GENEVA – Sometimes scheduling a veterinarian appointment for a dog or cat is inconvenient and traumatic for the animal, a situation which led Joe Waltman to launch VetPronto – where mobile veterinarians come to the home.
Based in San Francisco, Waltman said the company, which launched three years ago, expanded to 11 cities, and since Thanksgiving is now in Chicago and the suburbs, including Kane County.
“I’m not a vet,” Waltman said. “I’m a software person. Two of us are software [persons], and a third is a veterinarian.”
It costs $150 for the house call, Waltman said, with prices ranging from $25 for a single vaccine to $400 for euthanasia.
Waltman said the mobile vet service is not only more convenient, it’s less stressful for the animals, as they get to stay in their home.
“Instead of having to inconvenience yourself by sitting at the vet’s office, the vet makes time to see you,” Waltman said. “You can schedule online or by phone or with smartphone apps. Everything that can be done in an exam room at the vet hospital can be done this way – diagnostics, any shots or minor procedures.”
The service is not recommended for emergencies, such as being hit by a car or extreme illness, he said.
About one-third of the mobile vet company’s visits are for wellness and preventative care, and two-thirds are for sick animals, he said.
Since launching just before Thanksgiving, Waltman said the mobile service has responded to three appointments in Geneva and two in Batavia.
One of the company’s mobile veterinarians, Dr. Vanessa Yeager, also has her own vet house-call service, called Full Circle Animal Health Care, which she started in 2015.
“What I see for VetPronto and for Full Circle is … more wellness and vaccines and basic diagnostics,” Yeager said. “We do more of that and less of ‘my dog’s throwing up.’”
More information is available by visiting www.vetpronto.com or www.fullcircleanimals.com.