Help and emergencies
For dogs in and around Lewes. If your dog is badly hurt, struggling to breathe or collapses, ring a vet now: they'll tell you where to go.
A vet now
Most practices send their nights and weekends to an emergency clinic. Ring first, so they're ready for you.
Coastway Vets, Lewes
137–139 Malling Street, BN7 2RB
Open Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm, Saturday 8am to 12pm.
Out of hours, ring Vetcall on 01273 621682: Monday to Friday 6pm to 8am, Saturday 1pm to Monday 8am, and every bank holiday, at the Brighton Veterinary Hospital, Freshfield Business Park, Freshfield Way, BN2 0DF.
A first emergency consultation is £114 in opening hours, and from £160.52 out of hours.
From Coastway Vets, Lewes branch (undated); Coastway Vets, emergencies (undated); Coastway Vets, Brighton hospital (undated), read 2 Oct 2026.Cliffe Vets, Lewes and Ringmer
21 Cliffe High Street, BN7 2AH; Ringmer: 70 Springett Avenue, BN8 5QX
01273 473232Ringmer 01273 814590Out of hours
Registered with Cliffe? Ring your usual Cliffe clinic first, day or night: its contact page describes its own emergency service for its clients.
Its emergencies page also names the Priory Emergency Treatment Service in Brighton, open 24 hours a day, every day: 01273 566 993, at The Veterinary Hospital, The Deneway, London Road, BN1 8QR. It says it carries adder anti-venom.
From Cliffe Vets, contact (undated); Cliffe Vets, emergencies (undated); Priory Emergency Treatment Service (undated), read 2 Oct 2026.Lewes Veterinary Centre (CVS)
Unit 10, Cliffe Industrial Estate, South Street, BN8 6JL
Reopened on 15 September 2026 as a nurse-led clinic: Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, 9am to 2pm. In an emergency in those hours, ring it and it'll tell you what to do.
At night and at weekends, it sends you to Vetcall, 01273 621682, at Coastway's Brighton hospital.
From Sussex Express (3 Sep 2026); CVS, Lewes Veterinary Centre (undated), read 2 Oct 2026.
Poisoning
If your dog has eaten something it shouldn't, ring your vet or the Animal PoisonLine straight away, even if they seem fine: signs can take hours, or days, to show.
Animal PoisonLine
Open 24 hours, run by the Veterinary Poisons Information Service. It costs £35 a call Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm, and £45 at other times and on bank holidays. It tells you whether your dog needs a vet.
Is it poisonous? A free checker
A quick look-up for common foods, plants and household things, from the vets at Medivet. It's a first check only: if your dog has eaten something that could be harmful, still ring your vet or the PoisonLine.
- Get your dog away from it, and wipe any off their fur.
- Don't make your dog sick unless a vet tells you to, and never give salt water.
- Take the packet, or a photo of it, or a sample if it's safe, to the vet.
Adder bite
Adders bask on the Downs on sunny days, mostly from spring to late summer. A bite shows as a dark, painful swelling, often with two small puncture marks; a dog may drool, be sick, or turn drowsy or restless.
- Get to a vet as fast as you can, and ring ahead so they can be ready. The Priory Emergency Treatment Service in Brighton says it carries anti-venom: 01273 566 993.
- Keep calm, and keep your dog as still as you can. Carry them if you can, with the bite higher than their heart.
- Don't cut, suck or squeeze the bite, and don't put on a bandage or a tourniquet.
- Keep them warm and quiet on the way.
Lost dog
Tell everyone at once, and stay near where your dog was last seen for as long as you can.
- The council's dog warden: 01273 471600, the number Raystede and the national list of wardens give for Lewes. GOV.UK's missing dog lookup takes you to the council's own page.
- The microchip database. Mark your dog as lost there. Not sure which one? Check-a-chip finds it from the chip number. The main ones: Petlog 01296 737600 (24 hours), Animal Tracker, now part of identi, 01279 219777 (24 hours), UK PETtrac 01273 408722 (24 hours).
- DogLost: free. Add your dog and it makes a poster and a page, and its volunteers help look.
- The vets (numbers above): a found dog is often taken to one to have its chip read.
- Raystede in Ringmer, 01825 880468, and the warden next door: Brighton & Hove, 01273 294266.
- The local groups, where most lost-dog posts go: Brighton Dogwatch – Lost Dogs, Lost Dog Recovery UK South, Sussex Search & Rescue for Lost Dogs, Lost and Found Pets, Seaford and Eastbourne, and your neighbourhood on Nextdoor. We link to them; we don't read or copy them.
- Us: send us an alert and we'll put it up once we've checked it.
Found a dog
- If you can't reach the owner, the law says to tell the council: the warden, 01273 471600, or GOV.UK's stray dog lookup. You must either return the dog to its owner straight away or take it to the council's officer.
- A vet, the dog warden or a rescue centre can read its microchip. Every dog must be chipped.
- Rescue centres can't take in a stray: it stays with the dog warden for at least 7 days.
- If the council lets you keep the dog, you must keep it for at least a month.
On the road, and other numbers
- If you hit a dog with your car, stop, and give your details to anyone who asks; if there's no one to tell, report it to the police within 24 hours. Then get the dog to a vet.
- The RSPCA, for cruelty or an animal in distress: 0300 1234 999.
- East Sussex WRAS, for hurt wild animals and birds only, 24 hours: 0300 10 26 999.