FARMINGTON, Conn. -- When a person falls sick or is suddenly injured, an ambulance can be called to go to the hospital. When a pet is sick, its owners call the veterinarian -- but what happens during the overnight hours or weekends?

Eyewitness News went inside a pet emergency hospital to see what happens during off-hours.

Q&A With Dr. Shagensky

| Pet Hospital Provides Emergency Off-Hour Care

Channel 3 crews arrived at the Farmington Valley Emergency Hospital at 7 p.m. on a Sunday, and already on the operating table was Boscoe the dog, who had a run-in with a porcupine.

The porcupine won the battle, leaving dozens of quills embedded in Boscoe's mouth.

"The dog goes to attack the porcupine, and as soon as their mouth goes into the animal, the quills come out," said Dr. Corey Shagensky.

Shagensky, a veterinarian at the Farmington Valley Emergency Hospital, said that the quills are barbed and need to be removed surgically.

"They can migrate into the throat, into the lungs, in the chest cavity, and cause a chronic problem," he said.

Shagensky said it was the second dog the hospital had seen in the day that had met up with a porcupine. By the end of the night, both of the dogs returned home -- quill-free.

Another night-time visitor to the hospital was a 6-year-old dachshund named Molly. Molly arrived in the middle of the night with her back legs paralyzed.

"She jumped off the bed and slipped a disc," said Rich Tronina, Molly's owner.

Doctors said they were not optimistic that Molly will regain feeling in her legs, even with surgery.

Tronina, and his wife, Clarice, said they are considering buying a cart to help Molly get around.

A few crates away from Molly is Wilson, a dog in the midst of a diabetic crisis. The vets at the hospital said it's a situation they deal with often.

"They'll have an overabundance of toxins in their bodies from being diabetic. And when that reaches a certain point, they get very, very, very sick very quickly," said Shagensky.

Next to Wilson was Rusty.

"He was hit by a car earlier today and … he has a lot of different superficial injuries, but the most important thing with Rusty is that he has some signs of head trauma," said Shagensky.

The doctors gave him a drug called Manitol to help with brain swelling, and within hours of arrival, Rusty began showing signs of improvement.

Also on the mend at the hospital was GG, who was having normal day until a squirrel crossed her path.

"GG saw the squirrel and as she always does, she darted after it and she didn't, we didn't, nobody knew there was barbed wire, and she ran in it," said GG's owner, Evan Ross.

Cutting herself from top to bottom, while not necessarily life-threatening, required surgical repair.

Larissa Citroni's dog, Kato, arrived at the hospital after a run-in with a neighborhood dog.

"We noticed he had a big laceration on his upper lip," she said.

Kato needed stitches, but was in and out of surgery and into recovery within a couple of hours.

The night that Eyewitness News was observing, the hospital also saw a dog with diarrhea and a 26-pound cat with constipation, as well as two dogs suffering seizures.

One of the dogs, 6-month-old Zoey, has suffered seizures before, her owners said.

"She had one Friday night, and then yesterday she had about seven," said owner Joan Colapietro, of Torrington. "Thank God they were here because I don't know what I would have done."

After spending a night in the hospital, Zoey was diagnosed with epilepsy, but was deemed healthy enough to go home to a family that will help her manage the disease with medication.

The other dog suffering from seizures, 13-year-old Brinkley, lost his sight about a month ago, and doctors are concerned about the combination of symptoms.

"This is one of those cases where we have to look at things like infection, tumor, metabolic diseases," said SShagensky.

Nancy Payne, the owner of Great Dane Abel who arrives after Zoey said she is concerned about bloat. Bloat occurs when the stomach blows up with gas and then flips around on itself.

"It's a very acute emergency," said Shagensky. "There's a loss of blood supply to the stomach. It can cause very severe damage to the stomach, and is typically fatal if not treated surgically right away."

After two sets of X-rays, bloat is ruled out, and Abel appears to perk up.

How do you decide if your animal is really in need of emergency care. Sometimes it's obvious and sometimes it's not Shagensky said.