Animal Emergency Hospital & Urgent Care

From the technicians to the vet that I came in contact with I was extremely impressed with how this clinic dynamically acted upon bringing my dog in after it was clear to me she was having an allergic reaction. Working in the medical field, I didn’t need any explanation but the vet was clearly well rehearsed in giving an explanation in patient friendly words that made sense. The staff had great kennelside manner clearly used to calming the frantic owner bringing their sick companion in.
This is an emergency clinic and as expected the wait time is lower than what is expected at the traditional outpatient clinic with higher costs due to response time and level of care with an acute event. What made me rate them 5 stars was the level of transparency with treatment options, pros/​cons of treatment options, and associated costs of interventions provided. Even the base emergency fee was explained to me up front before giving the staff the go ahead to send the vet right in. Very impressed with the quality of this clinic overall, while I hopefully will not have to utilize emergency vet care if I do I’ll definitely be coming back.

I MADE A MISTAKE TAKING MY DOG HERE.
Due to financial constraints, I found myself faced with a difficult decision that I’m not so sure, had it been another facility, I would’ve had to make. Our dog (a young, Aussie Shep mix) seemed to be experiencing bloat. Necessary X-​rays ruled that out but showed an entire ear of corn in her belly (!!) as well as severe blockage in her lower intestines. Surgery was needed. Upon receiving the quotes for the different levels of after-​hours care this place was willing to offer me, I called our regular vet at home. Hearing what I’d been quoted for Samantha’s care (i.e., the procedure, the meds, after hour pricing, etc.) my vet told me she could squeeze Sami in the next day. She was able to do it for less than one third the price! The only issue was I needed to make sure Sami was kept well-​hydrated overnight and had anti-​nausea medication for at home care.
The fact is, not being prepared to have to shell out this type of money for an «in the event
of emergency» was my mistake in taking on a dog. However, 6 weeks ago when I saw Samantha posted on the Wake County Animal Adoption Agency, I had to adopt her. For the past 5+ weeks she was with our family, this dynamic young dog lit up our world. We were enrolled in training classes, she’d been seen by a great vet (who’d treated her for whipworm) and follow-​up visits and more. Lots of long walks, belly rubs and kisses, high-​quality food, toys, car harness, etc. Nothing too good for her!
Sami quickly made friends with our neighbor’s dog and got carte blanche access to their backyard as well as their hearts. She seemed to love and was loved by all she came in contact with (human and dog.)
In surrendering Sami to AEH I gave up all rights to her. I was not to be given any information about what happened to her except she was NOT going to be euthanized. In exchange for my signature I was promised that Sami would indeed have the surgery, they would place her in a foster home to heal and then ultimately put her up for adoption (either their own services or with a rescue group.) I was told by the business owner-​vet, Dr. Sellers, that I would not be allowed to re-​adopt the dog, «That is NOT how this works.»
I know Sami’s surgery was successful (I called last Monday.) Although I wasn’t supposed to get that update, it seems after my impassioned plea the woman who answered my call confidentially told me. She also shared that Samantha had won the hearts of the entire place. No surprise there!
My opinion is this:
If money is of no concern to you and the location is terribly convenient… go.
If a cold, compassionless, totally mercenary business owner who happens to be veterinarian (possibly a decent one) & seems to be lacking a soul fits the profile of exactly what you want in a vet… go.
HOWEVER, if it’s a vet who’s knowledgeable, highly experienced, personable, compassionate and determined to keep the prices as reasonable and affordable as possible for the community they practice in, is important to you… then DON’T GO!!!

I took my beloved 15 year old cat here after midnight, on her last night on earth. Rik Wyatt and his team assured me that I was making the right choice, and helped me make the choice by offering facts and statistics. He really knew his stuff and made me feel confident with my decision. They were extremely kind, and were patient with me as I said goodbye. Less than a week after I brought my kitty in, I received a condolences letter with personal notes from both the vet and the vet tech. I really appreciated their kind words.
I was also extremely impressed with their cremation service. I got the nicest package from the provider that made me feel like they truly took care of my pet and loved her the way I did.
Overall, the experience was first class.

You all are so fake, absolutely NO compassion at all! Kept me from seeing my critically ill baby not just that night when I waited four hours but on multiple other occasions. I discussed my concerns with another Vet tech friend and she was absolutely appalled! And now you’re trying to make excuses, pathetic! No matter what was going on I have a right to see my sweet dog. He died as a result of your neglect! Sucked out my whole life savings then killed him. I hope it stays on your conscious forever!

I highly recommend Animal Emergency Hospital and Urgent Care to anyone. Last summer I was living in Greenville (a little over an hour away) but drove to see them because no emergency vets in Eastern North Carolina treated guinea pigs. A staff member was waiting at the door when I pulled up and saw my guinea pig, Sam, immediately. He picked him up out of his carrier and discovered that Sam had passed away (it must have been a few minutes before). I was taken to a private room where I was able to talk with staff, hold Sam for a little bit, and make arrangements for him. The staff was incredibly kind and very patient with me. Since I did not have to see a vet after all, they did not charge me anything for my office visit. I was floored… most places will charge you something just for walking in the door. I was also offered a free clay mold of his paw print. Animal Emergency Hospital and Urgent Care did not make any money off of me, but they treated me as if I was their most valued customer. While I would prefer not to need to see an emergency vet because I wouldn’t want any of my pets to be sick, if I had to, I would make the drive to Raleigh again. To top things off, I received a sympathy card in the mail signed by some of the staff. I cannot say enough good things about them; they were amazing.

