Photo courtesy of Pets After Sunset
HO'Ward Swimmer met his wife through his best friend Dixie Ray. A Hungarian herding dog had a chipped tooth that needed to be repaired. Point Her Breeze Veterinary Clinic's Dr. Caroline Simard took on this challenge.
Now the whole family is smiling and wagging their tails, including their new puppy, Mabel Z.
The couple launched Pets After Dark in January to give fellow animal owners peace of mind when their furry friends get sick or injured in the middle of the night. Instead of Googling your symptoms and hoping they get better, you can call us from 7pm to midnight Monday through Friday and 8am to midnight Saturday and Sunday.
Within minutes, the telemedicine network connects subscribers who pay a monthly fee to their veterinarian or a colleague who knows the veterinarian and has access to an animal's medical summary. It then performs an audio or video evaluation and provides recommendations. The service also guarantees an in-office appointment for the subscriber's dog to be seen the next business day.
We have 20 local veterinarians on our roster, with new vets added approximately every 10 days. The Fox Chapel residents hope to expand the network throughout Pennsylvania and eventually nationwide.
It is an alternative service to existing pet emergency clinics in the area, including Avets Specialty & Emergency Trauma Center in Monroeville and BluePearl Pet Hospital Pittsburgh North emergency services on Camp Horne Road in Ohio Township.
Dr. Simard Swimmer, who has been practicing veterinary medicine for 20 years, said the most common calls he receives are related to pre- and post-operative care and poisoning situations, such as when a dog gets into an owner's medicine or stash of hidden chocolate. Some new pet owners call to confirm that their pup's late-night zoomy incidents are normal behavior. Simard Swimmer, who owns a rambunctious Australian shepherd at home, assures them that's the case.
Born and raised in Montreal, Simard Swimmer was encouraged to follow in his father's footsteps and become a doctor for humans, but found hospitals depressing. Caring for her dogs and cats was and continues to be her passion.
Before moving to Pittsburgh, she worked at Montreal's first 24-hour veterinary hospital and saw first-hand the lengths people go to to keep their pets healthy and happy.
“I understand how it feels to be so attached to your pet,” says Simard Swimmer, who was wearing paw print earrings during the interview. “I know how they feel. We don't have kids, we have a dog.”
As more people adopted animals and worked from home during the pandemic, pet emergency room visits soared and demand for compassionate care increased. People flocked to pet stores to seek veterinary advice and buy medicines by mail order.
Simard Swimmer says that this is a mentally taxing profession, so many people choose less stressful jobs.
With Pets After Dark, which includes blogs and social media content about animals, she hopes to create a network of hope not just for animals, but for the humans who care for them.
A few years ago, when the couple broadcast their backyard ceremony to their families via Zoom, Justice of the Peace stopped mid-sentence when they realized Simard Swimmer was the veterinarian who had been caring for their dying dog. .
Having empathy is an important part of the profession, she says. In that respect, humans can learn a lot from animals.
“Dogs are the most empathetic souls,” she says. “They make you feel good.”
