Aug 19, 2026

Emergency Vets in Myrtle Beach: The Hospital Is Closed When You Are on the Beach

Myrtle Beach has the inverse of the usual emergency cover. The hospital runs overnight, all weekend and on every major holiday, and shuts during the weekday working day, which is exactly when visitors are out with a dog.

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

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina10 min readThings to DoPet Care & Services

Here is the finding that matters, up front. The Grand Strand's emergency animal hospital is open overnight, all weekend and on holidays, and closed during the weekday working day. Its published hours are 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. Monday to Thursday, continuous from Friday evening to Monday morning, 24 hours at weekends, and 24 hours on all major holidays.

Look at the gap that leaves. Roughly 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday to Friday, there is no emergency hospital open on the Grand Strand. That is the exact window in which a visitor is out walking, swimming and driving with a dog.

Most destinations have the opposite problem. The daytime practices are open and the nights are uncovered. Myrtle Beach is inverted, and if you plan for the usual shape you will plan wrong.

What to save in your phone

When it happens	Who to call	Number
Weeknight, weekend or major holiday	Animal Emergency Hospital of the Strand	(843) 445-9797
Weekday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.	Veterinary Clinic of Myrtle Beach	(843) 444-1234
Weekday daytime, second option	Coastal Veterinary Care	(843) 983-2969
Lost dog, or a dog in distress in public	Myrtle Beach Police Dispatch	(843) 918-1382
Animal control questions, not urgent	Animal Control Unit	(843) 918-1331

Save all five before you arrive. Two of them are for problems that are not medical, and the difference between calling dispatch and calling a hospital is the difference between the right response and a wasted ten minutes.

Animal Emergency Hospital of the Strand

This is the region's dedicated emergency facility, and the two independent local practices we checked both refer to it after hours.

Address: 2669 Beaver Run Blvd., Myrtle Beach, SC 29575. Phone: (843) 445-9797.

From the hospital's own site, the hours are published as 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. Monday through Thursday, 6 p.m. Friday through 8 a.m. Monday, 24 hours on Saturday and Sunday, and "OPEN 24 HOURS ALL MAJOR HOLIDAYS."

So the weekend is genuinely continuous. If your emergency happens between Friday evening and Monday morning, that one number covers it end to end. Same for Independence Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas and the other major holidays, which is worth knowing on a coast whose peak season is built around long weekends.

A small naming note. One local practice writes the name as "Animal Emergency Hospital of the Grand Strand" rather than "of the Strand." The address, phone number and hours all point to the same Beaver Run Blvd facility, so this looks like a wording difference rather than two hospitals. We use the name the hospital itself publishes. If you are searching on a phone in a hurry, search the phone number rather than the name.

Who covers the weekday daytime

Two practices publish weekday hours and both say plainly that they are not a 24-hour hospital.

Veterinary Clinic of Myrtle Beach, 708 21st Ave N, Myrtle Beach, SC 29577, on (843) 444-1234. Its urgent care page publishes hours of 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday to Friday and 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Saturday for urgent care only, closed Sunday. On referral it states: "If your pet requires services beyond what we can provide in-house, including advanced or 24-hour emergency care, we will help coordinate a referral to an appropriate 24-hour emergency animal hospital."

Coastal Veterinary Care, 185 Fresh Drive, Suite B, Myrtle Beach, SC 29579, on (843) 983-2969. Its emergency page says it assesses and treats emergency cases during normal business hours and refers after-hours cases onward.

The practical rule: on a weekday morning or afternoon, a regular practice is your emergency room. Call ahead rather than driving in blind, because a clinic running a full appointment book needs to know a genuine emergency is on the way.

Why this matters more here than in most places

Two features of a Grand Strand trip put the risk squarely inside the uncovered window.

Beach access is time-shifted into the shoulders of the day. In Myrtle Beach and Surfside Beach, dogs are barred from the sand between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. from 1 May through Labor Day, per city ordinance and Surfside's rules. So visitors walk dogs early and late. The early walk falls at the end of the hospital's overnight shift or shortly after it closes. The late walk falls close to when it opens again. The middle of the day, when people are driving between attractions with a dog in the car, is the uncovered part.

Hot cars and hot pavement are daytime problems. So is heatstroke, so is a cut paw on a car park surface, so is a dog that drinks salt water. All of those cluster between mid-morning and late afternoon.

Our pet first aid basics guide covers the stabilising steps that buy you the drive, and summer heat safety for pets covers recognising heat trouble early enough that a regular practice can handle it.

The hazards specific to this coast

Salt water. Vomiting and diarrhoea after a beach session are common. Bring fresh water and offer it often, so the dog is not drinking from the ocean out of thirst.

Broken glass. Myrtle Beach ordinance makes it unlawful to carry glass onto the beach or the beach accesses, which tells you the problem exists. Paw cuts from glass in sand are a classic reason for an unplanned vet visit.

