieving her anesthesia board certification! 🎉

This is a massive accomplishment that took many years of hard work and study. We are very fortunate to have Dr. Marchiori on our team and providing guidance to our staff, and the best care to our patients. 💫

Help us in sending congratulations to Dr. Marchiori for this amazing achievement. 👏

Bonus points to her dog Pippin for being the best study buddy and only mildly distracting with his cuteness. 💟

08/20/2025

The countdown is on! We are 7 short days away from the arrival of Nova Scotia's very first MRI for veterinary use. A huge advancement in the medical care available to pets across Atlantic Canada.

Did you know that although this MRI will be used on veterinary patients, its design is certified for human scans. Our new machine is the very first low-helium MRI from Siemens Healthineers in all of Canada and the only low helium in the veterinary space!

Complex equipment can mean complex construction. We have worked closely with Siemens Healthineers, Lindsay Construction and their trusted trades to ensure our site is ready for this exciting delivery. From design, to building, to shielding, to shipping and delivery; this project has an enormous amount of collaboration and coordination from everyone involved. But there's more to come!

Follow along as we continue to highlight progress on this special project.

08/19/2025

Coastal Care is inviting our referring partners and their teams to join us for a social meet-and-greet on August 28th at 6pm. This is an opportunity for you to meet the team of individuals who care for your patients on an emergency basis, and provide on-going specialty care. Let’s continue building a trusted referral community — together.

📅 Date: August 28th, 2025
🕔 Time: Open invite 6pm to 8pm

👉 Clinic staff can RSVP by emailing [email protected]

✨ Click the share button to ensure that others in your local veterinary community are aware of this opportunity.

08/18/2025

💙 Our Family Behind the Scenes 💙

At Coastal Care, pets aren’t just our patients , they’re our heart.

These are some of the beloved companions of our team, the ones who remind us every day why we do what we do. 🐾

From snuggly lap cats to goofy dogs and everything in between, they keep us smiling after even the busiest shifts.

Show us the pets who make your world brighter , share their photo in the comments so we can meet them too!

08/15/2025

🐾 Patient Spotlight: George 🐾

George was transferred for continued care to from his family veterinarian at after ingesting a muscarinic mushroom. These mushrooms can cause symptoms like hypersalivation, vomiting, diarrhea, and a slowed heart rate. Fortunately, George’s heart rate remained normal during his stay with us.
George was hospitalized for continued supportive care, including intravenous fluids, electrolyte monitoring, and a mushroom toxin test to screen for potentially liver-damaging toxins. While in hospital, George’s appetite returned, his vomiting resolved, and the excessive drooling subsided.

With his sweet personality and resilient spirit, George quickly stole the hearts of everyone who walked past him 💚

08/13/2025

UPDATE: As of 4pm today we have REOPENED OUR EMERGENCY OUTPATIENT SERVICES. Our staff have continued to be on site during the day today and had resumed normal scheduled specialty appointments and surgeries. We will also continue to closely monitor the situation for changes.

If you are experiencing a pet related emergency please contact our team at (902) 703-2323.

PLEASE NOTE: There are still road closures in our area. So if you do need to head into our hospital, it is best to follow a GPS for best route if possible or at least avoid the Chain Lake Drive area. Should you need assistance contact our team and they will be able to help direct in best route.

Coastal would like to send a huge thank you to all those continuing to fight the Suzy Lake fire and to all crews across the province, and from away, for their quick action in these trying times. Your heroic efforts were impressive to watch.

Stay safe!