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Vet’s Here celebrating a decade of helping animals Founder hopes to make mobile vet clinics 'a thing' By Raiza Giorgi
publisher@santaynezvalleystar.com
S
anta Ynez native Autumn Fanning knew from the age of 11 that she wanted to be a veterinarian. She had always had a connection to animals and wanted to help them. She is now celebrating 10 years with her mobile veterinary practice Vet’s Here, and hoping to take her idea more nationally, advocating for more mobile vet clinics. “I grew up raising goats and riding horses and just had this love for animals. It made sense that I would do a job that would heal them,” Fanning said. Growing up in the Santa Ynez Valley, Fanning participated in Santa Ynez 4-H and in Future Farmers of America at Santa Ynez Valley Union High School before transferring to Dunn School and graduating in 1999. Fanning then went through an accelerated bachelor’s program at Oregon State University, got accepted to its veterinary school and graduated with a dual degree from Oregon and Washington State University in general veterinary practice. “I met my former husband, Josh, during that time and his career took him to the military, being stationed in Hawaii, so I got my first vet job in Hawaii. It was awful,” she laughed sarcastically.
Photos by Daniel Dreifuss Santa Ynez native Autumn Fanning knew from the age of 11 that she wanted to be a veterinarian and is now celebrating 10 years with her mobile vet clinic Vet's Here.
"I grew up raising goats and riding horses and just had this love for animals. It made sense that I would do a job that would heal them," said Vet's Here founder Autumn Fanning
Being a large animal veterinarian means making sure your horse clients are properly cared for with regular teeth examinations.
They had their first child in Hawaii and realized the importance of having family close so they decided to move back to the valley. It was then that Fanning got the idea for a mobile veterinary practice. “I kept seeing the stress levels of the animals and their owners go up when having to come into the office,” she said. “Try moving a cat around in a crate, it’s a traumatic experience for everyone involved.” Fanning and her parents invested together, getting a delivery truck outfitted for veterinary practice, and took her show on the road. “I realized early on this was really the new way to do veterinary work because going to the clients home really lowered the stress levels of the animal and the owner and getting to see the environment around them,” she said. As her family was growing within the first two years, Fanning took on another veterinarian and she got a second truck. In 2017 she secured a group of investors that helped her expand her mobile service to the Los Angeles area of Newbury Park and Woodland Hills with two additional trucks and veterinarians. “I have four vets with me now, and hopefully will get two more to handle the workload as there is a shortage in veterinarians,” Fanning said. She attributed the cause to the recession in 2008-09 when several veterinary schools closed and never catching back up. “The salary for vets then was also way lower VET'S HERE CONTINUED TO PAGE 26
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