These guys were great as far as getting us in and seen quickly. We brought our pup after she had a little accident and lost a couple teeth… we weren’t sure what to do and it was Sunday night.
We were given some pain meds and antibiotics and an option of them pulling her teeth there or waiting to see our regular vet. We opted to see our regular vet after the doc was honest and said they just didn’t have the dental equipment probably required for her situation.
The only sort of disappointment was the lack of cleanliness in the rooms. There was cat hair all over the floor, like clumps of it, and the examination table had stuff all over it. Plus the smell inside was a bit like stale cigarettes and the upkeep of the bench cushions was really lacking.
Overall though, we got what we needed from this visit and found the staff to be honest, helpful and friendly.

I called Animal Emergency Hospital and Urgent Care because of medical issues with my pet rabbit. She passed away on the trip over, however the staff was waiting for us when we arrived and immediately took her back in hopes to help her. We had no wait at all and although the answer wasn’t what I was hoping for, I was given it extremely quickly.
Everyone was so caring and sympathetic. As terrible as the situation was, I had as positive of an experience as I could possibly have thanks to the caring and kind staff here.

I know vets. I have had numerous pets from the exotic to the routine pups and kitties. I have done rescue, both pet and wild animals. We currently have birds, dogs and cats. We currently have two regular vets — one for the furry kids and one for the feathered ones.
Our male Congo African Grey has been experiencing a series of medical issues that have had us at his regular vet on an all-​too-​frequent basis. He’d been doing well after treatment on Thursday, but for some reason this morning he had gone right back to being listless and refusing all but a couple of favorite food items. Concerned with his constant weight loss, I called his vet around noon. They close at 1pm, but told me they needed me there by 12:30pm. Being 35 – 40 minutes away, I knew that wasn’t going to happen. They suggested going to Animal Emergency Hospital and Urgent Care. The tech on the phone stated they usually referred there because this vet office treated exotics.
I have dealt wth emergency vets before — some good, some fantastic, and some so-​so. Most are heinously expensive. But this is my baby we are talking about. I called them and surprisingly they gave me a very reasonable estimate. We rushed there.
They were very easy to find but were a bit farther than the tech at our regular vet had led me to believe. We arrived there and their tech was waiting at the door for us and whisked us right to an examining room. He did the initial intake and was extremely thorough in his questions, despite what must have been frantic rambling in my extremely worried state of mind.
It was not much of a wait before the vet, Dr. Lassiter, arrived. She reminded me of a pediatrician. She was gentle and patient with her less-​that-​cooperative patient. Instead of having him toweled to examine him, she petted him and spoke quietly to him and he eventually allowed her to examine him thoroughly. She was very compassionate and seemed really concerned about not stressing him. I was amazed at her ‘bedside manner.’ Human doctors, take notes here!
She very thoroughly consulted with the regular vet’s office, getting a full report. She made excellent recommendations for treatment. The tech was excellent as well, being very careful and thorough when giving the injection that was ordered.
And the bill? Less than the original estimate. Not that I hope to have this kind of situation in the future — no one wants to have to go to an ER, be it an animal one or human one — but you can bet if the need arises, I will be returning to the excellent care and friendly, courteous staff at this animal hospital!

A week ago our dog went from being completely normal to gravelly ill in a matter of minutes. Of course it was on a Sunday evening when our regular vet was closed: the emergency number listed from our vet was Animal Emergency. We called and told them the situation and they told us that he needed to be seen immediately. When we arrived, they were waiting for us at the door and immediately took our dog back for xrays to confirm their fear of a twisted stomach. They promptly told us of our options and they gave us a fair and accurate estimate of the cost of surgery right then. We decided to have the surgery and left our dog in their care. The surgery went great and Dr. Misavage-​Jones was awesome. I was so happy with the care they gave our dog from the doctors to the techs. Each time I called everyone was just so nice. A week later our dog is still on the mend but is definitely getting back to normal. I highly recommend this clinic!

A Horrible Experience. I took my dog there in an emergency late one night. Dr Boyd had absolutely no compassion, wanted to charge me $ 500 in testing before she would give my dog any pain relief and wanted to prescribe a med I knew my dog couldn’t be given because of her current meds. She must had overlooked this vital detail because she was so focused on attacking me for overmedicating my dog, which was a dosage prescibed by my dog’s SPECIALIST. We walked out. One star goes to the nice assistant Megan.

When my pet chinchilla past away fairly recently, these guys were great. We showed up in the middle of the night, with this poor sick animal, and we hardly had to wait at all before we got a doctor to show up and examine him. She was very kind in letting us know the situation and our options, and very sympathetic to us.
The experience was about as positive as it could be, all things considered. For care emergency care in the middle of the night, and caring and sympathetic staff, you could do much worse than this place.