Kaitlyn Dunnett/Kathy Lynn Emerson here. Yes, you read that title correctly—it’s from, not to. In my part of Maine, we have a veterinarian who makes house calls. No more packing three cats (or, once upon a time, four cats and a dog) into carriers for a twenty-minute drive. Ever try to stuff a cat into a cat carrier when he didn’t want to go? Not fun.
It is so much more pleasant to make an appointment with Maine Woods Mobile Vet. She brings what she needs with her and uses our kitchen island as an examining table. The cats, of course, are suspicious, but it’s easier to catch them and carry them one by one to the kitchen (a place with very good associations for them!) than to subject them to imprisonment, a ride in the car, and all those strange animal smells at the other end. They still have to submit to being poked and prodded and given their shots, but the worst is over in a matter of minutes and they’re free again, in their own house, spared the indignity of yet another confinement for the trip home.
It’s easier on “Mom” too. Fewer scratches. No carriers to clean and store afterward. And best of all, I don’t get what my mother used to call “the hairy eyeball” from three ticked off kitties.
Kathy Lynn Emerson/Kaitlyn Dunnett is the author of over fifty books written under several names. She won the Agatha Award in 2008 for best mystery nonfiction for How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries and was an Agatha Award finalist in 2014 in the best mystery short story category for “The Blessing Witch.” Currently she writes the contemporary Liss MacCrimmon Mysteries (The Scottie Barked at Midnight) as Kaitlyn and the historical Mistress Jaffrey Mysteries (Murder in the Merchant’s Hall) as Kathy. The latter series is a spin-off from her earlier “Face Down” series and is set in Elizabethan England. Her websites are www.KaitlynDunnett.com and www.KathyLynnEmerson.com
Kait Carson
Charlene D’Avanzo 
Great pictures, Kathy! My husband used to don reinforced field pants and leather gauntlets before trying to force Merlin the Great into his cat carrier. Nonetheless, blood was always shed, and it wasn’t Merlin’s.
Sounds familiar!
We, too have one of those wonderful traveling vets! Dr. Miller of the Village Vet in Steuben is wonderful. And you are correct, it is much easier than stuffing a cat in a carrier or worse putting a dog who hates to ride in a car for a trip to a strange place with other animal smells. There is a special place in heaven for traveling vets!
Glad to know there are more out there. It’s certainly a blessing for both animals and their owners.
When I lived on Peaks Island there was a Portland-based vet who motored across Casco Bay in a specially-fitted-out boat a couple of times a month. Pet owners brought their cats and dogs down to the dock and boarded the boat (by appointment) for checkups and shots and the like. So the cat still had to be tricked into a carrier, but at least was spared the round-trip ferry ride and car ride.
I believe this vet still does this. Like your Maine Woods Mobile Vet, it is a great service!
I can’t even imagine having to take a cat on a ferry ride to reach a vet. For most being in a car is traumatic enough.
Wicked!
Traveling vets are such a blessing. My vet in Maine, although office based, did make house calls, so I had the best of both worlds in those panicked moments when you know something is wrong and you think catching and caging the cat will make it worse. Thank you Chris Yule for always being there!
I have a traveling vet. I could no more get the cat in her carrier than fly. But Doctor Susan manages it every time. She tames my little hot head very quickly She’s very available which is great. It is so much nicer to have her around here.
Thanks to everyone who shared a story. It’s so encouraging to know there are so many vets willing to make that extra effort to keep pets’ anxieties at a minimum.