The Types of Shock and Their Treatment

Shock is the clinical state resulting from poor supply of oxygen to the tissues, or the inability of the tissues to use oxygen. Shock is a mechanism of the body to attempt to return itself to ‘normal’. Shock progresses from a compensated stage, to decompensation and then becomes irreversible. Thus sensible intervention is likely to be successful in those animals in compensated and early decompensated shock. Wildlife does present in irreversible stages of shock and will die, despite the best efforts of the carer and veterinarian.