Dr. Deirdre Frey visits her dog and cat clients in their homes.

Veterinarian Deirdre Frey had always noticed that animals going into a clinic for treatment or an examination were nervous – some to the point of shaking. That can make things difficult for the dog, the cat and the vet.

Frey was working at Freeport Veterinary Hospital in Freeport when she had an idea.

“There was stress going on, and that’s not the fault of Freeport Veterinary,” Frey said. “Also, it’s hard in a brick-and-mortar building in 20 minutes or so to get past the stress and get to their owners. I wanted to find deeper relationships. That’s where the house-call concept came from.”

Since the first of June, Frey has been operating Vet At Your Door from her home in Durham. Frey has made what she considers “significant investments” in the medications and equipment, such as a microscope and a centrifuge, she needs to run her own veterinary service. She has a Facebook page, utilizes other social media and tells everybody she knows about her new service. Frey is doing five to 10 calls a week with room for more.

Married to Brian Oickle, she gets to stay home with their two young children, Sam, 3 and Miles, 19 months. When mother is on a call, the children stay with a babysitter.

Frey has a large service area, stretching south from the Freeport area to Cape Elizabeth, west to Lewiston and north to Augusta. Vet At Your Door charges general veterinarian fees – $51 for a home visit or exam – plus a trip fee of about $25. She tends to dogs and cats only.

Business is going as well as expected, she said, at this early juncture.

“Really, it’s been word of mouth,” Frey said. “I’ve already had several referrals.”

Vet At Your Door will make weekend or night visits by appointment. Frey cannot do X-rays or surgery in people’s homes; instead, she recommends Freeport Veterinary Hospital for those procedures.

A typical call, Frey said, is for an animal that needs a vaccine, heartworm test, screening, lab work or medications. She does administer to sick animals with medication. Euthanasia is among her duties.

Recently, Frey packed her veterinarian’s bags and shuttled a few miles down the road to Pownal, at the home of her in-laws, Bob and Marilyn Oickle. There was Brady, a healthy 7-year-old Labrador retriever, wagging his tail and happy to see her. No stress – not for the dog, not for Marilyn Oickle.

“I don’t have to get in the car and have him get all excited,” Oickle said. “He gets all excited when he goes to the vet. This is just like another day at home.”

Frey noted that Brady was healthy and trim, and needed an ear wash flush. She prescribed one for Oickle to do, and said earwax is a common problem for dogs.

Skin problems, ear infections and the presence of ticks, which can cause Lyme disease, are issues to watch this time of year, Frey said.

“I definitely am seeing a lot of ticks,” Frey said. “Use good tick protection, and there’s a Lyme vaccine for dogs.”

William Bell, executive director for the Maine Veterinary Medical Association, said that vets doing house calls represents a small trend – something less than 10 percent of the association’s 400 members. The Maine Veterinary Medical Association provides dues-paying members with educational material, brings in speakers and produces a newsletter.

Bell sees a need for vets doing house calls.

“Vets, like any other service, follow trends in the population,” he said. “In Maine we have an increasingly elderly population, and many people are not up to transporting pets. Also, as more people work from home, not leaving home to go to the vet can be an appreciated convenience. We are following our clients’ wishes here.”

Frey, from New Jersey, had first studied to be an engineer in college. She got a programming job in Boston, and liked New England. Frey then went through a sea change, enrolling in veterinary school at the University of Pennsylvania and, at the same time, meeting Oickle, a 1995 graduate of Freeport High School.

“So it was like a straight thing,” she said. “I always wanted to be in Maine and he was from Maine. It was a no-brainer.”

Brady, a 7-year-old Labrador retriever, didn’t have to stray from his kitchen to get his physical on a rainy day last week, as Dr. Deirdre Frey paid a call. Frey recently started her business, Vet At Your Door, P.C. Staff photo by Larry Grard

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