Helping Pets Beyond the Typical Vet Experience

HOMOSASSA – Kimberly Simon clutched her small dog Chuy tight. He had just received fluids, a regular necessity due to his renal failure.

Last April, Simon believed Chuy had suffered a stroke. Fortunately, he hadn’t, but that’s when she found Diane Poulin and Pawsome Pet Care.

“She got him through that. I swear to God, she saved his life. I thought he was a goner,” Simon said. “What had to be done for him and what still has to be done for him, I’m not capable of doing.

“… He goes to a vet in Spring Hill. Taking him out and all that distance back and forth every other day or every day, it would just be a nightmare for him. So she comes (to Simon’s home). He loves her and we love her. She’s just awesome.”

Like most doctor’s offices, veterinarians typically operate five days a week on an 8 a.m.-5 p.m. schedule, and they’re limited in their ability to help pets and their owners with care beyond diagnosis and procedures.

Poulin, a veterinary nurse who lives in Homosassa but worked for several years at the Animal Care Center of Weeki Wachee, is doing her best to fill in the gaps. She began Pawsome Pet Care as a mobile pet care service at the start of 2024 and on Jan. 6, she opened an office located at 10990 South Suncoast Blvd. (U.S. 19).

Though technically located in Homosassa, the office is roughly a mile north of the Hernando-Citrus border, just south of the intersection of U.S. 19 and U.S. 98 in the area of Sugarmill Woods. While Pawsome aims to serve both counties, Poulin said the majority of her clients come from Hernando due to her connections made working there.

“I moved here in 2017. My mom was actually dying and that’s how I started this whole thing,” Poulin said. “I was taking care of her and I had the home health aides coming to the house helping me, and the hospice people, just with bed and aftercare and things like that. After she passed, I thought, what a great thing to do for animals.”

Backed by the support of Dr. Ronald Cooper at Animal Care Center, she began helping his clients with aftercare, including coming in on Fridays when the office was closed.

“That’s kind of where the whole idea came together. I’m like, ‘Well, I could do this all the time,’” Poulin said. “People need it. Sometimes, I have people calling me at 2-3 o’clock in the morning, and it’s just a matter of ‘Hey, something doesn’t look right.’

“Or sometimes people just want to talk. You know, ‘My dog broke his nail this morning, what am I going to do?’ And I’m just there to talk. I’m just a listening voice to try to help people when I can.”

However, Pawsome offers many more services than merely answering questions. Poulin does grooming, boarding, pet sitting, pet walking, hospice care, and even housecleaning related to pet cleanup. Of course, she also puts her 25 years of experience as a vet tech to use to provide medical care.
Poulin still works in conjunction with Dr. Cooper and the Animal Care Center for all issues that require an in-person visit with a veterinarian. But after the Providing Equity in Telehealth Services (PETS) Act came into effect in Florida on July 1, Pawsome was able to provide telehealth services. Poulin has been working with Dr. Chrissy Mamone out of Jupiter.

“I think it’s a huge game-changer because we have a lot of animals that become fractious or fearful and nervous and try to bite when they’re in a clinic setting for certain things,” Dr. Mamone said. “Not vaccines, but like an ear infection or UTI or upper respiratory, something that we can treat through telehealth. I think we’re getting a lot more pets treated that otherwise would not be because they’re getting the stress out of going to the clinic.

“… When there is an ear infection, (Poulin) can swab ears, she can look at it under a microscope because she’s skilled in that aspect. So she can get me answers and I can appropriately, 100% treat for most things. So it really is helpful to have someone on the ground versus just an owner telling me a history.”

For many of those owners, the amount of care necessary for sick or aging pets can prove nearly impossible if they themselves are elderly or battling illness.

Don Whippie already has time constraints running his business, DW Timber Frame Design. But being on chemotherapy has also forced him to take precautions with a compromised immune system. So he was delighted when Poulin moved into her new location, which just happens to sit in front of Chassa Oaks RV Resort, where he lives.

