It’s no secret to anyone with a pet that these companions are part of the family. So when the unthinkable happens and these family members have a medical emergency, we need to act fast. To help pet owners get assistance quickly, we’ve put together a list of The Best Emergency Vets in New Jersey. Most of them treat pets such as dogs, cats, birds, reptiles, and even exotic animals.
Nearly all of the Emergency Vets on this list are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. (The select few that are not have their hours included for easy reference.) All listees are staffed by experienced, board-certified specialists with facilities that treat a wide range of medical emergencies. This includes pain management, internal medicine, surgery, cardiology, neurology, oncology, ophthalmology, rehabilitation, dentistry, oral surgery, and diagnostic imaging.
Quick Click Guide: Select an NJ Region below to see The Best Emergency Vets in each area.
| North Jersey | Central Jersey | Jersey Shore | South Jersey |
North Jersey
Animal Emergency & Referral Associates (AERA)
Where: 975 Bloomfield Ave, West Caldwell
Details: AERA is open 24/7, 365 days a year. Their wide range of board-certified specialists have been handling pet emergencies and specialty needs for over 25 years. Services include internal medicine, dentistry & oral surgery, orthopedic & soft tissue surgery, and radiation oncology. In addition, they offer physical rehab, diagnostics, and trained staff members to oversee any surgeries that require Anesthesia. Pet owners love the state-of-the art facility with 21 exam rooms, surgery center, pharmacy, and indoor dog run. With doctors across multiple departments, including a dedicated overnight team, pet owners know what to expect from AERA: Respect, Compassion, and Professional Excellence.
Why I Like it: AERA began as a small, after hours emergency clinic, and has been growing ever since.
| Visit their Website | Shop Online Pharmacy | Follow on Facebook | Give them a Call |
All Creatures Great and Small Animal Hospital and Urgent Care
Where: Denville
Details: The mouthful of a name says it all. This full-service animal clinic offers walk-in urgent care seven days a week from 7:00 am to 9:00 pm. They also offer after-hours emergency calls and overnight hospitalization. In particular, the emergency team here commonly treats issues resulting from car accidents, chocolate ingestion, poisonings, seizures, and choking. They advise calling ahead if possible before coming in so the staff can assess your situation.
Eclipse Specialty and Emergency Care
Where: Whippany
Details: Though Eclipse is relatively new, opening in 2022, Morris County residents welcome the 24-hour urgent care center. The founders aim to disrupt the typical ER model by harnessing their 25 years of veterinary experience. In particular, they focus on offering care that is mutually beneficial for all parties: patient, pet owner, referring vet, and Eclipse’s team. Services include emergency and critical care, internal medicine, neurology, oncology, and surgery.
Harmony Animal Hospital
Where: Phillipsburg
Details: Harmony Animal Hospital is so popular, it often draws pet owners from even out-of-state. William Epple, VMD, and his team of emergency vets are available 24/7/365. This acute-care hospital specifically serves small pets, and is trained to handle any urgent situation. Most staffers have been at Harmony for at least 10 years, providing consistent care and expertise to their patients. Besides ER options, they also offer general veterinary services.
Newton Veterinary Hospital
Where: Newton
Details: Originally a farm-animal practice, this spot became Sussex County’s first emergency veterinary hospital in 2003. Now, Newton Veterinary Hospital is a full-service facility under the helm of Don Costlow, DVM. Their 24-hour emergency care options include an intensive-care ward, animal blood bank, surgery, in-house lab, and ultrasounds. The team also offers regular wellness visits and dentistry services. In fact, grooming, boarding, and daycare make this a one-stop pet-care center.
Oradell Animal Hospital
Where: Paramus
Details: The Paramus location of Oradell Animal Hospital offers 24/7 emergency service. This full-service trauma center cares for dogs, cats, and birds, as well as exotic animals. Services include pain management, internal medicine, surgery, cardiology, neurology, oncology, ophthalmology, rehabilitation, dentistry, oral surgery, and diagnostic imaging. Pet owners value the loving and compassionate care here, along with the honest and thorough explanation of options post-diagnosis.
Tenafly Veterinary Center
Where: Tenafly
Details: This general-care vet center offers walk-in emergency care during their normal business hours from Monday through Saturday. In the instance of an emergency, they recommend calling ahead so they can provide guidance and prepare for patient arrival. Depending on the situation, they may refer patients to a higher level critical-care hospital. A second location — Overpeck Creek Hospital — is planned to open in Bogota by Summer 2023.
Veterinary Emergency Group
Where: Hoboken
Details: The Veterinary Emergency Group, VEG for short, has four high-level critical-care centers in total across NJ. They exclusively offer emergency services, including walk-in care and a 24/7/365 phone line with access to doctors. They immediately triage and treat dogs, cats, exotic pets, and birds for all emergencies, injuries, and illnesses. Additional services include emergency surgery, testing, ultrasounds, X-rays, hospitalization, and end-of-life care.
