Aug 10, 2026

Fort Collins Has Colorado's Only Veterinary Trauma Center: 8 Emergency Options, 4 Open 24 Hours

Four animal hospitals within half an hour are open around the clock, and one is a university teaching hospital that calls itself Colorado's only veterinary trauma centre.

Luis ZamoraCo-founder of PetCompass; Dog Dad to Banzo and Tuck

Fort Collins, Colorado10 min readPet Care & Services

Most cities this size have one after-hours option and a long drive as the backup. Fort Collins has four hospitals open around the clock within about half an hour, and one of them is a university teaching hospital that describes itself as the only veterinary trauma centre in Colorado.

If you are travelling with a dog that has a condition, or you simply worry, this is among the best-covered small cities in the United States. Here is the full list, in the order you should work through it.

1. CSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital

300 West Drake Road, Fort Collins, CO 80523 (970) 297-5000 Open 24/7, year round, including holidays

Start here for anything serious. Colorado State University's emergency and critical care service states that it is proud to be the only veterinary trauma centre in Colorado, and that no appointment is necessary. You can be seen the same day.

What that actually buys you. Access to a blood bank, 24/7 veterinarians and veterinary technicians, pain specialists, and a critical care and intermediate care unit for hospitalisation. Advanced imaging comes through the hospital's own diagnostic imaging service.

The emergency list is regionally specific. The service names severe trauma, difficulty breathing, severe pain, poisoning, snakebites, and heatstroke among the conditions it handles, plus same-day care for milder vomiting or diarrhoea, minor injuries, limping, wounds, and broken toenails.

Call ahead on (970) 297-5000 so the team can prepare for your arrival, and ask to speak to a member of the ER team if you are unsure whether to come in.

2. Fort Collins Veterinary Emergency and Rehabilitation Hospital

816 S. Lemay Avenue, Fort Collins, CO 80524 (970) 484-8080 Open 24 hours

The dedicated private emergency hospital in town, and the one most local practices name first in their own after-hours guidance. Both Raintree Animal Hospital and Mulnix Animal Clinic refer here.

One number discrepancy to know about. Most referring practices publish (970) 484-8080. Friendship Hospital for Animals lists (970) 230-7326 for the same hospital. Try the first, and keep the second as a fallback.

The rehabilitation half matters after the emergency. For a dog recovering from an orthopaedic injury on a Colorado trip, having emergency and rehab under one roof is genuinely useful.

3. Royal Vista Veterinary Specialists

4630 Royal Vista Circle, Suite 11, Windsor, CO 80528 (970) 825-5975 24-hour hospital

The southern option, at the intersection of Interstate 25 and County Road 32, Carpenter Road. Friendship Hospital for Animals lists it as the recommendation for south Fort Collins.

Choose it by geography rather than by preference. If you are staying south of Harmony Road, this is closer than driving into town.

4. VCA Veterinary Specialists of Northern Colorado

201 W. 67th Court, Loveland, CO 80538 (970) 278-0668

Named in the after-hours referral lists published by both Raintree and Mulnix. Loveland is roughly fifteen to twenty minutes south of Fort Collins.

Useful as the fourth call if the closer three are at capacity, which does happen on holiday weekends.

5. Friendship Hospital for Animals

1103 Oak Park Drive, Suite 101, Fort Collins, CO 80525 (970) 206-1868 Monday to Friday 7:30am to 6:00pm, Saturday 8:00am to 3:00pm, Sunday closed

The best weekend daytime cover on this list. Saturday hours until 3pm fill a gap that most of the daytime practices leave open.

6. Raintree Animal Hospital

(970) 482-1987 Monday to Friday 7:30am to 6:00pm, Saturday 7:30am to 12:00pm, Sunday closed

Read their emergency rule carefully, because it is unusually explicit and unusually sensible: they are open for emergencies up to one hour prior to closing that day, and ask that you call to see whether they can assist.

