For many pet owners, the cost of a visit to an emergency out-of-hours vet can come as a shock. When your pet is sick or injured, the last thing on your mind is how much it will cost to make them better. Emergencies are not something we tend to plan for and can lead to a last-minute scramble to find any vet that is open outside of normal hours. There can be precious little time to shop around or negotiate terms. The scarcity of emergency veterinary practices in your area may limit or completely remove the choice of which vet you see.

It’s important to know in advance what to expect if the worst should happen, and your pet needs to see an emergency vet. Who will you call and how far will you have to travel? How much can you expect to pay in order to be seen? Will this be covered by your pet insurance provider? Does the time you are seen, or the day of the week, make a difference when it comes to cost? And can the emergency wait until your usual veterinary provider is back on shift?

How to find an emergency vet

When vets are closed overnight or at weekends, they have a few options for how they might provide 24-hour emergency care:

  • They may keep a reduced staff on-site overnight, on a rota basis.
  • They may have a vet who goes home but is ‘on-call’ and will return to the practice if a patient needs to be seen.
  • They may have a nominated out-of-hours provider at a different location, that you will be directed to.

The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (the body responsible for setting national standards of care for vets) requires that all veterinary practices have a process in place to provide emergency out-of-hours, in-person care

Veterinary surgeons are required to provide clients with full details of this arrangement, including relevant telephone numbers, location details, when the service is available, and the nature of service provided.

Before you register your pet with your local vet, it’s worth asking some questions to find out what their procedure is for out-of-hours care

In some cases, the emergency care takes place at the same premises as the usual daytime service. This isn’t always so, and you may find you need to travel to a different location that is possibly further afield. If you don’t drive and need to take an expensive pet taxi late at night for example, this might even persuade you to opt for a different daytime veterinary provider altogether. If your pet is hospitalised during the day, they may need to be transported to another premises for care overnight, and the cost of ambulance transport is likely to be added to the overall bill. Also, have a think about whether your vet’s opening hours are going to suit you. Does your working pattern mean you are more likely to contact the vet at evenings or weekends? If so, it’s worth registering with a practice that provides a routine service during the hours that suit you better. It’s a good idea to think about these things in advance before you register your pet with a vet, and to keep those emergency contact details close at hand. 

In an emergency you should call your usual veterinary practice initially, or any local vet

If they don’t provide 24-7 care on the premises, you are likely to get through to their answering machine. There will be a pre-recorded message leaving the contact details of the practice’s nominated emergency provider. 

You can also find an out-of-hours vet using VetHelpDirect’s Find a Vet search tool Vets Near Me – Find A Vet & Compare Vet Prices.

So, how much is an emergency vet appointment?

The average cost of seeing an emergency vet varies depending on where you live, but on average you are looking at paying around £250 for the initial consultation. Regionally, it can be cheaper in Wales and the North, and more expensive if you live in London or the Southeast. 

If your pet needs emergency treatment, this is charged in addition to the initial consultation fee. The total cost will vary depending on the nature of your pet’s illness or injury. For example, if your pet needs to be hospitalised, put on a drip, or needs pain relief, this will all be charged on top of the consultation fee.

Prices can vary depending on what time of night you need to be seen, and whether you need to be seen on a Sunday or a Bank Holiday. 

Many out-of-hours vets charge a fixed consultation fee for the first part of the night, for example from 9pm-2am. They may then charge a bit more for an appointment that is needed after 2am. This is not the case across the board, but some vets may charge as much as £100 extra for an early morning appointment versus one that is late at night.

On Sundays and Bank Holidays, an out-of-hours fee is still going to apply, but it may be less expensive to see the emergency vet during daylight hours compared to night-time. Sometimes, the more expensive late-night fee is charged across the whole 24-hour period for a public holiday. 

For those daytime veterinary practices that also provide a night-time service, it is usually important to be a registered client. If you aren’t a registered client, they may direct you to an alternative veterinary provider or charge extra for the appointment. 

Why are the prices so different from in-hours fees?

You are not going to find a veterinary practice that does not charge any extra for an emergency, after-hours consultation. The practice must pay its staff to work during anti-social hours, and usually every case that comes in is likely to be urgent and time-consuming. An out-of-hours service needs to be fully equipped with diagnostic machinery, such as x-rays, scanners and blood testing apparatus, and has to be ready for emergency surgery at any hour of the day. Having specially trained teams monitoring pets around the clock is a costly service to provide.

Will emergency vet fees be covered by insurance?

In most cases, yes, but you’ll need to read your policy documents carefully to check for any terms and conditions around out-of-hours care. Some insurance providers may have stipulations around only paying out for a genuine emergency (the definition of this can vary) or they may have a limit on the amount you can claim back for emergency care. You’ll generally have to pay the emergency vets fees up front, and then put in an insurance claim to recover the costs. Having a decent credit card that won’t charge loads of interest for the time it takes to put in a claim can be vital for many pet owners in this situation. 

Can it wait?

The question of ‘can it wait’ puts a huge amount of pressure on pet owners, who want to do what’s best for their pet in an emergency, but baulk at the sizable bill that may come their way.

The first step is to make that call to your vet. Getting advice over the phone is usually not a chargeable service, and it can help you to decide if your pet needs to be seen straight away, or whether it’s safe to wait for a daytime appointment. 

Generally, you are going to need to see a vet urgently if: 

  • Your pet is in obvious pain or distress.
  • Your pet is unconscious or has collapsed.
  • If they are struggling to breathe.
  • If they have had a seizure, especially multiple seizures in a row, or a seizure lasting more than two minutes. 
  • If there is bleeding and it cannot easily be stopped.
  • You suspect they have a broken bone.
  • You believe they have eaten something poisonous.
  • If they are showing signs of heatstroke.
  • If they have rapidly deteriorated.  

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