Conference misery::feline_v1

    Animal Emergency Care
    164 Great Road, Acton.   (617) 263-1742.
    
    Expensive, but good.  Very professional, and caring about their
    charges.  Diagnoses on my "emergency" cases were right on target.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.
    

    For those of you in the Los Angeles basin,
    
    	Bay Animal Medical Center
    	Located on Sepulveda Blvd.
    	Manhattan Beach, CA
    	(213) 546-5761
    
    Excellent services, When Sy was ill, the vet offered to be late
    for her Thanksgiving Dinner just to see him.
    
    Linda
    

    Framingham Animal Hospital
    Edgehill Rd.
    Framingham, MA 01701
    617-877-0900
    
    Has answering machine for emergencies, which also states that if
    something technological goes wrong with the machine, call the Tufts
    Small Animal Hopsital (gives phone number).  All five female vets
    are very caring, helpful.  I do know of one instance where the owner
    (Dr. Rabaut) opened up the hopsital at 2 a.m. for an emergency.

    RE: .3
    The adress is actually Edgell Rd.

    Fresh Pond Animal Hosiptal   617-492-0808
    769 Concord Avenue
    Cambridge, MA
    
    They have an answering service who contacts the vet who's on call.
    They're associated with Porter Square Animal Hospital for emergency
    coverage.  We've dealt with Dr. Medley (whom I HIGHLY recommend)
    and Dr. Reisner (I saw her once, on a Sunday night, but talked
    with her several times over the phone.  She was great.)
    
    Angell Memorial Hospital
    350 Huntington Av
    Jamaica Plain, MA       522-7282
    
    If you call ahead, the emergency room can be ready for you.  I believe
    they also have ambulences available.  We saw Dr. Richter, in intensive
    care, there.  He is extremely busy, so we only spoke to him face
    to face once, but he called us every evening for a week to report
    on Castor's status -- sometimes as late as 9:30 or 10 at night.
    All of the vets we dealt with there were extremely professional,
    kind and caring.
    
    

    Last year we had very extensive and sympathetic emergency care
    from these vets.  They have an answering service (which we had to
    use, and the vet left a restaurant dinner to meet us at the
    clinic!).  
    
    I understand that if they have a cat that cannot be left alone during
    the night, one of the vets takes the cat *home*.  When little Mouseky
    was in the incubator, they called me after the first day to say
    that she was stable enough to go home to a heating pad and forced
    baby food and water, and they wanted me to pick her up because they
    thought that she might be doing worse away from home than she would
    do in bed with her people.
    
    I should add that the first night emergency visit we had there was
    when we were relatively new clients, and I am sure the vet had no
    idea who I was when he phoned me after being beeped.  AND I CALLED
    THERE AFTER CALLS BY ME AND THE PHONE OPERATOR TO ANGELL MEMORIAL
    WENT UNANSWERED (agonizing!).  
    
    They also try very hard to place cats that need new home by acting
    as an informal clearing house!
    
    Boston Cat Hospital
    496 Park
    Boston
    266-PURR  

    The Cat Hospital
    Hamilton Avenue
    Campbell, California
    (408) 866-6188
    
    Very caring vets.  They have an answering maching that the on-call
    vet checks; also, the machine references an emergency clinic that
    is open in the hours The Cat Hospital isn't if the animal needs 
    immediate carebefore the doctors can call back.  Doctors call back 
    very quicklywhen a message is left.
    
    Dr. Shanker and Dr. Weller are the two vets I've dealt with the
    most.  Dr. Weller even returned a long distance call from Washington
    D.C. while I was there for a cat show with Amelia and she seemed to
    be having some problems with her ears after the flight.
    
    When I had a problem with Bailey (high temperature and some fluid
    loss) and limited funds to take care of it Dr. Weller helped me with 
    a decision to spend the money on cure rather than diagnosis (there
    were some expensive blood tests they wanted to run) for the immediate 
    problem.  (As an after thought, the cure worked great and she hasn't 
    had the problem since...even though I don't really know what the
    problem was.)
    
    Dr. Shanker is great.  He reminds me of Grizzly Adams (in looks).
    He is extremely gentle with the cats.  He does all the surgeries
    for The Cat Hospital.
    
    Jan

    I tried the emergency clinic in Acton - they were WONDERFUL!  I
    would highly reccommend them for just about anything.
    
