The patient is young, and squirming. After all, what two-year-old enjoys the ritual of annual inoculations and the needles that go with it.
“All right, we’re done torturing,” says Dr. Rachel Fishman.
Dr. Fishman happens to be a veterinarian, the medical director of VetCare Animal Hospital. Her patient is a young and feisty terrier named Boci.
VetCare’s clinic, on this day, is in a multipurpose room at Kavod Senior Life. VetCare’s crew of three —Fishman, Dr. Dana Waldbaum and technician James Jensen — serves those senior citizens who cannot transport their loved one out of the building.
“It certainly feels good to give back to a community and to be able to give them a service that they might not be able to have otherwise,” says Fishman.
“A lot of the residents aren’t mobile. They can’t come to a vet clinic often, or at all.
“So bringing it to them really helps.”
Bonnie Rice is Boci’s human.
“One of the greatest things about staying here is having such a wonderful veterinary service,” Rice says. “Kind and knowledgeable doctors, and I don’t have to go out in the snow or the rain.
“It’s a great gift.”
Boci is one of eight dogs and cats with veterinary appointments on this day, which is, indeed, quite the mitzvah.
Fishman’s love of animals began when she was three years old.
“Like everybody’s story, I wanted to be a vet,” says Fishman. “Loved animals, I had bunnies growing up, and dogs and fish.
“I had two rabbits who had baby rabbits. I remember the mother rabbit throwing her babies out of the cage. She just didn’t know how to be a mother. I sat there as a little girl having to help her nurse these baby little bunnies. I think that probably solidified it for me.”
Fishman attended the University of Maryland and received her veterinary training at Mississippi State. She’s been a veterinarian for nine years, and aside from dogs and cats, Fishman takes pride in her work with exotic animals.
“Hedgehogs, reptiles, birds,” Fishman lists.
“I had an amazing mentor when I first started, and he would say for reptiles in particular, they are slow to get sick and slow to get better.
“I think that’s really a tried and true statement in this day and age. Everything is immediate gratification. You just have to remember their metabolisms are slower and you have to keep everybody’s expectations with that in mind.”
Humans would be well served to heed that advice for their own care.
Fishman, 39, has been at VetCare for four years, working alongside Dr. Steve Feldman and four other veterinarians. The visit to Kavod is only once a month, but it is a memorable human-animal experience.
“Keeping them (humans) healthy is this community’s lifeline, right?” says Fishman. “They might not have a partner anymore. They might not have anyone else who lives with them daily except their animal. Is that daily companionship? Yeah.
“So being able to take care and make sure that that animal is healthy — healthy for their owners is so important, so they can live long, happy lives.”
Research shows that pet companionship can help human stress, lower human blood pressure and reduce stress.
“It’s nice to watch a puppy grow and see that the owner and that puppy come back multiple times,” Fishman says. “If you’re a pediatrician, maybe that doctor will age out of that patient, and you don’t see the whole lifespan of that patient.
“A veterinarian gets to see that whole lifespan.”
Boci has exited the makeshift clinic at Kavod. The next pup, Cooper, follows. An 80 lb. dog, Wyatt, is on the day’s docket. A cat, also named Baby Cat, proves to be the least cooperative, tearing a hole in Jensen’s protective gear. For the record, Fishman says the most troublesome breed of dog to treat is the chihuahua.
“I’m not scared of a doberman,” Fishman says, “but give me a chihuahua and I might be terrified.”
At Kavod, a grant from a donor pays for VetCare’s veterinary services, while the animal’s owners pay for blood work or other diagnostics.
At the end of the day, after seeing eight patients, Waldbaum, Jensen and Fishman pack up their array of containers of medicines and veterinary apparatus, including the variety of treats sometimes needed to entice their patients, and to reward them, as well.
Fishman says: “It’s really nice that the grant someone has given to Kavod has maybe been life changing for some of the owners here.”
Perhaps for their furry friends, too.
© IJN 2026