Westwood Regional Veterinary Hospital
Where: Westwood
Details: This walk-in animal hospital never requires appointments, nor do they charge extra emergency fees. Westwood Regional Veterinary Hospital is open from 10:00 am to 10:00 pm, 365 days a year. Their high-tech facility provides advanced training in emergency and trauma-based critical-care protocols, so they’re always prepared. Westwood also offers primary-care services, rehabilitation treatments, acupuncture, stem-cell therapy, and luxury daycare and boarding.
Central Jersey
Westfield Veterinary Group
Where: 1325 Morris Ave, Union | 562 Springfield Ave, Westfield
Details: The Westfield Veterinary Group offers emergency, general practice and boarding services at their Union location. The Union practice is open from 7:00 am to midnight Monday through Wednesday, and 24 hours Thursday through Sunday. Their emergency and critical-care vets can handle any urgent situation, with access to cutting edge equipment and diagnostic tools. For example, they perform a wide range of soft-tissue surgeries every day. Plus, their “Fear Free” certification and AAHA accreditation ensures pets have a stress-free experience that meets the highest standards. Walk-ins are welcome, but a quick call will help pet owners determine if their situation is an emergency.
Why I Like it: WVG treats all animals with the same care and respect they have for their family pets.
| Visit their Website | Make an Appointment | Follow on Instagram | Follow on Facebook | Give them a Call |
AnimERge
Where: Raritan
Details: This fully staffed medical facility offers emergency services 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Pet owners rely on this ER staff for compassionate care and informative explanations. AnimERge has specialized training in both emergency medical care and triage. They also offer specialty services by appointment including surgery, cardiology, ophthalmology, and dermatology, including allergy concerns. Plus, they work in tandem with a primary vet to solve challenging issues.
Clark Animal Hospital
Where: Rahway
Details: Clark Animal Hospital welcomes walk-in emergencies during regular business hours, seven days a week. Opening and closing times can vary, but are always available on their website. Services include urgent care, internal medicine, surgery, cardiology, radiology, and ultrasounds, along with complete general care during non-urgent visits. Staff members speak English, Hindi, Punjabi, Spanish, and Portuguese, offering diagnoses without language barriers.
Crown Veterinary Specialists
Where: Lebanon
Details: This emergency facility boasts an extensive team of board-certified experts, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. In addition, their cutting edge ER is equipped to handle almost any illness or injury a pet can have. Likewise, the ICU is staffed with a vet certified by the American College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care. Besides emergency aid, they also offer cardiology, dermatology, pain management, oncology, and ophthalmology special services.
NorthStar VETS
Where: Robbinsville
Details: NorthStar is a nationally-recognized trauma and specialty center with three locations in NJ across three counties. In total, over 50 veterinarians on staff care for cats, dogs, birds, and exotic pets. However, 24/7 emergency services are available exclusively at their Robbinsville location. They also have advanced imaging equipment for fast diagnoses, comprehensive surgical services, and a state-of-the-art ICU. (Intensive Care Unit.)
Jersey Shore
Absecon Veterinary Hospital
Where: Absecon
Details: In addition to comprehensive general care, Absecon Veterinary Hospital offers emergency walk-in hours from 8:00 am to midnight. Their team of 19 vets can care for dogs, cats, reptiles, birds, and small mammals. Typical cases include severe vomiting or diarrhea, seizures, severe pain, fractures, coughing/choking, bleeding, fractures, poisoning, and heat stroke. While they are open seven days a week, they recommend calling prior to arrival.
Creatures Large & Small Animal Hospital
Where: Brick
Details: Russell Quartararo, DVM, has been treating all types of animals at his family-oriented clinic since 1993. He and his team offer after-hours emergency services, overnight hospitalization, X-rays, and soft-tissue and orthopedic surgeries. In fact, Dr. Russ himself is available for emergency visits most nights until 10:30 pm. They advise calling ahead if possible. This way, they can assess each situation and provide immediate support pre-arrival.
Garden State Veterinary Specialists
Where: Tinton Falls
Details: Though a specialty referral animal hospital during normal business hours, this spot accepts emergency patients without referrals. The primary Garden State Veterinary Specialists hospital is in Tinton Falls, but they have two other tri-state area locations. All are open 24/7/365. Their bleeding edge ICUs are overseen by criticalists, vets specially trained in emergency and critical care. They also have multiple doctors who specialize in ER medicine, and a board-certified vet present at all times.
Linwood Pet Hospital
Where: Linwood
Details: This general-practice animal hospital is staffed 24 hours a day. They offer year-round walk-in emergency services from 8:00 am to midnight. The team provides emergency surgeries and procedures for dogs, cats, birds, reptiles, guinea pigs, rabbits, rats, and more. Beyond that, overnight hospitalization is available, along with around-the-clock oxygen therapies. They also offer phone triage to determine whether issues are an emergency or not.
