Our story

When we opened Animal Urgent Center in Ann Arbor, we did it with a clear purpose: to make emergency veterinary care affordable and straightforward for families who often feel overwhelmed by the cost and stress of traditional ER visits. After years in emergency medicine, we saw the same thing again and again: pet owners facing impossible decisions because prices weren’t clear, wait times were long, and corporate clinics kept driving costs higher. We wanted to build something different. One of the first decisions we made was to be completely transparent. We became the first urgent care clinic in the country to post our prices directly on our website, because families deserve to know what things will cost before they walk through the door. We also decided that owners could stay with their pets the entire time, even during diagnostics and treatments. No back rooms, no mystery—just honest, open care.

Equally important to us was taking care of the people who take care of the pets. Veterinary technicians and assistants work unbelievably hard, yet they’re often underpaid and overworked. We chose a different model: our support staff are salaried, giving them stability, predictability, and a real living wage. As far as we know, we’re still the only clinic in the nation doing this. It’s something we’re proud of, because it changes lives—both inside our building and out. Our goal has always been to create a place where staff feel supported and where clients feel respected—and where that combination leads to better care for pets. Every choice we make comes back to those values: transparency, accessibility, and dignity for everyone involved. Animal Urgent Center exists because our community deserves this kind of care, and we’re proud to deliver it every day.