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We have a new address! 7145 Spring Creek Rd, Rockford IL 61107

Our phone number will always be the same! 815-229-7791

We hope your pets remain healthy, safe and never need our emergency care! However, when the unexpected happens, our hospital is fully staffed, stocked and ready to care for your pet’s emergent and critical care needs 24/7. We are the State Line’s only 24 hour veterinary emergency facility.

Most people are comfortable with their veterinarian and have a good relationship with them, however, they can not be available for consultation all the time. The veterinarians of Rockford and the surrounding areas trust us to care for your pet outside their regular business hours. If you have a question or concern about your pet when your veterinarian is closed, please call our professional staff to help you determine if an exam and treatment are warranted.

–Spring time is a common time for toxins. February brings Valentines candy, Easter brings more candy and then getting ready for winter is often kicked off by changing antifreeze, working on cars, painting and planting flowers. All these events can be dangerous to our 4 legged friends. Take extra care and be especially cautious with puppies and young animals.

–Summer brings it’s own set of emergencies. Heat stroke, wounds, dog fights, eating rotten stuff outside and toxin ingestion are all more common in the summer. Keep a close eye on your dog while on a walk and be sure to provide plenty of water.

–Fall is a time people often go outside and enjoy the changing seasons. Remember as those days get colder, if your pet is wet, hypothermia may develop. The ticks and mosquitoes are still out and weather can change rapidly.

–Winter cold seems obvious, but slippery decks, icicles, hypothermia, falling through ice on a pool or pond as well as all the inappropriate ingestions that go along with the holidays can find your pet in serious trouble.

If you ever are concerned, please don’t wait, call! AEC or your veterinarian are here to help.

As an animal hospital we are ready to care for a variety of cases

  • Toxicity
  • Medical Care
  • Critical Care
  • Urgent Care
  • Surgery
  • Anesthesia

Eating things they shouldn’t is really common for dogs! They investigate the world with their noses and like a toddler, everything will go into their mouth. Some things are not a big deal, however, some common items around the house can be lethal. If you feel your pet may have ingested a toxin, please call […]

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Our doctors are very experienced in treating a large variety of medical conditions from acute crisis to chronic disease. Our laboratory and imaging department provide for rapid diagnosis and monitoring of values to help direct treatment. Diagnostics are often repeated daily to help ensure the pet is medically improving or provide guidance for management of the medical condition.

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When the clinic was founded in the 90s the goal was to care for pets at night in a central location so that the local veterinarians could sleep through the night and be ready for caring for pets the next day. As it has in so many places around the country, our technology, training and focus has transitioned to allow for sicker and more seriously injured pets to be able to survive. Due to this shift many of the local veterinarians who started the clinic have decided to continue to invest in the local pets care by continuing to purchase and fund the equipment needed to provide this care. We have a state of the art facility with equipment needed for the brains behind the operation, our veterinarians and certified veterinary technicians, to manage many of our most critical patients. There are always cases that will need a specialist or multi-specialty assessment and care. If that is deemed necessary our staff will discuss how and where to transfer to.

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Urgent care for outpatients is a very common. Often things that are uncomfortable, painful, traumatic, or irritating, but not life-threatening occur to our pets. Common urgent care issues include trauma such as getting cut on a fence or bit by a dog, ear infection, bladder infection, or allergic reactions. We try to treat your pets urgent care needs as quickly as possible when your veterinarian is not available to treat your pet. Due to being an ER, urgent cases may have to wait longer than emergent cases, but know we are doing our best to get your pets needs met.

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Emergency surgery is unfortunately very common. It can be extremely stressful for owners who have often never had a pet have to have urgent surgery. We however, do surgery daily and are highly trained in surgery from wound care to urologic emergencies to trauma to intestinal foreign body obstructions to reproductive emergencies. Please let our staff care for your pet when they are in need.

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Anesthesia is required for many procedures from placing a splint, repairing a wound, removing an intestinal foreign body, untwisting a bloated stomach, or other surgeries. Sometimes anesthesia is needed to gain control of breathing such as for dogs with laryngeal paralysis and to stop severe seizures. 

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The Animal Emergency Clinic is in need of community canine blood donors!

These are some of our blood donors, please ask the receptionist if you are interested in having your dog donate and we can discuss the program or have our program director call you.

Bear is one of our blood donors. He is a great boy and loves coming in. He gets pampered by the staff and always gets food when he is done. He was on Channel 23 news special about animal blood donation. Check out the video of the news story here.

Bear

Gibbs is a part-time blood donor. He has the DEA 1.1 Positive blood type and therefore only donates when we need that blood type or if we need extra Fresh Frozen Plasma.

