Emergency Cover

When the practice is not open, the normal practice number will ring through to an answer phone that will give directions as to how registered clients can contact the emergency vet, should you need to.

There will always be an emergency vet available to you, should you need one, day and night. The vet “on call” will also have to work a full day the following day so please do not use this service for routine matters, such as to try to make appointments, collecting medications etc. Please reserve its use for when you feel a case warrants that you speak to the emergency vet about your animal’s health, wanting advice that cannot wait for opening hours, or where you feel that the animal’s condition will require being seen out of hours as an emergency.

Please note that all ‘out of hours’ consultations which require to be seen will attract a surcharge in addition to the standard fees which apply during normal opening hours. These are listed in the fees section.

Out-of-Hours Care Provision

When the surgery is closed, we always have a vet and a nurse on duty in case of emergencies and to deal with any animals hospitalised in the practice for treatment. The out-of-hours will always be based at our own surgery with staff you know and you will not need to trail hours across the country to a remote out-of-hours care centre. This means we always have your notes and previous history to hand and usually saves time.

Please note that whilst we have dedicated Veterinary Vans, it is not always possible for staff to leave their duties and provide transport to the specialist centre so this would generally fall to the owner. Please also note 24-hour care provision is very expensive to provide and as such, taking your pet to these places can often incur considerable costs. Sadly, in many severe cases, once we have done all we can surgically and stabilised your pet on fluids and heat provision, there is little more that can be done and having someone sat watching and monitoring your pet may not influence the outcome. This is something that needs to be discussed on a case by case basis with the vet at the time, as to the merits of referral for your pet versus the costs.