Fishing tackle. Surf fishing is legal on these beaches, and the ordinance regulates it in detail rather than banning it. Hooks, cut bait and discarded line end up in the sand. A swallowed hook is an emergency, and a swallowed length of line is worse.

Piers. The ordinance sets a hard exclusion: "No aquatic activity of any kind may occur within 75 yards of any pier." That is partly a safety rule about lines and structures. Keep a swimming dog well clear.

Hot sand and hot pavement. A South Carolina beach car park in July is unforgiving. The back-of-the-hand test takes five seconds and prevents the most avoidable injury of the trip.

What to have ready before you need it

A printed rabies certificate. South Carolina Code Section 47-5-60 requires a pet owner to have their pet inoculated against rabies at a frequency providing continuous protection, and provides that evidence of inoculation is a certificate signed by a licensed veterinarian, with one copy furnished to the owner. You will want that certificate for other reasons on this trip too, including dog park entry.

Your regular vet's number and your dog's medication list. An emergency clinic that has never seen your dog is working from what you can tell them. Our emergency pet info card is designed for exactly this handover, and the pet health and vaccination tracker keeps the dates straight.

Microchip details that are actually current. A lost dog on a crowded 60-mile beach is found by a stranger, and the chip only works if the registry has your present phone number. Our microchipping guide covers checking the registration rather than assuming it.

The drive time from where you are staying to Beaver Run Blvd. Look it up on arrival, once, while you are calm. Peak-season traffic on Highway 17 is not something to discover during an emergency.

If your dog goes missing

This is not a veterinary call, and people lose time by making it one.

The Myrtle Beach Police Department's animal control unit publishes two numbers. "For immediate assistance call into the Myrtle Beach Police Dispatch at (843) 918-1382." For non-urgent questions, "please contact the Animal Control Unit at the Myrtle Beach Police Annex at (843) 918-1331 or [email protected]."

The department also states that its animal control officers "are certified Class III Police officers" who "work closely with the staff at the Grand Strand Humane Society, Department of Health and Department of Natural Resources." So a found dog is likely to move through that network, and the dispatch call is the way into it.

Where to stay

If your dog has a condition that has needed emergency care before, the drive time to Beaver Run Blvd is a legitimate factor in choosing where to book. The hospital sits at the southern end of the Myrtle Beach area, so a base south of the city centre is closer to it than one in North Myrtle Beach.

Visit Myrtle Beach lists accommodation on its pet-friendly page without attaching policies to individual properties, so confirm directly. The PetCompass hotel directory covers the region, and our questions to ask before booking a pet-friendly hotel list includes asking the front desk which vet they call, because a hotel that takes dogs every week knows.

Conclusion

Myrtle Beach has good emergency veterinary cover for nights, weekends and holidays, and a real gap on weekday daytimes. That is unusual, and it is the opposite of what most travellers assume.

So carry two numbers. (843) 445-9797 for the hospital, from 6 p.m. on a weeknight and right through the weekend. A daytime practice for Monday to Friday business hours. Add the police dispatch number for a lost dog, keep the rabies certificate in the car, and check the drive time on the day you arrive rather than the day you need it.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a 24-hour emergency vet in Myrtle Beach?

Not continuously through the week. Animal Emergency Hospital of the Strand publishes 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. Monday to Thursday, 6 p.m. Friday through 8 a.m. Monday, 24 hours on Saturday and Sunday, and 24 hours on all major holidays. Weekday daytimes are not covered by the emergency hospital.

What do I do if my dog has an emergency on a weekday afternoon in Myrtle Beach?

Call a regular practice. Veterinary Clinic of Myrtle Beach on (843) 444-1234 publishes weekday hours of 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and Coastal Veterinary Care on (843) 983-2969 states it treats emergency cases during normal business hours. Phone ahead so they know you are coming.

Where is the emergency animal hospital in Myrtle Beach?

Animal Emergency Hospital of the Strand is at 2669 Beaver Run Blvd., Myrtle Beach, SC 29575, on (843) 445-9797.

Is the emergency hospital open at weekends?

Yes, continuously. Its published hours run from 6 p.m. on Friday through to 8 a.m. on Monday, with Saturday and Sunday listed as 24 hours.

Is the emergency hospital open on holidays?

Yes. The hospital states it is open 24 hours on all major holidays.

Why do two clinics give slightly different names for the same hospital?

One local practice refers to "Animal Emergency Hospital of the Grand Strand" and another to "Animal Emergency Hospital of the Strand." The address, phone number and hours match the same Beaver Run Blvd facility. Search the phone number rather than the name if you are in a hurry.

Sources

Rules, hours and facilities change. Confirm with the managing agency before you rely on any of it.