Portland Road is proud that we run our own 24/7 emergency service for our registered* clients. Please appreciate that this is staffed out of hours by our regular staff who will have already worked full days. We will never begrudge seeing you in a genuine emergency but please do not use the out of hours service for routine appointments or enquiries.

 

 

We hope that you never have need to contact us outside of opening hours but do understand how worrying it is if your pet becomes suddenly ill or injured.  Our vets share the “on call” between them and there is always a Veterinary Surgeon available 24/7 in the case of a genuine emergency. We also have facilities for vets and/or nurses to stay onsite if your pet needs overnight hospitalisation. House visits may be possible for our registered* clients, however this will always be at the discretion and/or availability of our on duty vet.

 

Here are a few tips to help you through the process of contacting us and to give you an idea of what will happen if you do

.

• Call the Normal Surgery Telephone number. You will hear an answer phone message which will give you the mobile telephone number of the Veterinary surgeon that is on call. Have a pen ready to write this down. Please note that this number changes regularly and may not be the number you called out of hours in the past.

• Call the mobile number given on the answer phone. It will be answered by the duty vet.  In the rare event she is on another telephone call at the time or out of mobile service area please call back within a few minutes.

•  If your call is the middle of the night please be aware that you will have likely woken the vet up and given them a few seconds to adjust! Our vets work long days and then cover the nights as well so will likely (hopefully) be getting some well earned rest.

• Please DO NOT just turn up at the practice as it will be closed.

• When you speak to the vet she will ask you questions about the emergency.  Please make sure that the person making the phone call knows the details of the emergency.

• If the vet thinks your pets condition is urgent but not immediately life threatening you will be advised of the costs and given the opportunity to decide whether you feel your pet can wait or if it should be seen.

• If your pet has an immediate or life threatening emergency be prepared to make some immediate decisions and listen carefully to advice that is given.

Emergencies to call immediately about are
1. Poisonings – please keep the packaging and bring it with you to the surgery. The vet can contact the poison information service while you are on route to the surgery and save valuable time.
2. Road Traffic Accidents – most injured animals can be moved safely and quickly on a blanket or towel for a dog or wrapped in a towel and put in a box for a cat.  Please contact the vet for advice if you are unsure and bring to the surgery asap.
3. Bloat or Gastric Dilation – in large breed dogs. If your dogs stomach is suddenly distended please ring your vet immediately.
4. Breathing Difficulties
5. Persistant vomiting and diarrhoea in an unwell patient.
6. Any other condition that appears to be making your pet suddenly seriously ill.

• Costs. Providing our clients with a 24 hour emergency service is part of our dedicated promise to you and none of our vets begrudge their time in helping an emergency case. You will always be seen by one of our own vets and your pets will be cared for by our own dedicated vet and nursing team 24 hours a day. 
   
However, having a vet and qualified nurse available 24 hours a day is very costly and there is an emergency surcharge that applies out of hours. The rate is dependant on the time of day/night that you are calling. As with all our standard terms and conditions we expect payment at the time of treatment.