“Because of my health issues, it gets hard for me,” Whippie said. “I have three Maine Coon cats that are very large, and it was hard for me to get them for grooming and I was getting behind. So I got in touch with Diane and she explained the services she was going to provide. We made an immediate appointment, and she was able to help me out with my grooming and actually the vaccinations for a couple of the cats.

“… This is priceless. Again, because of my health I can’t go sometimes to the veterinary hospitals and so forth. To have her as a transporter and a professional in this field, it’s great. It’s amazing a lot of things she can actually do here in her office. So it’s very valuable to me.”

Rob and Judy Jenson of Weeki Wachee met Poulin at the Animal Care Center and began having her come to their home when they traveled for work to look after their two dogs Rosie and Bobo.

“It’s hard to find somebody that you can trust to come stay at your home and live with your dogs, take care of them,” Rob Jenson said. “They’re our babies, they’re our kids. So it’s hard to find somebody that you trust.”

“There’s not too many people out there like Diane, that’s for sure,” Judy Jenson said.

Originally, Poulin figured she’d semi-retire and do a couple of housesitting jobs like she had done for the Jensons. But the business kept growing and she joked that she hadn’t had a day off all last year.

“It’s been amazing, the outpouring from people,” Poulin said. “I think that most of the people that come to us, they become family. We’re really good with follow-up care and making sure everybody’s OK.

“It’s more of a family-oriented thing than when you go into an office. Not saying that the veterinarians aren’t, they’re busy. We can give that little bit of edge, like going to your home and checking on them, whatever it might be.”

The business has become so successful in a year that she felt she needed a more central location than her own home, where clients would show up even in the middle of the night.

She did a Google search revealing that 5,700 cars pass by the location in front of Chassa Oaks RV Resort and it’s only a 12-mile drive straight south down U.S. 19 to Animal Care Center.

“At least now people can come here and I’ve got the girls here. If I’m out doing a call at somebody’s house, we can start handling the overflow,” Poulin said.

Victoria Sullivan and Alina Adams are working with Poulin at Pawsome Pet Care, and she credited her husband Rodney for providing financial support through his work as a truck driver. She noted she also leans heavily on her friend and roommate Loretta Bitterman, as well as Charles Huff, a friend from her home state of Virginia who handles the accounting.

“It definitely makes a big difference when someone is willing to cover 24 hours a day and when someone is willing to come to your house, it makes a huge difference,” Huff said. “I’ve gone through losing a pet in the last 12 months and I wish I had been close to Diane so she could have helped me out with it.

“I think the main advantage is someone accessible more than the veterinarian is, but has the years of experience that the veterinarian has to discern what needs to be done next. So often pet owners don’t have that advice at hand and if you haven’t had a history with animals, you can’t make the right decision, and she’s there to do that.”

In addition to being available 24/7, Poulin tries to keep her services as an affordable alternative to expensive emergency rooms or overnight care at a vet’s office. A telehealth visit with a doctor is $85 and $130 on weekends, but a house call with only a nurse is $50 or $75 after hours between 5-9 p.m.

Among the many other additional services, transport fees range from $35-75 depending on the miles, bathing prices go from $27.50-65 based on weight, grooming goes from $52-80, boarding ranges from $34-60, and medical aftercare boarding goes from $75 and up. Poulin stressed that she’s willing to work with pet owners on plans for payment.

For additional information, to inquire about services or to just seek out help, contact Pawsome Pet Care at 352-423-2220, [email protected] or pawsomepetcare.biz.

“I already feel like I’ve helped so many people. I’ve made so many friends. This is what I wanted, I’m happy,” Poulin said. “I’m not out to make a million dollars. What I would like is to kind of leave a legacy. I’m 57 years old. I was planning on this was going to be something where I retire. I hope the girls take it and it becomes something great where we help all of Hernando and Citrus County and franchise somewhere.

“It’s not about the money. It’s about the people. They’re like family to me now. My mom and dad are gone. I just like helping people. I think we all do. That’s what it’s all about.”