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Our Story

It’s nice to meet you.

South Asheville Veterinary Emergency & Specialty is located in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The peaks represent the height of our love for animals. The valleys symbolize the depths of our compassion for them. Together with your primary care veterinarian, we will reach far and wide to combine medical knowledge, technology, and kindness to provide exceptional care to our patients. It’s simply in our nature.

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Our history.

Prior to becoming South Asheville Veterinary Emergency & Specialty (SAVES), our hospital was part of the Upstate Vet family.

Upstate Vet, located in Greenville, SC, was well-established in the tri-state area. As a convenience to pet owners who traveled from Tennessee and North Carolina, Upstate Vet, Asheville was opened in 2009 to provide a closer option for initial consultations and follow-up care in internal medicine, oncology, surgery, and ophthalmology.

Before long, the hospital saw a need from area veterinarians and pet owners for dedicated specialty and emergency care. Initially, several specialists from Greenville shared office hours at both locations, but the demand for care increased and Asheville began to hire its own team of doctors.

As the number of referrals increased, our hospital soon became too small. In 2022, we began an expansion designed to take us from 9,222 square feet to 28,369. To celebrate our journey of growth and independence, while becoming an integral part of the local community, we changed our name to South Asheville Veterinary Emergency & Specialty (SAVES).

We are grateful to Upstate Vet for their vision that brought the Asheville location to life, and we are proud to remain connected in our mission to serve animals in need of veterinary care across the region.

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Proud to be AAHA-Accredited.

SAVES is accredited by the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA). We choose to be continually evaluated for accreditation by AAHA because it challenges us to stay at the forefront of the latest changes in veterinary medicine and practice operations.

AAHA was founded in 1933 and is the only association in North America that provides accreditation to companion animal hospitals. To be accredited by AAHA, hospitals must demonstrate an exceptional level of medical care and client service and be measured against the most rigorous standards in the veterinary industry. Only 15% of animal hospitals in the US and Canada are AAHA accredited and we’re one of them!

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