Hooray for House Calls!
Veterinarians will come to you - and reduce the stress of doggie healthcare.
Excerpts from DOGFANCY magazine, February 2001
By Jane Musgrave, Photos by Jim Rassol
Boca
Baby shakes slightly as Ron Johnson, DVM lifts her in his arms and sets her
gingerly, on the kitchen countertop. Brushing aside a jar of Dash seasoning,
some family photos, and a stack of bills, the doctor strokes her head with one
hand while gently probing the 15-1/2-year-old's arthritic hips with the other.
CNN blares in the background. Spanky, Charles Poveromo's other dog, scampers mind the kitchen table trying to figure out what's going on. Meanwhile, Boca sits calmly while Johnson, with the help of assistant Roxanne Shobe, holds her firmly for her semimonthly laser treatment.
When the treatment is over, Johnson gives Boca, a Maltese, a pat on the head as he places her back on the floor.
"Would your daddy let you down," Poveromo coos at Boca as he lifts the fluffy white mop to his lap.
The exam takes less than five minutes. After
answering a couple of Poveromo’s questions and making sure Boca has enough medicine, Johnson
and Shobe pack their equipment and head out the door.
"I can't remember the last time I took her to the vet," says Poveromo, a former restaurant owner who lives in Boca Raton, Fla. "I just let him come to the house. It's better for [Boca]. She doesn't hear the other dogs howling --- that'll freak her out more than anything. I take my dogs seriously. They’re like my kids."
Poveromo is among a growing number of dog owners who have stopped taking their pets to the veterinarian, preferring instead to let the doctor come to them. With increased demand, the number of veterinarians, trading offices for vans and SUV’s is increasing, as well.
As many as 1,000 veterinarians in the United States have given up traditional clinic-based practices and taken their offices on the road, estimates John Leshansid, DVM, president of the American Association of Housecall Veterinarians, a non-profit professional organization. Another 1,000 veterinarians probably will make house calls, even though the bulk of their practices are still clinic based, he says.
The numbers don't include large-animal veterinarians - the original housecall practitioners. While some view veterinarians who make house calls as the latest trend, a 21st-century scheme aimed at satisfying harried workers who simply don't have time to take their pets across town for an office visit, mobile veterinarians are nearly as old as veterinary medicine itself. More importantly than convenience, home healthcare can be more comfortable for the dog, particularly if it does not like to ride in a car or is fearful of the veterinarian's office, not well socialized with other animals, weak, or elderly.
"Mobile vets used to be people who made farm calls," says Sharon Granskog, assistant director of public information for the Schaumburg, III.-based American Veterinary Medical Association. "When veterinarians were mainly dealing with farm animals, everyone was a mobile vet."
Today, mobile veterinarians are common in urban areas, such as South Florida, where Johnson has his practice, or New York, where Leshanski is based.
House veterinarians have become so widespread that the American Animal Hospital Association, which accredits full-service veterinary hospitals, this year began offering an accreditation program for mobile veterinarians.
"Our association recognized that it's a growing area within veterinary practice," says Derek Woodbury, public relations manager for the Lakewood, Colo. based organization.
While it's a less lucrative career path, many professionals find it more satisfying.
Johnson, who has been a mobile veterinarian since 1988, is a proponent of natural medicine. He spends much of his working time in the greater Fort Lauderdale, Fla., area administering acupuncture or checking an animal's blood to determine if a change in diet might cure an ailment.
After
giving Poveromo's Boca laser acupuncture treatment to boost her immune system,
Johnson heads to a small slice of rural land in urbanized South Florida. There,
he gives Delilah, a 12-year-old Pointer-pit bull mix, an acupuncture treatment
to ease the pain of collapsed disks that threatened to cripple her.
The dog barely flinches as Johnson sticks needles into her lower back. She seems oblivious to his work as she contentedly buries her head in owner Penny Cohen's lap.
But while Johnson visits Ultimate Farms riding stable weekly for Delilah's treatments, Cohen says she didn't call him because he specializes in natural medicine.
With six dogs and six cats, Cohen and her partner, Sadie Kelly, say they simply got tired of constant veterinary office visits. Kelly looked at Cohen one day and said, "You know, we've got enough animals, they should come to us."
They looked in the phone book last spring and found Johnson; he's been their veterinarian ever since.
Mobile veterinarians are particularly attractive to pet owners, like Cohen and Kelly, who have more than one pet. Rather than load up all their animals, it's easier to have the doctor come to them.
Veterinarians who make house calls must offer clients something they can't get at a traditional veterinary clinic. Veterinary medicine has become extremely competitive, and because mobile veterinarians don't have an office, it's difficult to build a practice. "You can't just do vaccinations. People can go over to PetsMart and get vaccinations," Johnson says. "Having a specialty is key."
But for what mobile veterinarians can do, people are happy the service exists. Bill Rettinger is one of them. The Fort Lauderdale, Fla., man, who is recovering from foot surgery, has a cat, four adult Chihuahuas, and five Chihuahua puppies. "You try to take 10 animals to the vet at once," he says as Johnson arrives to give the puppies their shots. "This is the best thing since sliced bread."