    E. T.

	If you live in W. Boylston, Sterling, Worcester, Holden area:
    
    	ABBOTT ANIMAL HOSPITAL
    	21 Mountain Street
    	Worcester, MA
    	(617) 853-3350
    
    They are just south of the West Boylston/Worcester line about 1
    block east of Route 12.  They take care of my three cats and also
    Digital's "Pepper" who resides at the Boylston Barn (she is entered
    in the notes file as "DEC's lowest paid employee".
    
    They have some of the most reasonable rates around and are quite
    caring.
    
    Ellen
    

    When my persian cat was sick on time over the weekend (and also
    when my husband and I found a cat on the side of the road hit by
    a car) we took them the only animal hospital open on a weekend.
    
    I was very *IMPRESSED*.  These people are very caring and take the
    time out to get to know the animal as well as the owner.
    
    For you folks in NH  - I recommend:
    
    BEDFORD ANIMAL HOSPITAL
    OLD BEDFORD ROAD
    BEDFORD, NH  
    
    603-668-0500
    
    24 hour emergency services.....
    
    all other types of visits should be appointment only!
    
    
    Great people!
    
    Bobbi

    
    There are two different hospitals on Rt 2A Acton. If you're in
    a hurry, make sure you've got the right one!

    One is Great Rd Veterinary Hospital at 272 Great Rd. It's in a 
    light-blueish-gray house next to Ethan Allen furniture and across
    from BayBanks and Pizza Hut. I used to work there early Sunday mornings
    feeding and medicating. People would show up with injured animals 
    assuming it was the emergency hospital and get extremely angry with 
    me for not knowing who they were and letting them in, even though 
    the doctor wasn't in! "But we just called you and you said to bring
    <name of animal> right in!". I'd tell them that the people they
    talked to were another hospital further down the road and they would
    turn around and look at the hospital sign and say "But this is THE
    ANIMAL HOSPITAL isn't it?" Meanwhile poor <name of animal> is 
    getting more upset cuz his people are upset! 
    Dr. Smith does do emergency work but also refers people to the 
    Emergency Hospital for off-hours emergencies.

    The Emergency hospital is a brown and yellow building a half mile
    further east on 2A (toward Concord) across from Acton/Concord
    Chevrolet. The hospital is staffed with vet on call 24 hours a day.
    Local vets work in shifts. As far as I know they do *only* emergency 
    work, they don't give shots or do check-ups.
    
    ki.

    The vet hospital I've been using has been GREAT! It was highly
    recommended to me, and I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone who needs
    it! The vets are very caring and are quite concerned with your pets
    health. Their address is:
    
    Greater Annapolis Vet. Hosp.
    Generals Highway and Epping Forest
    1901 Generals Highway
    Annapolis, MD 21401
    301-224-3800
    
    
    And for emergency help, I used the Beltway Emergency Animal Hospital,
    who were EXTREMELY busy the night I went there. But they got Shanti
    in within 10 minutes, and we were out within another 10 minutes!
    They also were very concerned and patient. (They are closer to the
    Washington, DC/Capital Beltway area):
    
    Beltway Emergency Animal Hosp.
    11660 Annapolis Rd.
    Glen Dale, MD
    301-464-3737
    

    
    I'd like to add Westboro Animal Hospital to this list.  They're
    excellent for emergencies as well as regular medical concerns.
    
    I can't say enough about Dr. MacKenzie.  I've seen him handle 
    our "little fella" with lots of love, concern, respect and most
    of all compassion.  He always uses a soft voice when talking to the  
    patient and holds them gently (I hate vets that just grab and
    "haul").  There are backup vets there, who are equally as competent,
    and will give good care to your pet, I just perfer Dr. MacKenzie's
    "bed-side manner".  I should mention also, the technicans there are 
    also super.
    
    -LOR
    
    			WESTBORO ANIMAL HOSPITAL
    			   155 TURNPIKE ROAD
    			     WESTOBORO, MA
    			    (617)  366-1444

    Mark Smith
    Great Road Animal Hospital
    Rt. 2A, Acton
    263-0553
    (the one in the blueish house,
    across from Pizza Hut)
    
    we've used him for several emergencies, and
    would always try there first before going anywhere
    else..he really knows his work, and really CARES about
    the animals....

    Dr. Ovid Fraser
    Rte. 85 in Southboro
    495-4259
    
    Excellent care on short notice during weekends (my only emergencies
    to date have happened then.)  He lives over his office, so the commute
    is short for him: he really cares for the animals he treats.
    
    MM