OSU expands to 24/7 small animal emergency care

Oregon State University has formally opened 24/7 emergency veterinary care for small animals at its Lois Bates Acheson Veterinary Teaching Hospital, giving cats and dogs in crisis a new around-the-clock option in Corvallis. In a December 12, 2025 announcement, OSU said the service now accepts walk-ins and referrals and positions the teaching hospital as a fuller multispecialty emergency destination for companion animals. (today.oregonstate.edu)

The move appears to be the culmination of a gradual buildout rather than a sudden launch. OSU said it soft-launched small animal emergency services on a case-by-case basis about a year before the public announcement and had been building capacity since then. That’s notable because OSU has long maintained an ICU and emergency-critical-care capability for seriously ill dogs and cats, but the new messaging marks a clearer shift to a continuously available, public-facing 24/7 small animal ER service. (today.oregonstate.edu)

OSU framed the expansion around both access and teaching. According to the university, the ER is staffed each day by one to two receiving doctors, up to four final-year veterinary students, and up to three certified veterinary nurses. The service is limited to cats and dogs, while large animal emergency care was already available 24/7. OSU also emphasized that emergency patients can be transitioned quickly to in-house specialty teams in anesthesiology, cardiology, internal medicine, oncology, surgery, and other services when complex follow-up care is needed. (today.oregonstate.edu)

Dr. Pia Martiny, assistant professor of clinical sciences and head of the small animal emergency service, told OSU that emergency service is essential for a fully functioning multispecialty hospital because of the cases it brings in for trainees and the need for longer-term care after stabilization. OSU’s emergency-care materials also show students are embedded in the workflow: senior veterinary students help triage incoming patients, gather histories, perform physical exams, and participate in case discussions under supervision from interns, residents, and faculty clinicians. (today.oregonstate.edu)

The broader Oregon market context helps explain why this matters. The Oregon Veterinary Medical Association’s emergency hospital directory shows a limited number of dedicated after-hours options spread across the state, with Corvallis itself listing Willamette Veterinary Hospital in the association’s public directory as of its December 5, 2024 update. OSU said its location matters for pet parents traveling from the Oregon Coast and the mid-Willamette Valley, where nearby ERs may reach capacity. In that sense, the new service doesn’t just add a hospital, it potentially adds referral elasticity to a region where emergency demand can outstrip available slots. (oregonvma.org)

For veterinary professionals, the educational angle may be just as important as the access story. Emergency medicine is one of the hardest environments in which to train new veterinarians because decisions are compressed into minutes, not days. OSU explicitly tied the expansion to student demand and the need for graduates to be better prepared for emergency scenarios, even if they ultimately enter general practice or another specialty. In a workforce environment where ECC recruitment remains difficult across many markets, a teaching hospital with steady emergency caseload can become an important pipeline asset for the region. That last point is an inference based on OSU’s statements about training demand and the structure of the service. (today.oregonstate.edu)

There is, however, one operational wrinkle worth watching. OSU’s news release describes the service as available for walk-ins and referrals, but the hospital’s “what to expect” page says the ECC service “currently does not accommodate walk-ins” and that patients requesting care need a scheduled appointment. That may reflect a lag between communications materials, or a still-maturing triage model as the service scales. Either way, referring clinics and pet parents will likely need to keep calling ahead until OSU’s public guidance is fully aligned across channels. (today.oregonstate.edu)

Why it matters: OSU’s 24/7 small animal ER gives Oregon veterinarians another referral destination, creates a more seamless path into specialty care for unstable patients, and expands hands-on emergency training for future veterinarians. For practices managing overflow, complex internal medicine patients, or cases that may need surgery and intensive monitoring, that combination could make Corvallis a more important node in the state’s companion animal referral network. (today.oregonstate.edu)

What to watch: The next key signals will be staffing growth, whether OSU standardizes true walk-in access, and how the hospital communicates capacity and referral protocols as case volume increases. (today.oregonstate.edu)