State's first 24-hour animal hospital opens new Williston facility

It's been more than a year in the making and now the only specialty 24-hour emergency animal hospital is open.

Burlington Emergency and Veterinary Specialists, also known as BEVS, opened up the doors to their new building at 1417 Marshall Avenue in Williston last week.

Officials say it's still not complete, but they gave WCAX News a tour as most of the building is up and running.

They say in the new facility, the waiting room is bigger and the services are better.

"Just within the last couple of days, we've noticed a huge decrease in stress level for our patients. Now, they are in a completely different ward and it's much quieter and they can sleep and heal," said Whitney Durivage, a BEVS hospital administrator.

Making sure they have state-of-the-art equipment and services is important to BEVS because they are the only specialty 24-hour animal hospital in the state.

In terms of patient care, they say it will be the same with some upgrades.

"We've added our underwater treadmill, we've upgraded our surgical suites, we've upgraded some other equipment so that makes it really easy to provide rapid care," said Durivage.

They've also expanded services in internal medicine, dental and increased hours in oncology and rehab services.

But for the more immediate emergencies, they offer some advice before you get there:

"We always advise people to give us a call ahead of time so that if there is anything beforehand that we can give them that advice," said Durivage.

She also says it's important to be familiar with household toxins, some of which might surprise you. She says compost is one that surprises a lot of pet owners.

Officials at BEVS hope the new facility isn't just shiny equipment, but a fresh experience for their patients

A new feature they have are cameras so you can check on your pets if they're there for an extended period of time.