Parkway Veterinary Hospital
Where: Marmora | Cape May Court House
Details: This general wellness vet offers emergency care at both of its locations during regular business hours. Parkway Veterinary Hospital treats both cats and dogs. In addition, an after-hours veterinarian is on call until 10:00 pm seven days a week. These vets can assess a pet’s illness or injury. Specific services include surgery, radiology, ultrasounds, oncology, lab testing, and end-of-life care. They refer calls after 10:00 pm to a 24-hour urgent-care center.
Red Bank Veterinary Hospitals
Where: Tinton Falls
Details: For pet owners throughout NJ, Red Bank Veterinary Hospitals are synonymous with emergency and specialty care. Their 24-hour ER and team of more than 50 specialists ensure excellent care and knowledge all in one place. The Tinton Falls facility is actually relocating in 2024 to a brand-new state-of-the-art center. The new building features a PET scanner to aid in cancer detection, as well as many other upgrades. This will give pet owners even more reason to keep coming back.
Walnridge Equine Clinic
Where: Cream Ridge
Details: This experienced horse veterinarian and equine clinic in Central New Jersey offers 24-hour mobile and ambulatory emergency services. The experienced veterinarians and technicians at Walnridge Equine Clinic can address and treat any urgent-care concerns specific to horses. They also offer many surgical services, plus upper airway procedures, joint therapy, radiology, endoscopies, ultrasounds, dentistry, and hyperbaric oxygen treatments.
South Jersey
East Coast Equine Performance
Where: Chesterfield
Details: East Coast Equine Performance has been providing emergency equine care for more than 17 years. Ted Mazzarisi, DVM, and his team treat all types of horses including hunters, jumpers, dressage, pleasure, and racing. Specific services include radiography, ultrasounds, endoscopy, shockwave therapy, lameness examination, joint injections, and acupuncture. They also provide hospital care for horses recovering from either minor or major surgeries.
Mount Laurel Animal Hospital
Where: Mount Laurel
Details: This primary-care hospital offers 24-hour emergency services 365 days a year, with walk-ins welcome. They treat urgent cases including open wounds, poisoning, vomiting, diarrhea, seizures, cardiac resuscitation, abdominal surgery, urinary obstruction, and more. Meanwhile, their available diagnostic testing includes both endoscopies and ultrasounds. The team of vets here blends experienced emergency doctors with compassionate staff.
Pet Check Urgent Care
Where: Sewell | Deptford
Details: Emergency pet care is available from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm daily at Pet Check Urgent Care. While they’re not a critical-care facility, they can treat a variety of injuries at either of their two locations. This includes lacerations, burns, allergic reactions, fractures, ear infections, vomiting, diarrhea, and more. However, they will refer patients to a 24-hour hospital for either hospitalization or advanced surgical care. There is no extra fee for emergency visits.
Rancocas Veterinary Associates
Where: Mount Laurel
Details: Rancocas Veterinary Associates treats large-animal emergency cases and provides hospitalization at Meadow Creek Farm. (Their equine and large-animal facility that is in Easthampton.) Patients include horses, livestock, miniature pigs, poultry, and other farm animals. They also offer ambulatory emergency care for current equine and large-animal clients within 30 driving miles of Mount Holly. They aim to provide these emergency services 24/7.
Click Here To See More Best of New Jersey Lists.
The Best Emergency Vets in New Jersey FAQs
New Jersey is home to many highly regarded ER vets across the state. Some of the best emergency vets include Animal Emergency & Referral Associates (AERA) in West Caldwell and Westfield Veterinary Group. Other popular practices include Veterinary Emergency Group in Hoboken and Mount Laurel Animal Hospital.
The Best Emergency Vets in New Jersey typically provide a range of emergency, general, and overnight services. This can include anything from pain management and physical rehab to surgery, oncology, and end-of-life care. Other available services include diagnostics, radiology, cardiology, orthopedics, and treatment of neurological diseases and disorders.
Every situation is different, so the best thing to do is call your local Emergency Vet Hospital. Many of them, such as Westfield Veterinary Group, have a dedicated phone line to assess pet injuries They will tell you if your pet’s illness/injury warrants an ER visit.
It’s best to call the Emergency Vet ahead of time to ask about your dog’s condition. Based on a few different factors, a UTI can be a symptom of a larger, much more dangerous condition. The doctors over the phone will ask the right questions to determine whether your dog requires an ER visit for their UTI.
Top Photo: © Animal Emergency & Referral Associates / Facebook
Other Photos (in Order):
Animal Emergency & Referral Associates / Facebook
Westfield Veterinary Group / Website
