Aug 27, 2026

Emergency Vets in Orlando: 5 Hospitals With Published 24-Hour Hours

The strongest overnight veterinary picture of any city we have documented: five hospitals publishing 24-hour hours, though only one carries an Orlando address.

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

Orlando, Florida10 min readPet Care & Services

Five hospitals in the Orlando area publish 24-hour hours on their own websites. That is the strongest overnight veterinary picture of any city we have documented.

For comparison, New Orleans has two and one of them is in another parish. Las Vegas has two. Orlando has one chain with four 24-hour locations plus an independent hospital in Winter Park, and a local day practice that publicly routes its own clients to the chain.

We list a hospital only when its own site states its hours. Here is what that gets you here.

The five

Hospital	Stated hours	Address	Phone
VEC Waterford Lakes	24 hours, weekdays, weekends and major holidays	11011 Lake Underhill Rd, Orlando, FL 32825	(407) 644-4449
VEC Casselberry	24 hours, weekdays, weekends and major holidays	3352 S HWY 17/92, Casselberry, Florida 32707	(407) 644-4449
VEC Oakland	24 hours, weekdays, weekends and major holidays	16369 W Colonial Drive, Oakland, Florida 34787	(407) 644-4449
VEC The Villages	24 hours, weekdays, weekends and major holidays	913 Village Park Dr, Fruitland Park, Florida 34731	(407) 644-4449
VEG Winter Park	"OPEN 24/7"	1490 W Fairbanks Ave, Winter Park, FL 32789	see VEG's Florida page

Veterinary Emergency Clinic of Central Florida, four locations, all on one number. Its locations page carries the heading "OPEN 24 HOURS, 7 DAYS A WEEK" and, under each site, "Monday - Friday: 24 Hours / Weekends: 24 Hours / Major Holidays: 24 Hours."

The organisation describes itself, verbatim: "Since 1975, we have been providing quality emergency care for central Florida's pet population." And a detail worth having in mind at three in the morning: "During business hours, a veterinarian is always present and ready to treat your pet."

VEG Winter Park, on VEG's Florida locations page, is labelled "OPEN 24/7" with the note "open 24/7, even holidays!" at 1490 W Fairbanks Ave.

Ring before you drive. Open is not the same as available. One call gets you either a bed or a redirection before you have crossed the metro.

Which of these is actually in Orlando

Worth being precise about, because four of the five are not.

VEC Waterford Lakes is the only one carrying an Orlando address, at 11011 Lake Underhill Rd, 32825. East Orlando, off Lake Underhill.

VEG Winter Park is in Winter Park, immediately north east of downtown Orlando. Close, and a different municipality.

VEC Casselberry is in Seminole County, further north.

VEC Oakland is west, out toward Winter Garden.

VEC The Villages is well north of the metro, in Fruitland Park.

So if you are in Orlando proper, your two nearest are Waterford Lakes and Winter Park, and after that you are driving. Which is still a much better position than most cities in this series, where the answer is often one hospital and a long drive.

The practical consequence: put both (407) 644-4449 and the VEG Winter Park details in your phone now, and know which side of town you are on.

Corroboration that is not our claim

Here is something useful. A local day practice publishes its own after-hours recommendation, and it points at the same chain.

Chickasaw Trail Animal Hospital, in Orlando, tells its clients: "If after hours care is needed please contact Veterinary Emergency Clinic of Central Florida. Their 4 locations throughout Central Florida are listed here. The Casselberry location is open 24 hours a day/7 days a week."

Its own hours are listed as 7:30am to 6:00pm, and it gives 407-384-8050 for a daytime emergency: "In case of a daytime emergency, call us at 407-384-8050."

That is stronger evidence than any directory listing. A practice that has been routing its own patients somewhere for years knows which hospital answers the phone.

What we left out, and why

Two hospitals that appear in search results are not on our list, and we would rather say why than quietly omit them.

If you know it locally, use it; we simply cannot verify it.

One emergency clinic domain does not connect. No response at all, which tells you nothing about whether the clinic exists and everything about whether we can cite it.

We are also not going to cite aggregator listings. Practices drop overnight cover without updating third-party directories, and a hospital that stopped staffing nights two years ago can still look open in a listing. In an emergency a confident wrong answer costs the twenty minutes you did not have.

What five hospitals actually changes

Worth spelling out, because a count on its own does not mean much.

