Today's Veterinary Practice

NOV-DEC 2015

Today's Veterinary Practice provides comprehensive information to keep every small animal practitioner up to date on companion animal medicine and surgery as well as practice building and management.

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Today's VeTerinary PracTice | november/december 2015 | tvpjournal.com The Back Page: VeTerinary VieWPoinTs 104 The House Call Veterinarian an interview with dr. karen Fine Do you ever wonder how many pets are never seen by a veterinarian because clients are unable, or choose not to go through the stress involved, to bring them into a veterinary practice? Consider the role of the veterinarian who makes house calls, especially for cats. Although pet cats outnumber dogs in the U.S. by 15 million, it is estimated that only half as many cats as dogs are presented to veterinarians. In this interview, Karen Fine, DVM, CVA, shares her experiences as a house call veterinarian. Dr. Fine graduated from Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine and opened her own house call practice— Fine Veterinary House Calls—based in Worcester, Massachusetts. Dr. Fine is certifed in veterinary acupuncture and mentors many veterinarians in this discipline. Her special interests include holistic treatment of geriatric conditions and cancer. What motivated you to become a house call veterinarian? My grandfather was a physician who performed house calls as part of his practice in South Africa; his career planted the idea of eventually having my own house call practice. When my grandfather died during my senior year of veterinary school, I inherited his doctor bag and ophthalmoscope, which I still use today. I soon discovered that I loved small animal medicine, but after a rough start as a new grad, which involved working in two troubled practices, I decided to try a combination of home visits and clinic work. Twenty years later, I am very happy with this combination and continue to work part time at the wonderful Central Animal Hospital in Leominster, Massachusetts. What are the benefts of a house call business, both for yourself and your clients? One of the main benefts for me is fexibility—I have control over my schedule! I also really enjoy the close relationships I've developed with my clients and patients. In fact, I have several subsets of clients, such as those with elderly or fearful cats, multiple animals, and reactive dogs. I've taken on patients that typically seizure at a clinic or have diarrhea in the car. Also, people who cannot drive appreciate the independence that home visits provide. My clients often say, "I don't know what I'd do without you," and "You make this so much easier for me," which is greatly rewarding. Home visits enhance my ability to assess each patient's lifestyle and quality of life. Rather than clients telling me what color bags their pets' food comes in, I can see frsthand what and how they are feeding their pets. I also observe important things in the home environment; for example, Peanut the Shih Tzu, whose owner called because the dog was urinating off his normal newspapers. When I arrived, I noticed an enormous new planter right next to the newspaper, dwarfng the poor dog. We moved the planter, and Peanut immediately went over and urinated on the newspaper. What are the biggest challenges related to developing and maintaining a house call business? Someone once told me that the currency of a house call practice is time, and I fnd that to be true. It is a defnite challenge to speak to every client myself, book every appointment myself, and do all my own paperwork. Some house call practitioners have support staff, but I grew my practice slowly and became accustomed to doing everything myself. Keeping things small allows me to maintain fexibility for both myself and my clients, but there are times I miss the support staff of a clinic. Continued on page 102

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