Urgent care and walk-in veterinary clinic opens in Quispamsis, N.B.

There is a new place to take your furry friends for all their health needs in the greater Saint John area.

The Greater Saint John Veterinary Walk-in & Urgent Care clinic in Quispamsis, N.B., opened at the start of February.

“It’s sort of a niche between the emergency and the general practice,” says emergency veterinarian Dr. Ivan Zakharenkov. “A lot of times you call your veterinarian and he or she is not available because they are booked up. The next choice is either to wait a couple days or even several weeks for an appointment, or to go to emergency which sometimes takes a long time and can be very expensive.”

Zak opened his first New Brunswick clinic this past October in Moncton. Upon seeing the demand, he expanded services to the southern part of the province.

The urgent care clinic aims to serve as an extension to a pets-dedicated care team. Both walk-ins and appointments are welcomed, although the clinic recommends calling in advance to set up appointments where possible. For walk-ins, the centre guarantees your pet will be see within the first hour of your arrival.

The clinic is open from noon to midnight each day to give pet owners a chance to receive care after hours. Services include emergency surgeries, infections, x-rays, ultrasounds and more. The clinic does not provide dental care, vaccinations, or flea/tick prevention and other services leaving those areas to one’s regular veterinarian.

The urgent care centre also has a unique option for pet owners to text into the office ahead of time to gauge the severity of their pet’s condition.

“We will triage the case over texting or over the phone,” says Zak. “And then we will decide whether it’s urgent and if you could wait for your vet to open the next day or the next appointment that you have, or should you come here.”

Dr. Ashley Ellsworth is one of the vets and the clinic and has worked in the industry for over 20 years. She says this service is essential for pet owners who can’t get to their own vet for whatever the reason, or can’t afford to wait hours in a hospital.

“It is really hard to sit in a waiting room and wait for a veterinarian to see your pet for an ear infection or an eye infection when there is much more life-threatening things in the hospital,” Ellsworth points out. “We are trying to bridge that gap.”

She also makes mention of top-notch care available at both their Moncton and Quispamsis locations.

“The availability of diagnostic and intervention that we have is amazing in this day and age,” she says. “It’s not quite human medicine but we are making a lot of headway.”

Zak notes the team has plans to expand across the nation, with an office currently being built on Prince Edward Island. They are also currently looking for a space to move into in Fredericton.

Back in Quispamsis on Feb. 24, the clinic will host an open house where children can bring their favourite stuffed animal in for a checkup to learn more about the veterinary process.

For more New Brunswick news visit our dedicated provincial page.