Emergency Coverage

Emergency Service

IF YOU HAVE AN EMERGENCY, PLEASE CONTACT OUR OFFICE AT 607-733-6503 TO BE REFERRED TO THE NEAREST AVAILABLE EMERGENCY COVERAGE.

Our practice has partnered with GuardianVets to provide you with client communication solutions and technology. GuardianVets’ triage solution will enable our practice to offer you after-hours veterinary support.

Here’s how it works:

• If you call after-hours, you will speak to a licensed veterinary professional working for GuardianVets.
• GuardianVets is serving as a virtual extension of our team. They follow our practice procedures and protocols already in place.
• GuardianVets will not treat or diagnose our patients. They will triage emergency calls, facilitate ER referrals, gather history for on-call doctors, answer your questions, and assist you in determining the best course of action for your pet.

Through this partnership, we can now provide veterinary support for our clients when we’re out of the office. You will now have someone to help you determine if your pet’s concern is non-emergent or emergent.

We feel very strongly that this after-hours support should be available for all of our clients to help guide you in the event of an emergency, so there will be no fees associated with this service.

In some cases, you may be referred to Cornell if the veterinary nurse with Guardian Vets feels your pet requires more intensive care or cannot wait until our office opens.

(Please note: None of the veterinary practices in Elmira, Horseheads, or Corning area provide 24 hour care).

Sundays and holidays are strictly covered by Cornell Animal Hospital or other emergency clinics, such as VCA Colonial or the Veterinary Medical Center of Syracuse.

If your concern is imminent and you can not immediately speak with someone at Cornell, proceed to Cornell University Animal Hospital and call en route. Cornell is staffed 24 hours a day.

Recently, many emergency hospitals have been filling to capacity, so you may be referred to another hospital in Ithaca, Syracuse, or Rochester if your pet needs care, but Cornell is already at capacity. We understand that it is not optimal to have to travel with a sick or injured pet, but veterinary teams everywhere are doing the best they can to facilitate care for all pets that need care.