About a month ago, Kylee Manahan had a scare in the middle of the night when her Pekingese, Chien, developed a sweet tooth.

Manahan found Chien chowing down on some leftover chocolate Halloween candy and feared the worst. Knowing chocolate can be toxic to dogs, she called her veterinarian at Animal Hospital of Lawrence, 701 S. Michigan St., but there were not any doctors on call that evening.

“I didn’t have anyone to call in Lawrence,” Manahan said. “I needed to know what to do.”

An answering service at Animal Hospital directed her to call Blue Pearl Veterinary Hospital in Overland Park, which then told her they couldn’t advise her over the phone, Manahan said.

“As a 61-year-old, it didn’t make me a happy camper to drive K-10 in the dark,” Manahan said, “but I wasn’t going to lose my dog over that.”

Just as she was set to leave, she found online that the amount of chocolate Chien consumed wasn’t large enough to be harmful. Still, she said she wishes there was an emergency veterinarian in Lawrence that could have answered her questions after hours.

“For small emergencies, that could have been handled in Lawrence,” Manahan said, “but nobody would take my call.”

While the town is stocked with about nine different veterinary clinics, Manahan’s clinic is among just three veterinary clinics in Lawrence to offer after-hours care, representatives of the clinics said.

For a premium price, clients of Lewis Veterinary Clinic at 3101 W. Sixth St.; Gentle Care Animal Hospital at 601 S. Kasold Drive; or the Animal Hospital can usually rouse a doctor from bed to treat their fluffy friends after closing hours, representatives of the clinics said, but each of the other clinics refer patients to Blue Pearl.

The Lawrence Humane Society also uses Blue Pearl for their after-hours service where they pick up injured, stray animals after hours and take them for emergency medical care.

Christi Jarrett, veterinarian at Jarrett Small Animal Clinic, just stopped offering on-call care in November after “years” of service, she said. Jarrett now refers her clients to Blue Pearl after hours and said the 30-minute drive to Overland Park isn’t much different than the time it would take her to wake up, get dressed and drive to her clinic.

But Jennifer Stone, Lawrence Humane Society medical director and staff veterinarian, said in certain circumstances that half-hour is crucial.

“It would be great (to have a 24-hour veterinary hospital) because Blue Pearl is 30 minutes away and that can be the difference between life and death,” Stone said.

Stone said an emergency hospital would also come in handy for pet owners who do not have a veterinarian, as non-clients have a more difficult time getting an unknown doctor to help during off-hours.

“It would be very nice for those who haven’t established a relationship with a veterinarian,” Stone said.

Jarrett agreed that there is “absolutely a need” for an all day and night, full service veterinary hospital in Lawrence. That’s because just like humans, animals in medical situations that warrant immediate care need an emergency room setting with specialized doctors accustomed to treating urgent patients.

“Blue Pearl is fully staffed 24 hours a day instead of doctors at home in their beds,” Jarrett said. “Animals in need of emergency care need doctors used to working more specifically in emergency situations.”

But with the emergency room setting comes the emergency room price, Blue Pearl spokeswoman Georgia Flood said. Flood said she encourages all pet owner to purchase pet insurance, just in case.

“It’s a hard thing when you have a pet and it becomes part of the family,” Flood said. “Just like a human, you want to be prepared for the worst.”