When your pet is sick, we know that it can be stressful, especially if it is outside of our normal opening hours.
We are delighted to partner with the Animal Emergency team at Veterinary Specialists Aotearoa to bring you an Urgent Care and Out of Hours Veterinary Service, based in our centrally located veterinary clinic.
The VSA Urgent Care service is an extension of their 24-hour Animal Emergency service, which operates at their Auckland hospitals in Sylvia Park and Lincoln.
Urgent Care is available for those times when your pet needs to be seen after hours by a veterinarian but it is not necessarily an emergency.
The VSA Urgent Care service is temporarily unavailable due to a shortage of qualified staff.
For an animal emergency, get in touch with your nearest After Hours Emergency clinic.
Pet owners are always the first to notice when something is wrong with their pet, often picking up on subtle changes before they can turn into a bigger issue.
The Urgent Care service is here to treat non-life-threatening illnesses and injuries in pets that happen after normal business hours. VSA Urgent Care fills the gap between your GP clinic and our 24-hour VSA Animal Emergency services.
The examples listed below are examples of things that should be seen urgently, but may not need a full emergency service:
- Vomiting or Diarrhoea with a change in behaviour
- Allergic Reactions with NO CHANGES IN BREATHING
- Minor Wounds and injuries
- Insect Stings
- Sore eyes with discharge
- Abscesses or swelling under skin or discharge from a wound
- Blood in urine or stool
- Mild lameness or limping
- Ear infections
- Animals that have eaten foreign material that day
The examples listed here are cases that should be seen by our 24-hour VSA Animal Emergency departments, as they need a full emergency service:
- Trauma (e.g. hit by cars, bite wounds, burns, broken bones)
- Trouble breathing.
- Bloated and retching with unproductive vomiting
- Shock (signs of shock can include collapse, weakness, pale gums, cold extremities, and an abnormal heart rate)
- Straining to urinate and are not producing urine
- Can’t walk, has weakness or has collapsed.
- Life-threatening neurologic disease such as coma or seizure activity that is not responding to medications
- Needs emergency surgery or has had surgery and is experiencing serious complications
- Ingested foreign objects (e.g. fish hook, glass or toys) or toxins (e.g. rat bait, slug bait, chocolate, karaka berries)
- May require blood or blood product transfusions (such as whole blood and plasma)
- Overnight monitoring needed
If you are not sure if your pet needs Urgent Care of a full Emergency Service, please call the emergency team on 09 849 2121.
The experienced team of receptionists and veterinary nurses will be able to help you to determine the right service for you and your pet and also give you an estimated wait time to see a veterinarian.
Please note, you do not need an appointment at either VSA Urgent Care or the 24-hour VSA Animal Emergency hospitals. When you arrive at VSA Urgent Care your pet will be triaged by one of our veterinary nurses, you will then be given an expected wait time to see our veterinarian.
If you arrive at VSA Urgent Care and our triage team determines that your pet is in need of a full emergency service, they will stabilise them and refer you to the closest VSA Animal Emergency hospital, where the team will be waiting for you.
No, the Urgent Care service is open to all cats and dogs who are in need of urgent veterinary care in Auckland. You do not need to be a Strand Vet client to use the service.
Yes you can, although we recommend you call ahead to let us know you are on your way so we can prepare for your arrival. Call ahead on 09 849 2121.
No, you can’t book an appointment. We work on a triage system and the most critically ill patients are seen first.
A consult with our Urgent Care and Animal Emergency teams is $250. You will then be given a full estimate of expected treatment costs.
No. Our VSA Urgent Care service closes at 12am and no patients are left unsupervised in the clinic overnight. If your pet needs overnight monitoring you will be referred to the closest VSA Animal Emergency hospitals.
Unfortunately we are not able to fill prescriptions as we do not hold a full pharmacy at VSA Urgent Care. For more medication you will need to contact our reception team during normal working hours.
Animal emergency
!
Within clinic hours
If you have an animal emergency within our clinic hours, please immediately call us 09 377 6667. Press 0 to talk to our reception team and advise them of your cat or dog emergency.
OUR CLINC HOURS ARE:
Monday to Friday: 8am - 6pm
Saturday: 9am - 1pm
Sunday: Closed
If your pet needs an animal emergency service outside of our opening hours:
Animal Emergency at VSA
West Auckland
24 hour emergency service
09 849 2121
www.animalemergency.co.nz
Animal Emergency at VSA
Sylvia Park
24 hour emergency service
09 849 2121
www.animalemergency.co.nz
Animal Referral Centre
North Shore
24 hour emergency service
09 281 5815
www.arcvets.co.nz