I have a dog rescue and my general mantra is to avoid emergency vets at all cost unless an animal is going to die and you have no choice. They overcharge and are often dishonest about the medical condition to pump up the costs. Monday morning before our regular vet opened, we had a dog in crisis, so my husband rushed her to Phoenix Veterinary Referral & Emergency. In his hurry, he forgot his cell phone, and also needed to get to work. He used the phone at the vet to call me and give me an update. I was going to get the kids out of bed and rush over there as quickly as possible. My husband told the staff that he would give them the credit card and I would be there shortly. They told him that if he left, they would automatically charge a $170 hospitalization fee. He had to stay until I arrived about 1/2 an hour later. By then it was 9:30AM and I had learned that my vet would not be in until 11AM. Our dog was getting IV fluids and being monitored. I asked the veterinarian to keep doing what they were doing for an additional hour and then I would transfer her to my vet's office. They refused unless I paid the $170 hospitalization fee. I understand that a veterinarian needs to make money, but our bill was already over $400 for IV fluids, oxygen, monitoring and a $9 shot of pain medication. They clearly didn't care about the dog. All they cared about was making more money. I had to take our dog home for 45 minutes before driving her to our regular vet. By the way, our vet charged only $294 for doing the same thing the ER did plus more for the next 9 hours!