SCOTTSDALE, AZ -- It's an option many pet owners don't know about, a mobile veterinary service that will come to your home.
For nearly a decade, Dr. Gregg Townsley has been taking his practice, named
Aaron's Ark, on the road.
He said it's all because there's a big need for it here in the Valley.
"People who had pets that just couldn't travel," Dr. Townsley said.
Or if they don't want to travel.
That's how one of his clients, Scottsdale resident Boots Hunt, met Dr. Townsley.
"I had a dog that had lung cancer and I didn't want to put him to sleep in a veterinary office," Hunt said.
Now, she said, her other dogs are much more comfortable walking out the front door for check-ups rather than going to a clinic.
"Rather than in a veterinary office with lots of other dogs around and cats, sometimes birds," she said.
Dr. Townsley said he prides his practice on tender loving care.
"They love the individualized attention," he said, explaining he spends time socializing with the animal rather than pinning it down.
After gaining the animal's trust, he proceeds to do a full exam.
Inside his mobile van, he has a veterinary technician with him to help with EKGs, X-rays, biopsies and dental work, which requires that the animal undergo anesthesia.
Dr. Townsley said he serves Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, North Phoenix and South Cave Creek for a price he said is comparable with any other veterinary hospital.
"Sometimes we have two, three, four neighbors get together," he said. "They can save as much as half on every exam and every vaccine."
Dr. Townsley also has two other stationary offices where he can do major surgeries.
The locations are near the Scottsdale and Deer Valley airports.
