Aug 26, 2026

Emergency Vets in New Orleans: 2 Hospitals With Published 24-Hour Hours

Two hospitals publish 24-hour cover, and one of them is in Jefferson Parish. The verified list, the extended-hours practices, and what to say when you ring.

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

New Orleans, Louisiana10 min readPet Care & Services

Two hospitals serving New Orleans state 24-hour hours on their own websites. One of them is not in Orleans Parish.

That is the honest shape of overnight veterinary cover here, and we are leading with it rather than padding a table with listings we could not confirm. We list a hospital when its own site states its hours. Nothing else counts.

The two that publish 24-hour cover

Hospital	Stated hours	Address	Phone
Avenue Animal Wellness + Emergency	"Monday-Sunday: 24hrs"	1401 St Charles Ave, New Orleans	504-265-8659
MedVet New Orleans	"ER Open 24/7"	2315 N. Causeway Blvd., Metairie, LA 70001	504.835.8508

Avenue Animal Wellness + Emergency is on St Charles Avenue, in the city, in the Lower Garden District. Its emergency page states its hours as "Monday-Sunday: 24hrs" and gives the address and number above.

A note on how we checked that one, because it matters. We verified this one by reading the content instead: the hours line, the address and the phone number are all present on the page itself. That is a content match rather than a status check, and it is the reason we are confident about it.

MedVet New Orleans carries the name of the city and the address of another parish. Its location page lists hours as "ER Open 24/7" and the address as 2315 N. Causeway Blvd., Metairie, LA 70001. Metairie is in Jefferson Parish. Depending on where you are in the city, that is a straightforward drive or a long one.

MedVet's own description of what it offers: "MedVet New Orleans is home to the most advanced 24-hour emergency, critical care, and specialty pet care in the area and is the only emergency animal hospital in New Orleans to offer internal medicine." That is MedVet's claim about itself, and we are attributing it rather than adopting it.

On walking in, MedVet states: "If your pet is facing an emergency, you can come directly to our hospital, no appointment is needed. Our expert team is available for pet emergencies 24 hours a day, 365 days a year."

Ring before you drive anyway. Open is not the same as available. One phone call gets you either a bed or a redirection before you have crossed the parish line at eleven at night.

Corroboration from other practices

Here is something useful that is not our claim: two independent day practices in New Orleans point their own clients at the same two numbers.

Prytania Veterinary Hospital, Uptown, tells clients that if a pet has an emergency after its own hours, it recommends "the following 24-hour veterinary hospital(s)" and lists 504-835-8508 and "Avenue Animal Wellness and Emergency" at 504-265-8659.

East Riverside Veterinary Hospital says: "In the event we are closed, we recommend contacting the following urgent care hospital" and gives (504) 835-8508.

So the two hospitals we can verify are also the two that local vets route to. That is stronger corroboration than any directory listing.

Extended-hours practices, which are not the same thing

Several New Orleans practices handle urgent cases during longer-than-usual hours and refer out overnight. Worth knowing, because most emergencies happen at seven in the evening rather than three in the morning.

Practice	Published hours	Phone
East Riverside Veterinary Hospital	Mon to Fri 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM; Sat 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM; Sun 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM	(504) 552-3784
Prytania Veterinary Hospital	Mon to Fri 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM; Sat 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM; Sun closed	504-899-2828
Pet Care Center Esplanade	Mon to Fri 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM; Sat 8:00 AM to 2:00 PM; Sun closed	(504) 522-2997

East Riverside is the standout on hours. Open until eight on weekdays and open on Sundays, which is unusual. It states it "provides comprehensive treatment services, hospitalization, and critical care for pet emergencies" and can "provide oxygen therapy and overnight care and monitoring", while also being clear that it refers out for anything beyond that.

Prytania states it "utilizes an oxygen cage as well as digital x-ray and ultrasound for quick, on-site diagnosis in emergency cases."

A conflict on one page, reported not resolved

Pet Care Center Esplanade's urgent care page says two different things, and you should know which is which before you drive there at midnight.

Its page title and one heading present it as 24/7: the title reads "Emergency Veterinary Care in New Orleans, LA" with "24/7 Emergency Veterinary Care for Accidents, Illnesses, and Urgent Pet Health Concerns in New Orleans", and a heading reads "Pet Emergency Services Available 24/7".

The body of the same page says something narrower: "During regular business hours, Pet Care Center Esplanade provides emergency evaluation, stabilization, hospitalization, and urgent medical treatment for pets." And: "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."

The 24/7 claim resolves a paragraph later, and it is about a different building: "Our Metairie location is open 24/7 for all your pet emergency needs."

And the hours block at the bottom of the Esplanade page shows Monday to Friday 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Saturday 8:00 AM to 2:00 PM, and Sunday closed.

We are reporting the hours block, because that is the specific statement about the location the page is about. We are not repeating the headline as a fact about the Esplanade site. Phone (504) 522-2997 and ask which building is open before you set off.

