Animal health and welfare
Veterinary services
Kotka City Veterinarians are best contacted for appointments and advice by telephone on weekdays from 8:00 to 9:00. After this time, in urgent and emergency cases, you can leave a message on the veterinary answering machine. The vet will get back to you as soon as possible.
The veterinary practice is located at Alatie 108 E, 49200 Heinlahti. Visits by appointment only.
In addition to basic veterinary services, the work of the City Veterinarians includes veterinary duties such as export and import inspections of animals, animal disease control and animal welfare.
Veterinary on-call service
Outside office hours, urgent cases are dealt with by the veterinary surgeon on call. In South-Kymenlaakso, on-call veterinary services are organised in cooperation between Kotka and Hamina. The on-call area covers Kotka, Pyhtää, Hamina, Virolahti and Miehikkälä.
The veterinarian on call can be reached on weekday evenings from 15–08 and on weekends and public holidays on 0600 144 99. There is a charge for the on-call telephone number.
Price of the call
08:00–22: 00 2,04€/min + ppm
22:00–08:00 4,06 €/min + ppm
The emergency veterinary service is only for animals requiring urgent treatment, not for chronic or non-acute conditions. It is primarily used for emergency treatment. On the basis of the call, the veterinary surgeon will assess the need for treatment and the order of urgency of the patients. If the veterinarian is unable to answer the phone, please try to call back in a few minutes. There is no call-back service.
In the Kotka and Hamina region, there is one veterinarian on call at a time, who treats both large and small animal patients. Small animals are treated at the veterinarian’s own municipal practice (Pyhtää, Hamina or Virolahti) and large animals at the hospital. No home visits are made for small animals.
Owners are responsible for the costs of treating their animals. Payment is made on the spot either by card or cash. Veterinarians pay the municipal veterinary fees. During the on-call hours, there is a 50–100 % increase in the fee for visits and procedures. The veterinary surgeon is entitled to charge a fee in accordance with the municipal veterinary tariff for appointments not cancelled or cancelled on the day of the visit. Cancellation of an appointment is made directly by calling the veterinary surgeon.
Traces certificate
Traces certificates for horses and pets required for commercial exports are issued by the supervising veterinarian and the municipal veterinarians. For Traces inspections, the veterinarian should be contacted three business days prior to departure to allow the veterinarian time to complete the certificate and perform the inspection.
Export controls for pets leaving the EU are carried out by city veterinarians. Depending on the requirements of the country of destination, the certificate may be issued by an official veterinarian or a private veterinarian. The official certificate is always issued by a municipal or city veterinarian. Exporters of pets should familiarise themselves with the export requirements of the country of destination.
Animal welfare
The purpose of the Animal Welfare Act (247/1996) is to protect animals from suffering, pain and distress in the best possible way and to promote the welfare and good treatment of animals accordingly.
The Kotka and Hamina Environmental Health Surveillance Units have an agreement on cooperation in veterinary surveillance tasks under the Veterinary Welfare Act (765/2009), allowing official veterinarians from Kotka, Pyhtää, Hamina, Virolahti and Miehikkälä to carry out surveillance-related duties throughout the surveillance area.
Animal welfare tasks are mainly carried out by the common control veterinarian of the area. In addition to the control veterinarian and the city and municipal veterinarians, the police and health inspectors also monitor compliance with the Animal Welfare Act.
In Kotka and Pyhtää, animal protection notifications should be sent by e-mail to elainsuojelu@kotka.fi
The animal protection notification should include the address of the animal’s holding place as accurately as possible and the name of the animal’s owner.
In the event of an animal welfare emergency outside office hours, the police should be contacted in the first instance (tel. 0295 430 331) and the veterinarian on duty in the second instance (tel. 0600 14499). If the animal poses a danger to humans, the police should always be contacted.
Animal diseases
An animal disease is a disease or infection that can be transmitted directly or indirectly from one animal to another or to humans. Animal diseases are diseases caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites. Infections that spread from animals to humans or from humans to animals are called zoonoses.
Infectious diseases in farm animals can cause significant economic losses through reduced growth, reduced production or death of the animal. The risk of disease spread increases when farmed animals, their food and other products are transported across the globe.
Pets are also increasingly travelling abroad with families and can contract serious animal diseases, which in the worst case can also be transmitted to humans. In addition, imports of dogs in particular from outside Europe have increased in recent years.
Finland, along with Norway and Sweden, has one of the best animal disease situations in the world. Diseases that are common in Europe are not found in Finland. The low incidence of animal diseases is partly due to good animal shelters, the absence of a livestock market and communal grazing, and the fact that few animals are transported through Finland to other countries. In addition, much attention has been paid to the prevention of animal diseases in Finland.
Found animals
According to the Animal Welfare Act (247/1996), the municipality must provide for the temporary care of stray and recovered dogs and cats and other similar small companion and hobby animals found in its territory. The City of Kotka has an agreement with the EKEY Association for this obligation. The Lost and Found Animal House is located at Temppelikatu 2, 48700 Kotka, Kotka. The telephone number of the Lost and Found Animal House is 041 310 7741. More information about the lost and found animal shelter will be published on the association’s website.
Please note! This page is machine translated. We apologise for any errors, please report any mistakes viestinta@kotka.fi.