Help me find a 24 hour vet!

misskalamata

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A few weeks ago, I spent about an hour online trying to find a nearby 24 hour animal hospital. I found a few lists, but nothing less than a 30-min drive, minimum. It seems like most of you on TCS have a 24 hour vet within 10 minutes of your house. I live in suburban Ohio, not a rural area, and I don't see why I can't find a more local one.

When I was researching before, I simply wanted to know for future reference. Now, one of my cats is ill and I may need this info.

So, can anyone help me? Do you know of any websites that could help locate a 24 hour vet? (Google didn't do me any good). Any other ideas? I'm not comfortable giving out my city of residence here. I'm going to go look in the phone book now....
 

fiddledee

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I don't know where you live in Ohio, but in my area the reason we have a 24 hr vet clinic is due to a Vet School being in the area. I know Ohio State has a vet school, but I don't know where in the state you live...

Also, try searching for "animal hospital" instead of "vet clinic" because hospitals tend to have more staff and 24 hr emergency care and clinics have set hours.

Try just calling your vet afterhours. Most of them leave messages explaining how they're closed and what you should do if you need their service. The vet I used to be employed for owned a clinic with set hours. She was in association with 4 other individual private clinics that would cover each other after hours. On Mondays she would take calls redirected to her cellphone after hours from all the other clinics if there was an emergency with one of their clients. It changed every day of the week and on weekends.
 
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misskalamata

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I tried that one before (the yext link). When I click on my state, it gives me the options: Browse By City (Columbus), Browse By Neighborhood in Cincinnati, and Browse by County (Franklin). I don't live near/in Columbus, Cincinnati, or Franklin County.

Thanks for the effort though.


I am looking through the yellow pages (2006) now...there are so many, but most don't say if they're 24 hours.
 
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misskalamata

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Ok...I found one that's less than 20 min away. But it seems to be part of a chain or something...there are a gazillion Dr. Hart's Clinics listed in the YP. I did an online search and it didn't get very good reviews...in fact, it got some very negative ones....so, I'm kind of wary. I'll keep looking.

The cat I'm concerned about didn't eat dinner (maybe one bite) and vomited at least twice over the past two hours. She also vomited earlier in the day. She didn't react at all to catnip, which she loves. I'd planned to call my vet in the morning, but the continuing vomiting has me very worried. Is this an emergency, or can it wait until the morning?
 

ldg

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It is SO hard to know without knowing the cat and seeing the situation. Does she have a fever? (If not lying in the sun, if her head feels hot that's usually an indication). Is she dehydrated? Here is an excellent article on taking a "read" of your cat's vital signs: http://www.sniksnak.com/cathealth/howto8.html

The closest e-vet to us is a 40 - 45 minute drive. HOWEVER - our local vet will provide emergency service. Do you have a good vet? If so - are you sure they don't provide emergency service? With ours, when you call after hours, you get to leave a message - or, if an emergency, they provide a number to a message service. The message service contacts the vet, he calls us, we explain - and he decides whether or not to meet us at the clinic.

for your kitty.
 
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misskalamata

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Originally Posted by LDG

Do you have a good vet? If so - are you sure they don't provide emergency service? With ours, when you call after hours, you get to leave a message - or, if an emergency, they provide a number to a message service. The message service contacts the vet, he calls us, we explain - and he decides whether or not to meet us at the clinic.
There's no message service for my vet. She does house calls, and I highly doubt she'd come out here at midnight.

No fever as far as I can tell, but I'm sure she's dehydrated...since there's no food in her stomach she's been vomiting liquid. She just did it again. She seems alert, maybe in pain. Not hiding or crying.

I'm just very nervous about taking her to an unknown emergency vet. One of this cat's "siblings" died due to a veterinarian's incompetence.

Still, if this is an emergency, something needs to be done soon. I just don't know.

Edit: I've decided to wait until the morning to call my regular vet, unless my kitty throws up again, or gets worse. I will try to get her to drink something.
 

samhainborn

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Make sure you give us an update on this kitty. I've been through needing an emergency vet too when there were none available. Just do your best to stay calm, and watch your kitty carefully.
 

mrblanche

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The 24-hour hospital our vet recommends is at least 20 miles away.

If I were a vet, I'd get with the other vets in the area and establish a 24-hour emergency service.
 

rang_27

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I'm in the city of Milwaukee, not the biggest city, but a decent sized city. Up until very recently the nearest 24 hour vet was 20 - 30 mins away. So to me it is not that much of a shock.
 
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misskalamata

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Originally Posted by LDG

How's she doing today?
She's doing much better. We didn't end up needing the emergency vet - in fact, she hasn't seen a vet at all - I just called in the morning and left the regular vet a message. Her appetite's at least 50% back, and no more vomiting. She's all bright-eyed again today and actually played in the catnip I gave her. Of course, I'm still keeping an eye on her....I think she must have eaten some fuzz or something off the floor that didn't agree with her....maybe a poisonous bug. I do worry that she could have had a bad can of food....

As for the 24 hour vet, I circled some in the yellow pages, now I'll just have to look into them further. That Dr. Hart's chain doesn't look too promising....

Thank you all for the answers and vibes!
 

darlili

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I hope you'll never need one, but if you do locate someone likely, I'd seriously suggest doing at least one dry run, without kitty, just to make sure you know exactly where the place is, if you don't already. I did that, and was so thankful when two months later I had to go on a Sunday evening in the rain and dark - and while the sign was pretty prominent, it would have been so easy to miss it while I was upset.

Does your regular vet have any suggestions for after-hour emergency care?
 
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