A dog vomiting at 11 pm, a cat that will not get up on a Sunday: the veterinary on-call service exists for this. Here is how it works in Belgium.
How the on-call service is organised
Vets in an area share on-call duties on a rota. Most often:
- Call your usual vet first: their answering machine gives the number of the colleague on duty or of the regional central service.
- Phone before travelling: the on-call vet may be on a call-out, and will tell you what to do in the meantime.
- 24/7 emergency clinics: in large cities, some facilities accept patients at any hour without appointment.
What an on-call consultation costs
An on-call visit carries a surcharge (night, weekend, public holiday) on top of the care. Amounts vary between practices; ask for an estimate on the phone.
Signs that cannot wait
- Breathing difficulties, blue or white gums.
- Repeated vomiting or diarrhoea with lethargy, especially in a puppy or kitten.
- Swollen, hard abdomen, unproductive retching in a large dog (risk of gastric torsion).
- Male cat unable to urinate.
- Seizures, loss of consciousness, trauma (car, fall).
- Ingestion of chocolate, grapes, xylitol, medication, antifreeze, toxic plants.
When in doubt, call: describing the symptoms on the phone lets the vet decide.
Preparing the call
Have the animal's age, weight, current treatments and vaccines to hand, plus its chip number. With Zoolinko, the full health record is on your phone, and you can give the on-call vet temporary 72-hour access to the file, which you revoke afterwards.
Finding an on-call vet near you
The Zoolinko directory shows, for labelled practices, the current on-call slots with a clickable phone number and address. See On-call vets.
General information: in an emergency, call a vet.