That is the honest version of what most practices mean by taking emergencies during business hours. Turning up at 5:55pm is not the same as turning up at 4pm.

7. Front Range Veterinary Clinic

3200 East Mulberry Street, Fort Collins (970) 484-5667 Monday to Friday 7:30am to 6:00pm, closed Saturday and Sunday

Urgent care during business hours, with walk-ins accepted. The clinic asks that you call or walk in during business hours for an emergency.

Its position on East Mulberry makes it the convenient one if you are coming in from Interstate 25.

8. Mulnix Animal Clinic

(970) 484-1848 Monday to Friday 7:00am to 6:00pm, closed Saturday and Sunday

Opens at seven, the earliest on this list, and is AAHA accredited. Its own after-hours page directs clients to the 24-hour facilities above, naming CSU, the Veterinary Emergency Hospital, VCA Northern Colorado, and Royal Vista.

The eight at a glance

#	Facility	Location	Phone	Hours
1	CSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital	300 W Drake Rd	(970) 297-5000	24/7/365
2	Fort Collins Vet Emergency & Rehab	816 S Lemay Ave	(970) 484-8080	24 hours
3	Royal Vista Veterinary Specialists	Windsor	(970) 825-5975	24 hours
4	VCA Vet Specialists of N. Colorado	Loveland	(970) 278-0668	Emergency referral
5	Friendship Hospital for Animals	1103 Oak Park Dr	(970) 206-1868	Mon to Fri 7:30 to 6, Sat 8 to 3
6	Raintree Animal Hospital	Fort Collins	(970) 482-1987	Mon to Fri 7:30 to 6, Sat 7:30 to 12
7	Front Range Veterinary Clinic	3200 E Mulberry St	(970) 484-5667	Mon to Fri 7:30 to 6
8	Mulnix Animal Clinic	Fort Collins	(970) 484-1848	Mon to Fri 7 to 6

The numbers that are not hospitals

ASPCA Animal Poison Control: (888) 426-4435. Twenty-four hours, consultation fee applies.

Pet Poison Helpline: (855) 764-7661. Also 24 hours, also chargeable.

Larimer County Animal Protection and Control: (970) 226-3647. Friendship Hospital lists its hours as Monday to Friday 11am to 7pm and Saturday to Sunday 10am to 5pm. The NoCo Humane Fort Collins page gives dispatch as extension 7 on the same number.

Deciding whether to go now

With four hospitals open overnight, the calculation here is easier than in most mountain towns. It still helps to have thought about it in advance.

Go immediately, at any hour. Difficulty or noisy breathing at rest. Pale, white, or blue gums. Collapse, seizure, or inability to stand. A distended, hard abdomen with unproductive retching, which is bloat and is measured in hours. Uncontrolled bleeding. Snakebite. Suspected heatstroke. Known ingestion of antifreeze, rat bait, or human medication. CSU lists severe trauma, difficulty breathing, severe pain, poisoning, snakebites, and heatstroke as its emergency categories, which is a good working list.

Call a poison line first, then decide, for any ingestion where you are unsure of the substance or the dose.

Usually waits until morning. A single episode of vomiting in a bright dog. Mild limping with weight still borne. An itchy ear. A small cut that has stopped bleeding.

When in doubt, phone. CSU explicitly invites calls to speak with a member of the ER team, and Raintree asks you to call to see whether they can help. Both are better uses of five minutes than guessing.

Why a teaching hospital changes the calculation

It is worth understanding what the CSU connection means, because it is unusual and it affects real decisions.

Depth of specialty cover. A veterinary teaching hospital carries specialists across cardiology, neurology, oncology, and surgery on one site, because it trains them. In most towns of this size, a complex diagnosis means a referral and a two-hour drive. Here it means walking down a corridor.

A blood bank on site. The emergency service lists blood product administration among its capabilities. For trauma, immune-mediated disease, or a bleeding disorder, on-site blood is the difference between stabilising and transferring.

