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HomewardVet

Screenshot from HomewardVet website

Its website today reflects HomewardVet's status as closed.

HomewardVet, a mobile veterinary service franchise in the United States that began operations less than one year ago, permanently closed yesterday.

It is the second mobile veterinary house-call company to shutter in the past year. The Vets abruptly shut down last July. HomewardVet subsequently brought on board veterinarians affected by The Vets' demise.

HomewardVet was run by Mobile Veterinary Specialists (which also goes by MOVES), a company based in North Carolina that, separately, offers a mobile specialist service to general practice clinics.

MOVES wrapped up operations at HomewardVet on Thursday, according to a letter to staff from CEO David Hoe obtained by the VIN News Service.

In the letter, Hoe said that after The Vets' closure, MOVES decided to try a franchise model with HomewardVet.

"After seven months of operating under this structure, we've learned that house call veterinary medicine is not well-suited to a corporate model," Hoe wrote. "Unfortunately, our overhead has proven too high relative to current demand. As a result, we have made the difficult decision to close all markets effective Thursday, April 30."

The operation's website yesterday appeared as before, inviting pet owners to make appointments, but it changed overnight to reflect the closure. "Bad news first," a prominent notice on the homepage reads. "HomewardVet has ceased operations, effective immediately. We know this may feel sudden, and it is completely understandable if you are worried about what comes next for your pet's care."

The notice goes on to refer clients in eight major cities to another newcomer to the veterinary house-call market: BlueSky At-Home. According to Mere Moomaw, a veterinary technician who answered the telephone at BlueSky today, the company launched in December. She estimated it has 30 to 40 employees, 20 to 25 of whom are clinical staff.

Hoe at HomewardVet could not be reached for comment.

A post on the HomewardVet Instagram account dated Sept. 26 said the company had 13 veterinarians. However, it let go a few veterinarians earlier this year, two former employees told VIN News. As of last night, HomewardVet's website listed nine veterinarians. The figures don't account for veterinary technicians who may have worked with the veterinarians.

The closure of HomewardVet appears to be taking place in a more orderly fashion than at The Vets, which disappeared with almost no notice, leaving many staff and clients in the lurch.

Hoe said in his letter that appointments that already were booked would still be honored. Staff also would be paid severance.

"Over the next two weeks, we ask that you begin winding down appointments, preparing supplies for return, and getting your vehicle ready for pickup," he wrote to employees. "We will also be providing a two-week severance to support you during this transition."

Dr. Wendy Koppel

Photo by Jordyn Morrell

Dr. Wendy Koppel is among 13 veterinarians who worked for HomewardVet, a mobile veterinary services company that permanently closed on Thursday. Like most of the company's practitioners, she previously worked for another house-call company, The Vets, which suddenly shuttered last July.

Hoe continued: "For those interested in continuing in the house call space, we will not enforce restrictive covenants and are happy to transition your client list and Google Business page to you. We sincerely appreciate everything you've done and regret that this venture did not succeed as planned."

Dr. Wendy Koppel, one of the nine HomewardVet practitioners listed, said she wasn't entirely surprised by the company's closure, given its exit from several markets earlier in the year, including in her city of Portland, Oregon, which the company left about a month ago.

Like most of HomewardVet's practitioners, Koppel also is a former employee of The Vets, which she had joined in 2024, around the same time The Vets was acquiring another mobile service provider, BetterVet.

"At HomewardVet, we thought it would be easy to pick up the clients from The Vets and BetterVet, and just keep going," Koppel said. "But for whatever reason, that was just not happening."

Another source, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisal from the company, said the veterinarians were expected to do much of their own marketing and didn't always receive enough marketing material from the company. Resourcing for veterinary technicians was sometimes inadequate, they maintained, and management seemed to disregard employees' concerns and suggestions.

"We had many meetings voicing our opinions, and offered constructive criticism — none of which was ever taken seriously or followed through on," the person said.

Koppel said HomewardVet was a bit slow with its marketing, having only joined Google Adwords, a popular online marketing platform, a couple of months ago.

She acknowledged that managing a business can be tough and said that Hoe and other senior managers had tried their best to keep HomewardVet afloat.

"They were trying to get up to speed so quickly and investing in so many markets, I think it just was a little too overwhelming, and he wasn't able to start up at the pace that would help," she said. "And I think he's now pretty convinced — and he may very well be right — that corporate mobile practice is not particularly viable."

Nevertheless, sources said some HomewardVet practitioners have signed up with BlueSky At-Home, the mobile practice group to which HomewardVet is directing clients. Moomaw, the BlueSky veterinary technician, said she's experienced both corporate-owned and independent mobile practices, starting in 1990 with a literal mom-and-pop operation founded by her veterinarian dad, who partnered with her mom to run the business in Dallas.

In Moomaw's estimation, the key to success is letting the clinical staff use their knowledge, skills and judgment to take care of patients and clients, regardless of the business ownership structure.

"Allow your team to do what they do best, and I don't think it really matters whether you're corporate or mom and pop," she said.

Edie Lau contributed to this report.