Mobile Vet Squad brings treatment to pets’ homes
Richard Goldstein runs a veterinary business that makes strictly house calls and brings the office to the patient. Goldstein owns and operates Westchester County”™s only mobile veterinarian office, Mobile Vet Squad, which serves cats and dogs that dislike car travel or can”™t get to a traditional office.
Goldstein said he wanted to open his own practice a few years ago. When he saw an advertisement in a trade magazine for a company that makes veterinary trucks. “It was like a light bulb went off,” he said.
Goldstein visited the La Boit Specialty Vehicles Inc. headquarters in Ohio. The company built his custom-designed 26-foot-long Ford E450 truck, which is outfitted with the same equipment as a traditional veterinarian office. Goldstein compares it with the size of a large school bus.
- Richard Goldstein, mobile veterinarian. Photo by Danielle Brody
He said while there are other mobile veterinarian offices on Long Island and in Connecticut, they are more popular in the Midwest and the South. “It”™s kind of a new thing for this area,” he said.
Goldstein got on the road five years ago. He celebrates the Mobile Vet Squad”™s anniversary this month and the growth of the business, which serves patients in southern Westchester and Greenwich, Conn. “We started from scratch,” he said.
Prior to opening his business, the veterinarian had been doing per diem work, while also pursuing theater. Goldstein has combined the two careers, appearing on Animal Planet”™s “Housecat Housecall” and on a weekly segment on WBNG-TV news in Binghamton. Goldstein is a member of numerous veterinarian associations as well as the Actors”™ Equity Association.
Goldstein said the Mobile Vet Squad business has grown every year. He now has more than 500 patients, most of whom use him as their primary veterinarian.
The van benefits animals who feel stressed at the vet”™s office and owners who can”™t take their pet to a traditional office due to lack of transportation or busy schedules, Goldstein said. “I found there were a lot of animals that weren”™t being served,” he said.
Instead of pet owners putting their dogs or cats into the car, then waiting in an office surrounded by other animals, Goldstein shows up outside their homes, and the pets and their owners come aboard the truck. Many owners tell Goldstein their pet bit every other veterinarian except him.
He said owners often offer him and his staff coffee or lunch.
Opening an office in a van instead of a stationary building was not a cost-savings move, or a stepping-stone to a stationary practice, he said. He said he has high overhead and pays the mortgage on the truck and updates equipment. “The equipment is the same, the cost is equivalent to the cost of starting a practice,” he said.
Goldstein is also part mechanic, responsible for fixing the truck on the road.
Goldstein and his two technicians visit five to 10 clients per day. He said they can do anything in the mobile office from a wellness exam to surgery. He also offers X-rays, ultrasounds and vaccinations among other veterinary services. He refers clients who call about emergencies or exotic animals to a stationary veterinarian.
Mobile Vet Squad charges patients a base fee of $150 for the visit, which includes the consultation and exam, travel, gas and tolls. The base fee is standard practice, he said, and he said his price is average in the industry.
Goldstein is certified in treating cats and dogs by the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners. Certified veterinarians, called diplomates, must recertify every 10 years. There are 400 such diplomates nationally and three in Westchester County, including Goldstein.
Getting certified was “more difficult than going to vet school,” Goldstein said. The certification requires additional work after medical school, like writing up multiple cases, he said.
Since starting his business, Goldstein has noticed clients have become more involved in the process and better educated about what”™s going on with their pets.
“They can become part of the conversation because they”™ve done their homework,” Goldstein said. “They understand and they ask questions. I love being able to have that kind of dialogue with the client. They become a more active part of their pet”™s health care.”
Goldstein said he hopes eventually to add another truck to the practice. He doesn”™t have plans for a stationary office. “I like what I do and it fills a need. I think for now I”™d like to stay on the road.”