A Simcoe County veterinarian makes getting your pet’s health checked less stressful for owners.
“With our cats, they hate going in the car,” said Jennifer Dolmage.
But a bus is different, especially one that rolls right up to your house.
“So if we can cut out that stressful car ride, it gives us more time, and the animals seem more relaxed,” said Dr. Felicia Uriarte, McLean House Call Veterinary Services owner.
Uriarte purchased the mobile vet clinic in 2008 from the now retired Dr. McLean.
“It was an RV that he had retrofitted,” Uriarte said. “Since then, my husband and I bought this used bus, and he actually ripped the whole thing apart.”
The converted bus has everything you’d expect to see in a regular office, including an exam table, weighing scale and a fridge to store vaccines.
“We certainly do nutritional consults, take blood samples, urine samples, we send them off to a lab for analysis. We don’t do anything like general anesthesia or X-rays on the mobile,” Uriarte explained.
On Friday, 16-year-old Missy saw the vet for urinary problems.
Even though getting a check-up may not be her favorite thing to do, Dolmage says the mobile process is less stressful.
Uriarte works out of the Baywood Animal Hospital one day a week for specific procedures.
The other four days, she’s mobile, traveling as far north as Elmvale, over to Angus and Horseshoe Valley.