Emergency Vet London Ontario: 24-Hour Clinics

Yes. London has two emergency facilities that together cover most of the week. The London Regional Veterinary Emergency and Referral Hospital on Adelaide Street North handles emergencies overnight and through the week, and Southwest Veterinary Hospital on Wellington Road South covers the weekend window. Because each clinic runs its own schedule and those schedules have changed recently, save both phone numbers to your phone now and call the closest one to confirm it is open before you drive. In an emergency, calling ahead while someone else drives lets the clinic prepare for your arrival.

An emergency exam in London typically runs $200 to $600 before any diagnostics or treatment. Bloodwork, X-rays, and ultrasound add to that quickly. Emergency surgery (for example, a blocked cat, bloat in a large dog, or a foreign-body obstruction) commonly runs $2,500 to $8,000 or more. Costs vary with the severity and the time spent. Ask the clinic for an estimate once your pet is triaged. Most emergency clinics require a deposit before treatment begins.

Call an emergency vet immediately for: difficulty breathing or choking, suspected poisoning, a seizure, being hit by a car, a distended or bloated abdomen (especially in large dogs), inability to urinate (especially male cats), repeated vomiting or vomiting blood, collapse or extreme lethargy, prolonged or unproductive labour, severe bleeding that will not stop, or a suspected broken bone. When in doubt, call the clinic and describe the symptoms. The American Veterinary Medical Association and the ASPCA both publish emergency-sign guides, but a phone call to the clinic is the fastest way to know whether to come in now.

Call ahead so the clinic can prepare and triage. Put a dog on a leash or a cat in a carrier, even a calm pet may panic when in pain. Note any medications your pet takes and roughly when symptoms started. If a poison is involved, bring the packaging or take a photo of it. Bring vaccine records if they are easy to grab, but do not delay for them. Have someone else drive if you can, so you can keep the pet still and stay on the phone with the clinic. Drive carefully; a second emergency helps no one.

You can, and a true life-threatening emergency should never be delayed by anything. But calling ahead is almost always better when there is time. The clinic can tell you whether to come in, prepare equipment and staff for your specific situation, warn you if they are at capacity or closed for the day, and start advising you on first steps while you travel. This matters more than usual in London, where the two emergency clinics cover different parts of the week, so a quick call confirms the right one is open before you drive.

If your pet is stable but you are worried, you have a few choices. Call your regular vet's after-hours line; many London clinics have a recorded message directing you to their emergency partner. You can call an emergency clinic and describe the symptoms to a technician, who can advise whether it can wait until morning. For poison questions specifically, the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center (888-426-4435) and the Pet Poison Helpline (855-764-7661) are open 24/7 for a per-call fee. If symptoms worsen, treat it as an emergency and go in.

London's emergency coverage is split across two clinics, and that split matters most on weekends and holidays, which is exactly when emergencies spike and regular clinics are closed. The London Regional hospital covers the overnight and weekday window, and Southwest Veterinary Hospital covers the weekend. Because these schedules have shifted recently due to regional staffing, do not assume either is open at a given hour. Call to confirm before you drive; the phone numbers are on each clinic's website.

The core steps are the same: call ahead, keep the animal contained and calm, and travel carefully. The main difference is transport. A cat in distress should go in a hard-sided carrier, with a towel over it to reduce stress; never carry a hurting cat loose in your arms. A dog should be leashed, and a large dog in pain may need two people and a blanket used as a sling for lifting. A pet in pain can bite even its own family, so secure containment protects everyone.

Emergency clinics usually require payment at the time of service and often a deposit before treatment. Options if the bill is beyond your immediate means: third-party financing like Scratchpay or VetBilling, which split the bill into monthly payments and are accepted at many Ontario clinics; the Farley Foundation, a Canadian charity that helps low-income pet owners with medical costs (eligibility is limited and applied through a participating vet); and asking the clinic directly about payment plans. Pet insurance only reimburses you afterward and only if the policy predates the condition.

The Ontario Veterinary College Health Sciences Centre in Guelph runs an emergency and referral service, but for patients outside the Guelph area it generally requires a referral from your primary or emergency vet. It is roughly 1.5 hours east of London. For a sudden emergency, a London clinic is far faster. OVC is most relevant for complex specialty cases (advanced surgery, oncology, neurology) that your emergency vet refers onward.

Pet insurance can cover emergency and illness costs, but with two critical caveats. First, it reimburses you after you pay the clinic; it does not pay the vet directly at the counter, so you still need to cover the bill up front. Second, anything diagnosed before your policy started, or during a waiting period, is treated as pre-existing and excluded for life. That is why the rule is to enroll while your pet is young and healthy, long before an emergency. Insurance bought after a problem appears will not cover that problem.

Because London's coverage is split across two clinics, there can be gaps, so always call first to confirm one is open. If neither London clinic can take you, emergency hospitals in nearby communities are the next step: there are after-hours and emergency options toward Kitchener-Waterloo (about an hour northeast), Sarnia, and Woodstock. The Ontario Veterinary College in Guelph (about 1.5 hours east) takes referred emergencies for complex cases. Always call before driving to a second clinic, so you are not turned away twice with a pet in distress.

Two 24/7 hotlines staffed by veterinary toxicology experts can advise immediately: the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center at 888-426-4435 and the Pet Poison Helpline at 855-764-7661. Both charge a per-call consultation fee. They can tell you whether the substance is dangerous, whether to induce vomiting (often you should NOT without guidance), and what to tell the emergency vet. If your pet is already showing severe symptoms, go straight to the emergency clinic and call the hotline on the way.