Pet Emergencies
Upstate Veterinary Specialties
Upstate Veterinary Specialties (UVS) provides specialty and emergency veterinary care to animals in the Capital Region of NY and beyond. They have 24-hour emergency care, as well as an Urgent Care department available from 10 am to 8 pm each day.
UVS is located at 152 Sparrowbush Road in Latham, New York. They can be contacted at (518) 783-3198.
Capital District Veterinary Referral Hospital
After hour emergencies are handled at the Capital District Veterinary Referral Hospital located at 222 Troy-Schenectady Rd, Latham, NY, 1.2 miles east of the Latham Traffic Circle on the south side of Rt. 2, half a mile past the Latham Animal Hospital. The phone number is (518) 785-1094.
The Capital District Veterinary Referral Hospital, an Ethos Hospital, provides emergency care for our patients 365 days a year.
You can get emergency care by going directly to the clinic. If time permits, please call the clinic at 785-1094 to tell them you are coming and give a brief description of the problem so the staff can get ready to assist.
An Emergency Exists If Your Pet:
Cannot urinate
Is hit by a car
Has trouble breathing
Is suddenly bloated
Is convulsing
Is unconscious
Has ingested poison
Is in hard labor for more than two hours
Is bleeding uncontrollably
Has uncontrolled severe vomiting or diarrhea
Capital DIstrict Veterinary Referral Hospital
518-785-1094
Upstate Veterinary Specialties
518-783-3198
What to do if you have lost a pet
Losing your pet is a fear inducing, stressful event. There are people who want to help.
Simply, the more identification your pet has, the more likely they are to be returned to you. For dogs, a collar with tags provides many traceable facts for the person who finds your pet. You may have your address or phone number easy to access right on the tag. A rabies tag allows your pet to be traced back through the veterinarian that vaccinated them. They can also be traced by their license tag number through the proper town hall.
Microchipping allows for 24/7/365 access to database information. For cats, it is a more tenuous situation. Cats going outdoors often don't wear collars because they pose a strangulation threat and many cats slip out of them. Properly fitting break-away collars can carry identification. For cats, microchipping provides the safest and most permanent option for identifing your pet.
Where to look for your pet varies by where they were lost! It is best to start with local resources and work your way up to county resources. Knowing which township you are in gives you a head start.
For Town of New Scotland:
Call Animal Control directly at 484-5882. This is a digital pager, leave your information and you will be called back. The Animal Control Officer has a microchip reader and will be scanning found dogs for microchips. If a microchip is found the dog will be returned directly to you. Dogs with no identification will be held for 5 days and then turned over to the Mohawk-Hudson Humane Society. While Animal Control officers are not directed to oversee cats because cats are not covered under specific New York State Law, often they are receiving information on found animals, will scan found cats for a microchip or will then be looking for your cat.
Next try local shelters like Guilderhaven. Call local veterinarians to leave a description and phone number. Even try local boarding facilities. Often Lost and Found pets can be reunited via free classified ads on Craig's List or placed on the Delmar Animal Hospital Facebook page.
For Town of Bethlehem:
Found animals within the Town of Bethlehem may be reported to the Bethlehem Police Department, 518-439-9973. Please try to have a description, breed, color, markings, collar and tags. Identification with Rabies tags, licensing tags, address tags or microchips help get the animal back to the owners. Long or short hair should also be included in the description for cats.
By N.Y.S. Agriculture and Markets law, any town can take possession of found dogs but not cats. The first thing we do is check found animal calls against lost animal calls and if there is a match to notify the owner. The second would be to use tag or microchip information to locate the owner. Third would to be to check with the Humane Society. Dogs seized and impounded are taken to Mohawk Hudson Humane Society located at 3 Oakland Avenue, Menands, NY 12204, 518-434-8128.
When searching for a lost animal and after contacting the Bethlehem Police at 518-439-9973, please also think about how close you live to one (or more) of the town's borders. If you think it is possible your animal wandered into another jurisdiction, contact them as well: Albany, 518-434-5091; Coeymans, 518-756-2059; Guilderland, 518-861-6855; or New Scotland, 518-475-0385.
For missing cats, we would recommend local cat rescue organizations be contacted. A list of area rescue organizations and shelters is available online: Town of Bethlehem Animal Control.
Poison Control
The National Animal Poison Control Center (NAPCC) offers 24 hour a day assistance to animal owners
1-888-426-4435
This is a fee based service run by the ASPCA
