White Plains, New York-based Veterinary Emergency Group has opened a pet emergency hospital in Beverly Grove, the firm’s fifth center in Los Angeles County.
Veterinary Emergency Group, which does business as VEG ER for Pets, opened the 5,000-square-foot emergency hospital at the Beverly Connection shopping center, which was purchased by nearby Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in March for $270 million.
The Beverly Grove storefront joins four other VEG ER for Pets locations in the county: Manhattan Beach, Santa Clarita, Santa Monica and Torrance. The Santa Monica location opened in 2023, and all of the rest have opened in the last 13 months.
Veterinary Emergency Group was founded in New York in 2014 by David Bessler and David Glattstein. Most pet urgent medical care firms typically make pet owners wait in a lobby while their pets undergo surgical procedures in separate rooms. Veterinary Emergency Group instead uses an open floorplan model that lets owners to stay with their pets through the entire treatment process, including overnight stays.
Becoming a national brand
The company grew from a single New York storefront to a national operation, thanks in large part to a $100 million financing round in 2021. Today, VEG ER for Pets has more than 130 hospital locations in some three dozen states plus the Canadian province of Ontario.
At the Beverly Connection location, VEG ER has traditional exam and surgery rooms, along with radiology and ultrasound equipment. The center, which is open 24/7, also has intensive care unit oxygen cages for life support.
“When a pet parent walks into VEG ER for Pets, they will immediately feel they have finally found a place that will provide their family and pet the best emergency veterinary experience that exists,” Bessler said in a statement.
VEG ER joins a crowded veterinary hospital landscape in the western portion of Los Angeles County, led by more than a dozen locations for Sawtelle-based VCA Inc., formerly Veterinary Care of America. There are also several independent veterinary hospital facilities throughout the county.
