Guides/Veterinary care

If Your Pet Gets Sick or Injured in Korea

For an ordinary illness or injury, phone an animal hospital. 119 is the fire and rescue number. It is not a pet ambulance, and it is still the number for a fire, a traffic crash, or a human emergency. If a dog or cat is struggling and people are not in danger, phone a veterinary clinic, describe what you can see, and ask whether you should come in now. This page does not diagnose illness and does not tell you which medicine to give.

Korea with Pets cannot tell you what is wrong with an animal. A veterinarian who has examined the pet is the person who decides on tests and treatment. The job of this page is the hour before you reach that person: who to call, what to say, and how to get there.

Phone a clinic before you move the animal

These are reasons to get a veterinarian on the phone. They are not names for a disease, and they are not a list of home treatments. Call before you leave the room if you see any of them:

Breathing looks hard, fast, or noisy, or the gums look pale or blue.
The animal collapses, cannot stand, or has a seizure.
Vomiting or diarrhea keeps happening, there is blood, or the animal will not drink and seems weak.
Bleeding is persistent or significant, or a wound is deep. That is a reason to contact a clinic promptly, not a treatment step from this page.
After heat, a walk in strong sun, or time in a closed car, the animal is panting heavily, unsteady, or dull.
After a fall, a door, or a fight, the animal will not walk, or a limb looks bent or unused.
The belly looks suddenly tight, or the animal strains to urinate and nothing comes out.
You think the animal ate chocolate, a sugar-free product, a human medicine, a cleaner, or a plant, even if it still looks normal.

If you are unsure which side of the line you are on, call. The clinic can tell you to come in, to watch overnight, or to try a different hospital that is actually staffed. Waiting to see whether it passes is the costly choice when breathing, bleeding, collapse, or a possible poison is involved.

A morning call is sometimes enough

One skipped meal, a single vomit in an animal that is otherwise bright, a small scrape, or mild itching is often something you describe on the phone and time the way the clinic suggests. Still call the same day if the pet is very young, old, or already on medication, if this behavior is new to you, or if you are about to board a flight, a long bus, or a ferry. Travel days hide problems. An animal that only seems quiet on the morning of a departure is a phone call, not a guess at the gate.

Do not give a human pain tablet, a human cold medicine, or a leftover antibiotic from home. That is a common way a small problem becomes an emergency. If the animal already swallowed something, bring the package or a photo and let the clinic decide.

Find a hospital that is open tonight

Licensed animal hospitals are listed on the National Animal Protection Information System at animal.go.kr. Search the city or district you are standing in, not the city you fly out of tomorrow.

During some holidays a temporary public list names clinics that have agreed to see emergency cases, sometimes under a Korean title that means a neighborhood emergency animal hospital. Any count of clinics on that kind of notice belongs to that notice. When the holiday ends, the list expires. It is not the permanent number of emergency hospitals in Korea. Call the clinic before you get into a taxi.

A map pin that says 24 hours still needs a phone call. Some signs mean a veterinarian is in the building. Others mean a phone is answered and a doctor is on call. Ask whether they are seeing emergency patients tonight, whether they can see a dog or a cat, and how long the wait is. A grooming shop, a pet cafe, or a supply store is not a hospital, even if the English word “clinic” appears in the shop name. If the person who answers cannot describe a veterinarian on duty, keep looking.

What to say on the phone

Use this order: species and approximate size, what you saw, when it started, whether it is getting worse, and the neighborhood where you are staying. Ask whether they want you now, whether the animal should stay in a carrier, how you will pay, and whether anyone at the desk can work in English. Many clinics cannot. That is not a reason to skip care. A short note on your phone, plus a translation app, is a normal way visitors get through reception.

Write down the clinic’s Korean name, the address they send, and a landmark. A taxi driver usually needs the Korean name, not the English label on a foreign map.

A useful note is five lines: species, age and weight if you know them; the time it started and whether it is worsening; the one or two signs you can actually see; medicines already given, including “none”; and any illness you already know about. If the clinic says they cannot see you, ask which hospital they would call. A referral from staff is more useful than another map search.

The ride, and what to carry in

Keep the animal in a carrier unless the injury makes that impossible and the clinic told you another way to move them. Do not assume a subway or a city bus will accept an animal that is bleeding, panicked, or out of a carrier. Those services publish rules for calm pets in closed carriers, and the operator matters. A taxi is the usual ride. Acceptance still varies by driver, so say you have a pet in a carrier before you load bags. If one car refuses, ask the next. At night, allow extra time. The public transport guide is for ordinary trips, not for an animal in distress.

If you are in Seoul, the open hospital may be in a different district from the hotel. If you have just landed at Incheon, do not go back to the airport looking for a clinic because quarantine staff met you there. Import inspection is not an emergency room for a pet that becomes ill after you are in the city. The ride from the airport is covered in from the airport to your hotel. If the animal is in trouble, that ride should go to a hospital instead.

Bring a timeline of what the animal ate and when the problem started, the names of medicines it already takes, and any vaccine or rabies papers you used for the trip. Those papers are not a medical chart. They do stop the veterinarian from guessing about vaccination status. Add a photo of a food, plant, or chemical if you suspect an exposure, a way to pay, and the hotel address so the clinic can say whether the animal can go back with you. You may be asked to wait outside the treatment area. Ask what they plan to do, and what it will cost, before you agree. Fees are set by the clinic. There is no national price on this site.

Outside Seoul, coverage gets thinner

Night and holiday cover is uneven. A pension or a small town may be a long taxi ride from the nearest hospital that will see an emergency. Ask the host, before you need it, which 동물병원 they would call, and save the number in Korean. Do not assume every town has an overnight veterinarian, and do not start a drive to Seoul by default if a local clinic has already told you to come in. Seoul and Incheon have more clinics on the map than a rural district. Those region pages list visitor places. They are not emergency rooms, and a place card is not a hospital recommendation.

Mistakes that waste the first hour

Waiting for 119 to act as a pet ambulance. It is not that service. A fire, a crash, or an injured person is a different call.
Walking into the nearest pet shop because the map pin was close.
Giving a human pain tablet “just for the night.”
Leaving the animal in a hot room or a closed car while you search for hospitals in person.
Starting a subway ride with a bleeding or panicked animal because the station was nearer than the taxi rank.
Treating a holiday clinic list from last year as if it were still staffed.

Checklist

Save animal.go.kr, and the Korean word 동물병원, before you need them.
Keep the carrier where you can reach it, not under a pile of luggage.
Store the hotel address in Korean.
If the signs above are happening, call a clinic before you move the animal.
On the call: species, what you see, when it started, whether to come now, payment, language.
Bring papers you already have, medicine names, and a photo of anything the animal may have eaten.
Do not give human medicine.
If a clinic turns you away, ask which hospital is open, then call that hospital.

A planned visit is a different page

A limp that has lasted two days, a vaccine question, or a recheck before you fly home is not this first-hour plan. Use using an animal hospital in Korea as a visitor for the phone call, the desk, and the paperwork of an ordinary appointment. Entry papers for the country are explained in pet quarantine. They do not replace a clinical history.

In short

Call an animal hospital about the animal’s illness, describe what you see, and go where they tell you to go. Use animal.go.kr as a directory, then confirm that clinic is open today. Do not treat 119 as a pet ambulance. A fire, a traffic crash, or a human emergency is a separate call. Do not dose the animal with human medicine, and do not treat this page as a diagnosis.