EDITOR'S NOTE: Multimedia Journalist Anna Albaryan spoke with Dr. Sy Woon about the new mobile vet service. Click the arrow above to watch the video.

LOS ANGELES — A growing veterinary service that brings the doctor to your home has reached Los Angeles, setting down roots with plans to expand.

The Vets service launched earlier this year, sending doctors across 15 U.S. markets and charging check-up fees that are roughly market rate.

The Los Angeles hub opened about two months ago and includes a doctor, technician and city manager, who can help coordinate appointments and process paperwork.

“You notice a difference as a pet owner right away just in terms of how calm they are,” said Lella Rafferty, The Vets chief marketing officer. “It’s just a more stress-free, fear-free way of doing it.”

The veterinary industry has undergone a series of changes in the last several years as demand for services has increased, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association, with a particular strain on emergency services.

Shelters have been a key source of rising numbers of dogs and cats, with fewer people surrendering their animals during the pandemic, according to AVMA. 

The industry has long struggled with staff shortages, with Mars Veterinary Health projecting a shortage of 15,000 vets by 2030. Fears over COVID-19 also hit vet clinic staffing, as some left their jobs instead of work in a confined space.

Rafferty said these changes in the industry have made it easy to hire.

“We’re keeping veterinarians in the profession as opposed to them leaving or just going to another clinic,” she said.

Vets can often see 20 pets in a day, with The Vets usually seeing between six and eight. By shifting paperwork duties away from the doctors, Rafferty said their employees enjoy more time to concentrate on pets. By launching a mobile service, the company avoids the associated costs of a clinic and equipment.

Those services are the basics, such as regular checkups or consultations that specialists often require before they will accept a pet for an appointment. The Vets will administer shots, but not more involved procedures, like biopsies. The company recently started offering at-home euthanasia.

The company, which has engineering staff in Israel, and vet care hubs in the U.S. and Canada, targeted Los Angeles because of the vast population in Southern California. The city, known for its traffic, has a client base large enough to support the $75 travel fee.

Next? The company wants to add more vets to the LA market.

“Obviously, we see huge potential,” Rafferty said.