You get a second call. In a city with one 24-hour hospital, a full waiting room means waiting. With a chain running four sites on a single number, the person answering can tell you which of them has capacity tonight, and that is a materially different conversation.

You get a choice of direction. East Orlando, Winter Park, Seminole County and out toward Winter Garden are four different drives. Whichever side of the metro you are on at eleven at night, one of them is the sensible one.

And you get a fallback that is not a two-hour round trip. The gap between a city with two hospitals and a city with five is not really about the fifth hospital. It is about what happens when the nearest one cannot take you.

None of which removes the reason to ring first. Capacity is the variable, not opening hours.

The daytime option, which is often the right one

Most emergencies happen at seven in the evening rather than three in the morning, and a call to your own vet is frequently faster than a drive across town.

Orange County Animal Services makes this point itself, in its FAQ: "It is essential that your pet receives an annual checkup and that you have a doctor you trust should your pet ever experience a medical emergency."

The same FAQ is clear that the shelter is not that option: "Our veterinary services are limited to our shelter pets and we do not currently offer any services to the public." For low-cost care it points people to the Pet Alliance of Greater Orlando. We are naming that only because Animal Services names it, and making no claim about its services or hours, because its website did not return content we could verify.

Two questions for your own vet at the next appointment. Where do you send patients overnight, and what do you recommend for the side of town I am on. Write the answers down. Our notes on how to choose a veterinarian cover what else to ask.

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

If wildlife is involved, say so immediately. In Central Florida this is a real category. Orange County's rabies page lists raccoons, bats, coyotes, otters, bobcats, skunks and mongooses among the state's common carriers, and its handling advice is specific: "Do not touch your pet without wearing gloves" and "Wash your pet thoroughly with soap and water to remove any saliva from the attacking animal."

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 vet, what to know explainer covers what to expect on arrival. Our emergency pet info card is the single page worth keeping on the fridge.

After a wildlife encounter, there is a second call

Not an emergency-room point, but it belongs here because people miss it.

A wildlife exposure starts a quarantine clock, and Orange County publishes the periods: 45 days if your dog's rabies vaccination is current, 180 days if it is not. The booster is required either way. Report the incident on 311, which is the number for every domestic animal issue in the county, including bites and scratches.

So the sequence after a wildlife attack is: gloves, wash, vet, 311. Not vet and then forget about it.

The other kind of emergency

If the crisis is a lost dog rather than a sick one, the clock is short and it depends on identification. Orange County holds a dog with a collar, tags or a microchip for five calendar days and a dog without for three. A puppy under four months has no hold at all.

That is worth knowing before you need it, and the fix is a tag and a registered chip. Our guide to microchipping your pet covers the registration step that makes a chip work.

If you are visiting

Two numbers in your phone before you arrive. (407) 644-4449 for the VEC chain, and look up VEG Winter Park's number on its own page.

Ask the hotel where its guests go. Front desks in a city with this many visiting dogs have made the call before. Our roundup of pet-friendly hotels in Orlando is where to start on the room, and our list of questions to ask before booking a pet-friendly hotel covers the rest.

Know which side of town you are on. Waterford Lakes serves the east, Winter Park the north, Oakland the west. Working that out in advance is a five-minute job that saves twenty at the wrong moment.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a 24-hour emergency vet in Orlando? Yes. Veterinary Emergency Clinic of Central Florida's Waterford Lakes location at 11011 Lake Underhill Rd, Orlando, states 24-hour hours on weekdays, weekends and major holidays, on (407) 644-4449. VEG Winter Park at 1490 W Fairbanks Ave is labelled open 24/7.

How many 24-hour emergency vets does the Orlando area have? Five whose own websites state 24-hour hours: four Veterinary Emergency Clinic of Central Florida locations and VEG Winter Park.

Which Orlando emergency vet is closest to the city? VEC Waterford Lakes is the only one of the five with an Orlando address. VEG Winter Park is the next nearest, in the adjoining city.

What is the Veterinary Emergency Clinic of Central Florida phone number? (407) 644-4449, which serves all four of its locations.

Where are the four VEC locations? Waterford Lakes at 11011 Lake Underhill Rd, Orlando; Casselberry at 3352 S HWY 17/92; Oakland at 16369 W Colonial Drive; and The Villages at 913 Village Park Dr, Fruitland Park.

Does Orange County Animal Services treat pets from the public? No. Its veterinary services are limited to shelter pets. It points people seeking low-cost care to the Pet Alliance of Greater Orlando.

Sources

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