Gibbs

Winter is one of our older blood donors. She is a real pro and has donated to lots of local pets.

Winter and Matt

The famous duo Punky and Diva have long been blood donors. They love their bandanas!

Punky and Diva

Ranger is a cool customer. Needles don’t scare him and he is a regular!

Ranger

The Animal Emergency Clinic (AEC) is aware that medical services can be expensive.

A Staff member will present you with various options for your pets care. We encourage our clients to discuss treatment options and the associated costs with the Doctor. The AEC offers a variety of payment options:  Visa, Master Card, American Express, Care Credit, Scratch Pay, as well as cash. Care Credit and Scratch Pay both offer deferred payments to help with the crunch of medical care costs.
We want you to feel comfortable with having your pet at our clinic, so please look at the photos of our “back of house”

Our new building

The Spring Creek location opened January 7th 2022. It is a nearly 10,000 square foot building.

This clinic is designed to provide information and care after normal business hours. Our hospital has state-of-the-art on-site laboratory, digital radiology, ultrasound and surgical services available with the ability to provide both urgent care and critical care needs for the pets of the greater Rockford area.

The veterinarians of 19 local veterinary hospitals are shareholders in the AEC and all provide input to the management and medical philosophies of our clinic.  We encourage our clients to discuss their experiences at the AEC with their primary veterinarian to provide important feedback that helps to improve our services.

In a truly life-threatening situation, minutes may make the difference between life and death.  To expedite appropriate care, please call prior to leaving or en route if possible so that we can set up if needed.

The Treatment room is large with 4 procedure tables to allow efficiency for procedures and examination. Each table has access for oxygen, suction and anesthetic waste gas. The treatment area is designed so that veterinarians can easily see the patients and also for the veterinary technicians to monitor patients and provide critical care easily. With this design all patients can be observed at all times due to close proximity to staff.

Laboratory

On-site laboratory allows for efficient diagnosis of medical diseases and for monitoring of progression or improvement of disease. It is complete with ability to test for serum chemistries, electrolytes, CBC, tick borne screening, assessment of pancreas, heart with ProBNP, viral testing such as FeLV, FIV and canine parvo virus, parasite screening for Giardia, and heart worm screening. We have 2 microscopes one of which has a camera for recording abnormal images if needed and training of staff. The microscopic examination of blood smears, aspirate cytology, fluid cytology, and stool provide rapid assessment for many causes of disease to help speed treatment and recovery. The laboratory is designed so that even while our certified veterinary technicians are performing laboratory work, they can still observe patients.

Laundry

 The laundry room is second to none. We have 2 large commercial washers and 3 commercial dryers so that we can provide clean towels, blankets, and comforters to our patients. The new larger washers allow for more easily washing and drying large comforters which help to provide a more comfortable hospital stay.

The Isolation ward is large, has 2 runs and 4 cages. This room has negative pressure system to help evacuate airborne infectious disease. The ward has an incubator for heat support and oxygen delivery, camera monitor so that even isolation pets are monitored 24-7.

The runs are from Snyder Manufacturing a leading maker of runs and kennels. They are easy to disinfect and considered some of the safest in the industry.
17 dog runs allow for having more space to be able to care for more patients. The outdoor walking area has a 6 foot fence for security and safety of our canine patients. The turf grass from Forever Lawn will help to keep the pets clean and can be sterilized with disinfectant.
Our radiology was updated in December of 2020 with state of the art machine from IDEXX laboratories. It allows us to store images in the cloud for sharing with your veterinarian.
The Treatment room is large with 4 procedure tables to allow efficiency for procedures and examination. Each table has access for oxygen, suction and anesthetic waste gas. The treatment area is designed so that veterinarians can easily see the patients and also for the veterinary technicians to monitor patients and provide critical care easily. With this design all patients can be observed at all times due to close proximity to staff.
Our 2 Surgery rooms are designed as double table rooms for extra space. Electrocautery, Bair Hugger thermal warming system, suction, anesthetic waste gas scavenger system and state of the art anesthesia monitoring make for the safest anesthesia process for both patients and staff.
The large lobby will allow for up to 3 receptionists to help make phone wait time as short as possible and making the check in and out process easy. The lobby is large enough that when COVID metrics allow, we will be able to have clients in the building and still keep social distancing.
The comfort room  is a quiet private space to visit with your pet. This room has a private exit so when owner’s leave they do not need to walk through the waiting room.

Exam rooms

The building has 6 exam rooms. We often have 2-3 veterinarians working during busy times and this provides us the locations for owners to stay and allow more efficient care for pets.