Kokomo Pets Deserve Emergency Care—Let’s Make it Happen!

Kokomo is home to thousands of beloved pets—but when emergencies happen after hours, families and caregivers are forced to drive an hour or more for help. Despite having many wonderful veterinary clinics, none currently offer overnight or weekend emergency services. And during regular hours, most are stretched too thin to take urgent cases.

This isn’t about blame—it’s about building. Local vets are doing incredible work with limited time, staff, and resources. But our community needs more support. That’s why I am launching a campaign to bring sustainable, compassionate emergency veterinary care to Kokomo.

What I’m Asking For:

• Support from city leaders to attract veterinary investment

• Partnerships with regional providers and animal welfare organizations

How You Can Help:

• Sign the petition to show demand

• Share your story if you’ve faced a pet emergency

• Spread the word on social media, at vet offices, and in your neighborhood

Together, we can make Kokomo safer for pets and less stressful for the people who love them.

The Full Story

Hi, all. Thank you for considering this petition. My name is Megan Anderson. I am the founder and co-owner of Kokomo Home Buddies, a dog-sitting service providing home-based boarding and day care services. We are a mother-daughter team who have had the joy of caring for over 100 dogs, plus a slew of cats, lizards, rabbits, chickens, frogs, and a few other sweet critters over nearly seven years in business. We’ve built strong relationships with local families and their pets, and we take our role as caregivers seriously.

Part of that responsibility is making sure they get medical attention as quickly as possible in case of emergency. Unfortunately, we’ve had a couple of instances when unpredictable events– like seizures–struck dogs on our watch after local vet clinic hours. When time is of the essence, driving an hour or more to the nearest veterinary ER is unrealistic and incredibly stressful.

The nearest 24-hour providers are:

• MedVet (Carmel-Indy)
• Purdue Small Animal Hospital (Lafayette)
• VCA Northwood (Anderson)
• VCA Advanced Care (Fishers)

I have reached out to all of the above as well as local providers to broach the topic of their possibly expanding services to the Kokomo area and exploring different ideas and models of making that a reality. The few who responded agreed that Kokomo is underserved, but didn’t offer constructive feedback. Our local veterinarians are deeply committed to their patients, but emergency care requires resources beyond what most clinics can manage alone. I’m advocating for solutions that complement their work—not compete with it. This campaign is about finding sustainable solutions that support our local vets while improving emergency access.

In addition to providers, I have been contacting local organizations and government branches to ask about what might be done to attract ER vet services. The one response I got, that was from the Kokomo Economic Development Alliance, was an encouragement to keep asking questions. So, here I am, asking YOU, the pet parents and caregivers of the Kokomo area: do you think our community needs better access to emergency veterinary services?

If your answer is yes, please sign this petition. If you have a story about needing emergency veterinary care, please share that as well to prove the need and benefit of adding this service to the community. With enough support, I would like to make formal appeals to potential service providers, city government and economic development officials, and animal welfare organizations with the leverage to bring this critical service to the estimated 17,000 pet-owning households in Kokomo.

Let’s show Kokomo’s leaders and veterinary providers that our community is ready to support emergency care—because our pets deserve it!

Please sign the petition, share your story, and spread the word. Every voice counts.

UPDATE as of 1/26/26

Hello, everyone! Thank you for your support so far. As I continue gathering petition signatures and asking you to share your stories about how after‑hours ER vet services would benefit our community, I’ve also been reaching out to area veterinary hospitals and clinics. I’m asking for their ideas and input on how we can make practical progress toward expanding veterinary care options. These are the people on the front lines, so their insight is invaluable for our next steps.

I want to be clear that this campaign is meant to complement, not compete with, existing providers. Our goal is to give our animals every chance at great care, and that means partnering with the folks who are already doing everything they can.

Even with some negative feedback and a few doors closing, I’m committed to continuing this effort—for our animals and for the people who love them. I’ll keep sharing updates as progress is made. Thank you again for standing with me.