Round-the-clock staffing rather than on-call. The service describes 24/7 veterinarians and veterinary technicians, plus multiparameter monitoring including EKG, direct blood pressure, and central venous pressure, and multiple oxygen delivery systems including high-flow nasal oxygen and positive pressure ventilation. That is intensive care, not a night-shift rota.

What it costs you. Teaching hospitals are frequently busier and slower for non-urgent cases than a private emergency clinic, because they triage hard and because students are part of the process. For a broken toenail at 2pm on a Tuesday, one of the daytime practices will get you out faster.

So the practical rule is simple. Serious, complex, or unclear goes to CSU. Straightforward and urgent goes to the nearest of the other three 24-hour hospitals. Minor and daytime goes to a regular practice.

And if you are travelling with a dog that has a known condition, this city is a genuinely good place to be. That is worth weighing when you choose between northern Colorado destinations.

The regional hazards these hospitals see

Snakebite is on CSU's own emergency list, and rattlesnakes are present on the hogbacks and dry grassland west and south of town in warm weather.

Heatstroke, also on the list, despite the mountain setting. A parked car at 5,000 feet in Colorado sun is as lethal as anywhere.

Wildlife injuries. Colorado Parks and Wildlife notes that moose react to dogs as they would a wolf, and that coyotes may see a large dog as a territorial threat and a small one as prey. The full picture is in 9 Colorado hazards that catch Fort Collins dog owners off guard.

Plague and tularemia exposure through prairie dog colonies, which CPW flags directly.

Water-borne problems from the Poudre and the still ponds, covered in the Poudre is Colorado's only Wild and Scenic river.

Foxtail and grass awn injuries to ears, eyes, and paws from dry grassland, which is most of the walking around town between June and September.

Before you arrive

Save three numbers, not one: CSU on (970) 297-5000, the Fort Collins emergency hospital on (970) 484-8080, and a poison line.

Know which side of town you are on. Royal Vista in Windsor is closer than central Fort Collins if you are staying in the south.

Confirm hours on the day for the daytime practices, since several close entirely at weekends.

And plan the walking around the closures, because seven city natural areas and three county open spaces refuse dogs outright. Those are listed in the 7 natural areas where Fort Collins bans dogs, with the alternatives in Horsetooth Reservoir and Horsetooth Mountain with a dog and 4 Fort Collins off-leash dog parks.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a 24-hour emergency vet in Fort Collins? Yes, and there are four round-the-clock options in the area. The CSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital at 300 West Drake Road on (970) 297-5000 is open 24/7 year round including holidays, alongside the Fort Collins Veterinary Emergency and Rehabilitation Hospital at 816 S. Lemay Avenue, Royal Vista Veterinary Specialists in Windsor, and VCA Veterinary Specialists of Northern Colorado in Loveland.

Does Colorado have a veterinary trauma centre? Yes, one. The CSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital describes itself as the only veterinary trauma centre in Colorado.

Do I need an appointment for the CSU emergency service? No. The hospital states that no appointment is necessary and that you can visit the same day, and asks you to call ahead on (970) 297-5000 so the team can prepare.

What is the best emergency vet number to save for Fort Collins? (970) 297-5000 for the CSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital, which is open 24/7 year round and is Colorado's only veterinary trauma centre.

Which Fort Collins vet is open on Saturdays? Friendship Hospital for Animals until 3:00pm and Raintree Animal Hospital until noon. Front Range Veterinary Clinic and Mulnix Animal Clinic are closed at weekends.

Where is the nearest 24-hour animal hospital if I am in south Fort Collins? Royal Vista Veterinary Specialists, 4630 Royal Vista Circle Suite 11, Windsor, on (970) 825-5975, at the intersection of Interstate 25 and County Road 32.

Sources

Clinic hours, phone numbers, and referral arrangements change. One hospital above is published with two different telephone numbers by different referring practices, both given here. Always telephone before travelling. This article is general information and is not veterinary advice.