FAQs For Hill Country Animal Emergency Hospital

We are open every night from 6 pm through until 8 am, except on weekends, where we open on Friday at 6 pm and don’t close until Monday morning at 8 am.

Emergency veterinary care should be thought of similarly to ER services in human medicine. It is designed for emergency cases that your family veterinarian is unable to help you with, either because they are closed or too busy or because the care needed is more intensive than what is available at a family veterinarian. Just like human medicine, emergency veterinary care is often necessarily more expensive than care at a family veterinarian.

Our facility is currently open during hours when your family veterinarian is closed, with some overlap. In time, we hope to grow to a 24-hour facility that will continue to serve the community by augmenting your family veterinarian’s services all day, every day.

All pets are assessed shortly after arrival, and a triage status is determined, with full examinations happening in the order of established triage levels. Pain control can be requested immediately, and patients that are determined to need other stabilizing treatments such as oxygen supplementation or IV fluids may be offered those services as the need is established.

Emergency care is available at times when regular veterinary hospitals are not open. As it is impossible for a daytime veterinarian and his or her staff to provide service around the clock, a centralized emergency center allows for intensive after-hours care by a specially trained staff with extensive equipment.

Veterinarians referring cases to an emergency center want their clients’ pets to receive the best possible after-hours care. The emergency center, however, cannot replace the historical knowledge and valued relationship you have with your regular family veterinarian. After initial treatment, all follow-up care will be done by your family veterinarian.

A doctor must perform a thorough physical exam before determining what treatment if any, is recommended. Following the exam, you will receive an estimate for the treatment plan that the doctor recommends for your pet. Upon approval, you will be required to leave a deposit in the form of cash or a charge card for the high end of the estimate. Please feel free to ask questions if you do not understand any aspect of the estimate or treatment plan. We want your pet to receive the best possible medical care. We have partnered with Scratch Pay and Care Credit to help you with your Pet’s care.

We do not provide vaccinations or perform routine health care. Our hospital will provide emergency care when your family veterinarian is not available, or your pet requires intensive care — no appointment is necessary. Our doctors and nursing staff have advanced training and expertise in emergency medicine.

If the doctor recommends that the pet be hospitalized due to his or her medical condition, you will need to make plans to pick your pet up by 7 AM the next morning for its return home or transfer to your regular veterinarian.

As the emergency doctor may be unexpectedly busy, we rely on you to call for periodic progress updates. We will, however, contact you at any hour if your pet’s condition should decline unexpectedly. Please provide us with an accurate phone number that we are able to reach you on in the middle of the night.