Melbourne is well covered for after-hours veterinary care, with round-the-clock emergency and specialist hospitals on the city's western, eastern and outer-western sides. Australia has no single nationwide animal emergency number, so save a specific hospital's number in your phone before you need it and call ahead on the way so the team can prepare. Note that 000 is the human emergency line and will not dispatch help for an animal.
The flagship of Advanced Vetcare and the most convenient round-the-clock emergency hospital for central and northern Melbourne, about 5 km from the CBD. It combines an emergency and critical care service with specialist departments, so a case that arrives overnight can be handed straight to a specialist in the morning without a transfer.
💡 Save +61 3 9092 0400 before you travel and call from the car so they can meet you at the door.
The eastern-suburbs arm of Advanced Vetcare, useful if you are staying around Kew, Hawthorn, Richmond or the Yarra Bend side of the city. Its emergency consulting runs evenings and extended weekend hours rather than around the clock, so confirm by phone before you set off outside those windows.
💡 Outside its emergency consulting hours, head to the Kensington hospital instead, which runs 24 hours.
Gate 2, 250 Princes Highway, Werribee VIC 3030
A purpose-built referral and emergency hospital on the University of Melbourne's Werribee veterinary campus, opened in 2023 on the site of the former U-Vet hospital. It runs a dedicated emergency and critical care ward alongside surgery, internal medicine, neurology and imaging, and covers Melbourne's whole western corridor.
💡 This is the closest 24-hour hospital to Melbourne Airport's western approach and to the Mickleham quarantine corridor, worth noting if you are collecting a dog after import.
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