Our emergency service team is available 24 hours a day to treat emergencies.
In life-threatening emergencies, such as severe respiratory distress, seizures or acute paralysis, please come to us immediately with your dog or cat. If the condition of your pet allows it, please give us short notice of your visit: +49 (0)89 2180-2650
Please understand that there may be longer waiting times in the emergency service. Life-threatening illnesses have priority here, the most serious cases are treated first.
Please note that all veterinary services are billed immediately. Payment in installments is not possible. The treatment costs are based on the scale of fees for veterinarians(GOT) and are higher in the emergency service due to the additional staff required than in the appointment consultation hours.
Emergency veterinary care has deteriorated throughout Germany. More and more veterinary clinics are no longer able to offer 24-hour care seven days a week due to increased personnel costs. The legislator has responded to this tense situation and passed an amendment to the Fee Schedule for Veterinarians (GOT) on 14.02.2020. The new regulations are mandatory for all practicing veterinarians.
We are therefore legally obliged to charge you a flat-rate emergency service fee of 50.00 euros (+ 19% VAT) for a visit during emergency service hours (see below). In addition, all emergency veterinary services must be charged at 2 - 4 times the GOT rate.
The emergency service times within the meaning of the law are as follows:
- daily from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. of the following day (night)
- from 6 p.m. on Fridays to 8 a.m. on the following Monday (weekend)
- from 0:00 to 24:00 on public holidays
Outside of these times, even if you come to us as an emergency, no emergency service fee will be charged and you will be billed at a maximum of 3 times the GOT rate. You can find more information about the emergency service rules of the GOT in the press release of the German Veterinary Association.
The triple rate can also be applied for very time-intensive or complex services or for diagnostic or therapeutic measures that require a specialized senior doctor. This is the only way we can guarantee the high quality of medical care for our patients, our wide range of services and our year-round 24-hour emergency service, as we, as a university veterinary clinic, are bound by the requirements of the Minimum Wage and Working Hours Act, just like private veterinary clinics.
Please note that the emergency service can only provide initial treatment or stabilization of patients.
Initial care includes all examinations and measures required for acute care in the emergency service, depending on your pet's individual needs. In individual cases, emergency care during the daytime emergency service may also include a brief consultation by our emergency team with the special services. Unfortunately, this is not possible outside of our regular consultation hours. The decision about a consultation is made by our emergency vets and depends on the clinical presentation of your animal in the emergency service and staff capacity. However, a consultation in the emergency service does not replace the presentation and work-up by the specialists of our corresponding services.
The emergency service provides care for emergency patients. These include animals with life-threatening symptoms (e.g. respiratory distress, seizures, bleeding, poison ingestion, trauma) or patients whose condition may become critical without further treatment or who require acute care. Most emergencies therefore require inpatient admission on presentation to the emergency service. In these cases, patients are taken over by the various special services on the next working day. The next steps (e.g. further diagnostic work-up) will be discussed with you by the specialists on the next working day.
Thank you for your understanding that we cannot offer any clarification beyond emergency care in the emergency service. To clarify your pet's problems, please make an appointment during the consultation hours of our services.