City Pets - The House Call vets

About us

CityPets is a veterinary house call service for dogs and cats living or working in Manhattan. Started by Dr. Amy Attas in 1992, CityPets has been providing veterinary care to dogs and cats in the comfort of their own homes or owner's offices. The ultimate in excellent care, personalized service and convenience, CityPets cares for the pets of over 3500 families, which means over 7,000 cats and dogs. What is a CityPets house call all about? When CityPets comes to the home of a patient, a veterinarian and a technician arrive supplied with all of the necessary equipment to do the majority of services that your pet might need. We like to think that anything that can be done in an examination room of a veterinary hospital can be done in the comfort of your own home. For example, the annual physical exam including vaccinations, blood tests urine and fecal collection for laboratory analysis can all be taken care of in your home or apartment. When required, other procedures like fluid therapy and cancer treatment can be done in your home. And, sadly, when it is time, euthanasia can be performed at home as well, providing this service in a peaceful humane way. The Physical Examination CityPets is equipped to do a full physical exam on cats and dogs in your own home. We recommend a full physical examination annually for all pets until their senior years. Geriatric pets should be examined at least twice a year. Of course, your pet should be examined whenever s/he is feeling sick or acting abnormally. A CityPets technician will hold your pet while the doctor performs the exam. Your job is to provide an accurate history about your pet's appetite, thirst, energy level, physical appearance and elimination habits. You should inform CityPets about any changes in these events. That information will help the doctors to know which tests on blood, urine or feces should be performed. Our doctors can do venipuncture (taking of blood), cystocentesis (taking of urine)for analysis and culture and obtain feces for multiple types of analysis to determine the cause of your pet's problem. CityPets also carries specialized equipment which can be used if necessary to measure your pet's blood pressure, take an EKG (electrocardiogram), measure your pets' intra-ocular pressure (looking for glaucoma), or determine whether a bump on or under the skin might be malignant or benign (cancerous or not). CityPets does not use anesthesia on pets at home nor does it perform any surgery in the client's home. CityPets reminds you to be vigilant. Any time that there is a change in your pet's appetite, water drinking, a weight gain or weight loss, a difference in behavior or energy level, we should be alerted. This is the way our pets let us know when things are out of balance. If there is a medical problem, the sooner we are alerted, the faster we make the diagnosis and start treatment. Vaccinations CityPets can provide house calls to vaccinate your pets at home. Puppies and kittens can receive their course of shots and then annually for adult dogs and cats. If your pet lives strictly indoors, we will discuss the best vaccination protocol with you. Rabies vaccinations are required by New York law for all pets regardless of whether they go outside or not. We do recommend that indoor pets be vaccinated so that they are protected in the event of a future hospitalization that might be needed for a treatment that cannot be given at home. It could be dangerous to your pets' health to be exposed to other animals in the hospital without having the proper vaccinations in advance. We always tailor your pet's vaccinations to be the least number of shots required to keep them healthy,. If your pet has certain needs, call us and we will customize the vaccinations for them. Always let us know anything that you do with your pet that might be out of the ordinary so that we can do our best to keep them healthy. Travel Certificates Our veterinarians are accredited by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to examine your pet and sign documents required for international travel. In this heightened security time, it has become much more difficult to travel with your pets and we encourage you to contact us to discuss what is required to enter the country you are going to. Some destinations require extensive procedures prior to admission. We encourage you to plan ahead. Sick Pets. When your pet is sick, one of the technicians or doctors with whom you are speaking will help you to decide whether your pet's condition is appropriate for a house call visit. If your pet has a true life threatening emergency we recommend that you go immediately to a veterinary hospital. Some typical examples of what we can see in a client's home are pets who are: anorexic (not eating); are vomiting or have diarrhea; have lost or gained weight; have changes in their water drinking habits; are lethargic; limping; have eye, ear or skin problems, and gum and tooth problems. Emergencies Life threatening or serious emergencies are not appropriate for home visits and these pets should be taken directly to an animal hospital. If your pet is having trouble breathing, is having a seizure, has suffered serious trauma is unconscious or is bleeding uncontrollably, go directly to an animal hospital. If you do not already have a relationship with an animal hospital, the Animal Medical Center has an emergency room that is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. There are always doctors and staff on duty on the premises. The Animal Medical Center (AMC) is located at 510 East 62nd street, between York Avenue and the East River. There is parking on the premises. Call us on route to the hospital and we will make the arrangements for your arrival. You may also call us from the hospital for us to speak directly with the doctors there. Euthanasia (putting your pet to sleep) We hear from many people that if or when it might be time to end a pet's suffering, is a great comfort for both the pet and the owner to remain at home in familiar and comfortable surroundings. The procedure is gentle and painless, and families may be present and involved if they so choose to be. We can also make the arrangements to have your pet be cremated or buried. —Dr. Amy Attas and the staff of City Pets