The geography problem

Two verified 24-hour options, one inside the parish and one across the line in Metairie, leaves real gaps.

If you are Uptown, Garden District, CBD or Mid-City, Avenue Animal Wellness on St Charles is close and MedVet is a manageable drive.

If you are in New Orleans East, the Ninth Ward, Bywater or Algiers, both are a serious distance, and Algiers means the river.

If you are across the lake or in St. Bernard, you are outside what this guide covers and you should be asking a local practice, not a city guide.

The fix is the same everywhere: ask your own vet, in daylight, what they use overnight, and write the answer down. A practice that has been sending patients somewhere for a decade knows which hospital answers the phone at 3am. That is knowledge no directory holds, and it takes one question at your next appointment.

Our notes on how to choose a veterinarian cover what else to ask, and our emergency vet, what to know explainer is worth reading once when nothing is wrong.

The poison line

Prytania's page gives a number that belongs in every dog owner's phone: "If after hours, contact the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center's 24-hour hotline at (888) 426-4435. Trained toxicologists will consider the age and health of your pet, what was ingested, and then make a recommendation about what action should be taken."

Save it now. Our guide to toxic foods and plants for pets covers what commonly causes those calls.

What to say when you ring

The person answering is triaging, and the useful information is not what comes to mind first.

The symptom and when it started. Before anything else.

The dog. Breed or approximate size, age, weight if you know it. Those drive drug doses and whether they need a particular table.

Anything ingested. What, roughly how much, how long ago. The single most useful sentence in a poisoning call and the one most often left out.

If heat is involved, say so immediately. In this city that is a real possibility for most of the year, and heat stroke is time-critical. The Louisiana SPCA's weather precautions page lists the signs as "excessive panting, difficulty breathing, increased heart rate, drooling, weakness, seizures, bloody diarrhea, vomit" and a raised body temperature, which is the one item we are paraphrasing because the word the source uses is one our house style does not print. Its instruction is verbatim: "transport them to your veterinarian or an emergency clinic immediately."

Then the two questions. Can you see him now, and should I come to you or somewhere else.

Reading our pet first aid basics once in daylight is worth more than reading it for the first time in a crisis, and our emergency pet info card is the single page to keep on the fridge.

The other kind of emergency

Not every crisis is medical, and New Orleans routes animal emergencies unusually.

The Louisiana SPCA holds the city's animal control contract, and its instruction on its Animal Control FAQ is direct: "If there is an animal emergency, call our Humane Law & Rescue team immediately at 911." Its parish directory gives Orleans Parish as "911 for emergencies and 504.821.2222 for all other animal-related calls."

So a dog in a hot car, an injured stray, an animal in distress: 911. Not the shelter's main line.

The Louisiana SPCA's locations page makes a distinction that is easy to miss. The shelter counter at 1700 Mardi Gras Blvd. runs Wednesday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm, closed Sunday to Tuesday. But: "Call 911 for animal emergencies. Emergencies are responded to 24/7." The counter closes. The response does not.

If your emergency is a lost dog rather than a sick one, the clock is short. New Orleans has a three-day stray hold, extended to seven days if the dog is wearing a collar and a tag with your name and address. That single fact is the best argument for a tag, and it is a separate piece of the puzzle worth reading up on.

If you are visiting

Two things before you arrive.

Put both numbers in your phone now. 504-265-8659 and 504.835.8508. Doing it at the hotel is doing it too late.

Ask the hotel where its guests go. Front desks in a city like this have made the call before. Our New Orleans hotel directory and our roundup of pet-friendly hotels in New Orleans are where to start on the room itself.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a 24-hour emergency vet in New Orleans? Yes. Avenue Animal Wellness + Emergency at 1401 St Charles Ave states hours of "Monday-Sunday: 24hrs" on 504-265-8659. MedVet New Orleans states "ER Open 24/7" on 504.835.8508, at 2315 N. Causeway Blvd. in Metairie.

Is MedVet New Orleans actually in New Orleans? Its address is 2315 N. Causeway Blvd., Metairie, LA 70001, which is Jefferson Parish rather than Orleans Parish.

Do I need an appointment for an emergency vet in New Orleans? MedVet states you can come directly to the hospital with no appointment needed for an emergency. Calling first is still worth it, because a hospital that is open is not necessarily one with capacity.

Which New Orleans vet is open latest? Of the practices whose hours we could verify, East Riverside Veterinary Hospital publishes the longest weekday hours, 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM Monday to Friday, and is also open on Sundays.

Is Pet Care Center Esplanade open 24/7? Its page carries a 24/7 headline but its hours block shows Monday to Friday 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Saturday 8:00 AM to 2:00 PM and Sunday closed. The same page says its Metairie location is the one open 24/7. Phone (504) 522-2997 and ask.

What is the pet poison hotline number? Prytania Veterinary Hospital directs clients to the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center's 24-hour hotline on (888) 426-4435.

Sources

Hours and numbers change. Ring the hospital before you drive.