Pioneer

Pet care where it's needed

Vet, clients find mobile clinic is a low stress experience
Originally Published: Monday, January 22, 2001
Used with Permission

DAISY NGUYEN STAFF WRITER
At 68, Dr. Henry Philmon could be enjoying his retirement and taking life in stride.
Instead, the veterinarian from Mound hits the road regularly to visit his clients and their pets where they live. Driving around the western suburbs of Minneapolis in a van emblazoned with the sign "M.A.S.H." -- mobile animal surgical hospital -- Philmon does routine checkups, vaccinations, dental cleaning and de-clawing for animals.
For the past three years, Philmon has been operating out of his custom-designed van that is loaded with a surgical table, cages, oxygen and nitrogen tanks, and X-Ray equipment.
A mild-mannered man with a soothing voice, Philmon said he enjoys working out of his van more than in a hospital clinic because it's "easy going and not stressful.
"I don't have property to worry about, I don't have a staff that I have to constantly train because of the high turnover rate and I set my own schedule."
Philmon said some veterinarians make house calls -- say to visit animals too large to transport -- but 11 years ago he came up with the idea of visiting all his patients. At the time he had just returned from California where he was planning to set up practice until the Oct. 17, 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake hit Northern California. It made him change his mind.
"I thought, the weather is not the best in Minnesota but at least there are no earthquakes here,'' he said with a chuckle. "Besides, I had business acquaintances and a client base here."
When Philmon returned to Minnesota, he began making house calls by operating out of his station wagon and sports car. Soon enough, the business grew from word-of-mouth and he needed a bigger and better equipped van.
Philmon said having a mobile animal clinic lets him spend more time with his clients.
"Usually after examinations, I have lunch with my clients and enjoy their companionship," he said. The clients he has known for 20 years, Philmon said, "are the types you don't want to lose."
Jan Walkovets of Edina is one of his valuable customers. Since 1980, Philmon has taken care of six of her pulik -- Hungarian sheep dogs with thick, woolly coats hanging in long thick cords.
On a recent visit, Philmon gave Fruska, one of Walkovets's canines, a teeth cleaning and a minor surgery -- removal of a cyst the size of a marble growing on top of her head.
Outside of the routine animal treatments, Philmon also offers euthanasia at home. Putting a pet down at home lessens the trauma of the experience for both the pet and its owner, he said.
"For a pet lover, there is no decision more difficult than authorizing euthanasia," he said. "Many people don't want their pets' last act on earth to be at a hospital, a place they don't want to be. I like to give them a different option."
Philmon has put down three of Walkovets's six dogs.
"The last one, we sat on the floor and did it and shared a box of Kleenex afterwards," Walkovets said. "It's an extremely difficult decision to put your dog to sleep." (Philmon) makes an extremely difficult time easier. He's a very kind person with a compassionate attitude.
"He was wonderful the first time I met him," she recalled. "He got on the floor and talked to my dogs before putting them on a table. I decided then that he would be my vet for life.
"I told him; if he moved to Japan I'd follow him."
Fortunately for her, Philmon will likely stay put.
"I have fun and I'm going to do this as long as I'm physically capable of doing it," he said.