Tragic stories from Summit County locals shine light on reality of lack of nighttime emergency pet care in Colorado’s mountains

One day in mid-July, Linda and Bob Hrycaj noticed their Australian shepherd wasn’t acting like himself. 

Jiggs, who was only 5 years old, was lethargic and couldn’t keep food down, Linda Hrycaj said. As things worsened the night of July 15, the Hrycajs made their way down to Wheat Ridge Animal Hospital since no hospitals were open in Summit or surrounding communities.  

An ultrasound showed Jiggs had a septic abdomen. A gastrointestinal cancer diagnosis followed shortly after.

Linda said things took a turn for the worst the night of Sept. 6. She said Jiggs had a “horrible day,” which was not an uncommon due to his sickness, yet he had an escalating fever that began to pick up late that night. The couple called Wheat Ridge Animal Hospital and planned to take him down there, but never made it.

“It was too late,” Linda said. “But looking back, I’m glad I was with him when he died.”

It turned out a tumor perforated his intestine, a medical event that generally requires immediate care.

Summit local Courtney Smith’s pet’s emergency happened so rapidly she wouldn’t have been able to make it to the Front Range in time, too. Last year, her cat Aries had what she believed to be a heart attack. She gave him CPR while her roommate desperately searched for an open vet. Aries died not long after the emergency began. 

“We had to wrap him up in towels and place him in his cat-carrier, then (we) placed him in the garage until the next morning,” she said via email.

It has been over two years since Summit County has had nighttime emergency vet care.

Justin Milizio, veterinarian with the Silverthorne Veterinary Hospital, said previously his hospital and four others — Buffalo Mountain Animal Hospital, Breckenridge Animal Clinic, Farmer’s Korner Veterinary Hospital and Frisco Animal Hospital — banded together to provide emergency nighttime care. He said the group had a rotation in place where each hospital would take a night.

Yet, with the onset of the COVID-19, the veterinary hospitals fell victim to the staffing issues and shortages that plagued many industries. By 2021, only three hospitals were able to participate in the rotation. 

Milizio said it became taxing, and the rotation system wasn’t as effective with only three participants. 

“We weren’t providing consistent care, and so it was like, well, what are we doing here if we’re only doing it on some days,” he said.

The rotation was discontinued at the start of 2022. 

Christine Murphy, who is a veterinarian and the owner of Buffalo Mountain Animal Hospital, said this ended a near 25-year streak for the rotation. She said the reality was it wasn’t financially sustainable and it was tough on the people working the rotation. She said an issue she had run into with nighttime emergency calls and visits was people coming to them with instances that turned out not to be true emergencies. 

“Most of the time, people just wanted to talk, and they didn’t want to pay the price,” she said. 

Milizio said the lack of nighttime emergency vet care spans across the High Country, with sparse options for pet owners.

Staff members at the Vail Valley Animal Hospitals, which has locations in Edwards and Avon, confirmed they are currently unable to provide nighttime emergency services. 

They said a challenge with recruiting staff is most people that work in the field have pets of their own. Pet ownership limits their options for housing, which is scarce in Colorado’s mountain towns. 

Other animal hospitals in Eagle such as Mountain Animal Hospital Center and Mobile Service and Eagle Veterinary say on their sites they don’t currently offer after-hour emergency care. Colorado On-Site Veterinary Care in Eagle offers nighttime emergency services to their registered clients, but staffers say they will refer out if the emergency is something they can’t handle.

Some veterinary hospitals in Eagle County will refer clients to Valley Emergency Pet Care in Basalt, which has consistent emergency care hours. Summit locals in the midst of nighttime emergencies generally hop on Interstate 70 to seek help on the Front Range.

Andrew Cotton said he found himself in this situation this August, when his 6-month-old German shepherd swallowed a corn cob one Friday evening. Since animal hospitals in the mountains were closed, he couldn’t get through to anyone.

He immediately took to the “Summit County Loves Their Pets!!!” Facebook group where he was told he would need to head down to the Front Range.

“After speaking with a few different Veterinarians in the Denver area, all told me that this was an emergency (corn cobs do not digest and can create scary blockages),” he said via email. 

He went to Evolution Veterinary Services in Lakewood, and they were able to get the corn cob out. 

“It was pretty scary, and I didn’t get back home until well after midnight,” he said. “(It) wasn’t my ideal Friday night by any means, but (I’m) happy my dog was okay.”

What veterinarians want people to know about pet emergencies

Milizio said a good deal of pet emergencies are actually preventable. He said sometimes the issue is people wait too long when they notice something is wrong with their pet.

“Unfortunately, the majority of emergency cases are things where an owner has been dealing with a problem for a whole day and then they can’t sleep because of the animal being in pain or having some symptom, and that’s when they seek emergency care” he said. 

“(People should) call us sooner rather than later,” he added.

Buffalo Mountain Animal Hospital veterinarian Caroline Cervelli said keeping up with annual exams for pets is paramount. She said veterinarians are able to keep tabs on emerging issues and step in before they progress to an emergency-level situation. 

Murphy said it’s not just in the vet’s office where people can mitigate emergencies. 

“If you don’t open up your back door at three o’clock in the morning and let your dog out with no fence or protection from animals that are out at night or roads with people driving fast … then that’s going to prevent an emergency,” she said.

She added it’s helpful for people to understand the difference between urgent care and emergency care so they know which one to seek.

The American Veterinary Association said reasons to seek urgent care can include wounds, lacerations, diarrhea and allergic reactions. 

Pets on Broadway Animal Hospital in Denver’s website details seizures, severe vomiting and choking as instances where emergency care could be warranted. 

While Summit is currently without night-time emergency vet care, Milizio hopes to be available to provide it in the coming years as the hospital expands into a new space and looks to beef up operations.