A House Call Practice for Pets

Jackie Pantaliano lives in Voorhees with her husband, her 18-year-old son and their two rescued Cavalier King Charles Spaniel dogs.

When it’s time for Freddy and Lady to receive distemper or rabies vaccinations, Pantaliano makes a phone call to Dr. Lori Duggan, a Moorestown-based veterinarian to set up an appointment—and Duggan, with medical supplies and a paramedic bag, comes to her.

“She gets to see the dogs in their own environment,” says Pantaliano, who juggles a public relations business. “It’s less stressful and a lot easier for me.”

During Colonial times, veterinarians traveled over rutted roads to tend to larger barn animals. Animal hospitals grew in popularity mostly to treat dogs and cats. House calls became more unusual.

Growing up in Pittsburgh, Lori Duggan knew she was going to be a veterinarian. But as an undergraduate student at Allegheny College in Meadville, PA, she discovered she had an aptitude for numbers.

“I started college with a major in biology, but I had an economics class that I really liked,” says Duggan.

After graduating with an economics degree, Duggan worked as a stockbroker in Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Texas for seven years.

“One day, I looked around and saw that everyone around me loved money,” recalls Duggan, 44, who now lives in Mount Laurel. “And, I realized that I had not fulfilled my dream.”

At the age of 30, Duggan finished a year of pre-requisites required for veterinary school and sent an application to the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, one of the country’s top-rated schools for animal medicine.

“I never dreamed I would be accepted,” Duggan says. But, she was. “It was not an easy task returning to school for four years.”

In the last 30 years more women have enrolled in veterinary schools across the country. Last year, women held 78 percent of the veterinary school seats, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.

New Jersey does not have any veterinary schools.

For six years, Duggan worked at Animal & Bird Healthcare, a center specializing in avian and exotic healthcare, in Cherry Hill, where Duggan treated a rabbit that Pantaliano owned.

During the last two years, Duggan saw a need for animal house calls and outfitted her sport utility vehicle to resemble a paramedic’s van, carrying syringes, stethoscopes and monitors.

The veternarian was capitalizing on a growing trend. House-call veterinary practices, or mobile veterinary services, have been growing in popularity.

Mostly women have been the driving forces in recent years, mainly to fulfill a desire to be available for their children and to maintain a career. Likewise, they are the bulk of Duggan’s clients.

“Many of my clients are stay-at-home moms,” Duggan says, who is married and also a mother of two preschool children. “For a mom to get the kids and the animals into the car and bring them to a clinic is a lot of work. I saw a real need in the area for a mobile vet service.”

Pet-owning senior citizens sometimes can’t handle the nervous pooch that yanks uncontrollably on a lease each time a visit to the veterinarian is scheduled, adds Duggan. As well, older dogs with hip problems have trouble stepping into a car. And, most cats go crazy when they travel.

Duggan makes house calls weekdays and every other Saturday in Burlington and Camden counties, but has traveled as far north as Princeton, and as far south as Cape May.

Once a week Duggan performs surgeries in a medical van equipped with an operating room-like setting in a partnership she has with the Atlantic County SPCA.

“Lori is not just a good doctor, she is compassionate and caring,” says Pantaliano.

Pantaliano sought Duggan’s advice when she was researching dog breeds. She wanted a breed that would be affectionate and eager to please her son, Steven, who has Asperger’s syndrome.

“She connected with my son and helped us make the right choice for our family,” says Pantaliano.

Although Duggan is a general practitioner, she has a special interest in reptiles and birds and is one of the only local doctors who will make house calls for them.

“Birds in particular have behavior problems,” Duggan says.

Duggan also has a mobile petting zoo, “Party Animals to Go,” that includes Layla, a pygmy goat, and Felix, a 50-pound Sulcata tortoise that made local news last year when he wandered from home and took a walk on Centerton Road in Mount Laurel.

“I’ve always enjoyed having multiple and unusual animals,” Duggan says.

House calls are a base fee of $50, regardless of the number of pets. Duggan also offers euthanasia services.

“No owner wants to have to euthanize a pet, but sometimes it comes to that decision,” Duggan says thoughtfully. “It is much easier on an owner to relieve an animal’s suffering in the home.”