All Total Vet locations
Plain-spoken vets, parked in your driveway

A Vet Visit
Without The Production

Total Vet brings veterinarians to houses across Polk County, from the brick streets of Sherman Hill out to the newer additions past Merle Hay. Nothing about a routine checkup should require rearranging a whole afternoon — so we do it in your front room while the kettle is on.

Call (860) 321-8463
Licensed DVM Fear-Free Certified Fully Equipped
Veterinarian crouching beside a corgi on the oak floor of a Des Moines foursquare home with green summer trees outside

Mobile vet services in Des Moines

A properly stocked vehicle turns up at the house, and everything on this list happens without you getting in a car at all.

Wellness Exams

The full yearly check, done slowly, with weight and dental grading written down each visit so the changes that creep up over three years are easy to see.

Vaccinations

Rabies as required, and beyond that only what your animal's actual routine warrants — a dog at Water Works most mornings needs more cover than one that never leaves the yard.

Sick Visits

Ears that keep flaring, a limp after an icy walk, a cat that has stopped using the box properly. Assessed at home, with treatment started before we leave.

Diagnostics & Labs

Blood panels, urine samples, skin and ear cytology, and yearly heartworm testing — collected at the house and run from the vehicle so we can talk it through in person.

End-of-Life Care

Quality-of-life visits when you are not sure, and a peaceful goodbye at home when you are. No last car journey, and the arrangements afterwards made for you.

Telehealth

Video follow-ups for animals we already know, which is exactly what you want in January when a recheck should not mean scraping a windscreen.

Front porch to front room, across Des Moines

Total Vet veterinarian arriving at the covered front porch of a Beaverdale house in Des Moines

Up the porch steps

Veterinarian examining a dog on the floor of a Des Moines living room during a house call

Living-room workup

Total Vet mobile veterinary vehicle parked in a Des Moines driveway on a summer afternoon

In the driveway

From Highland Park down to Easter Lake, the appointment happens where the animal already lives, which turns a half-day errand into something you fit between other things without much thought.

0
cold-morning car rides to make an appointment
100%
of the visit given to your household alone
45+
steady minutes at the kitchen counter

Why Des Moines pet owners choose us

Traditional Clinic

  • Loading a reluctant dog into a cold car in January
  • Sitting in a lobby while your cat yowls in the carrier
  • Taking a half day off for a fifteen-minute appointment
  • Rescheduling because a storm shut the school and the office
  • Starting the whole history over with a new face

Total Vet Mobile Care

  • Nobody warms up a car to get to the vet
  • The cat stays put and the dog greets us at the door
  • One clinician who remembers last year's numbers
  • Appointment windows fitted around a working day
  • Notes, refills and paperwork done before we drive off

Caring for pets in Des Moines

Four hard seasons in one year: salted streets and frozen paws in January, ticks in the river timber by May, and a stretch of August humidity that catches thick-coated dogs out every single summer.

Cold is a real limit

Short-coated and older dogs lose heat fast below freezing, and salted pavement splits pads on top of it. Keep winter outings brief and rinse the feet when you come back in.

Ticks along the rivers

The timber following the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers holds a heavier tick population than open ground does, so prevention matters here from early spring right through the autumn.

Room by the water

Water Works Park gives this city an enormous amount of green, Gray's Lake has the loop everyone walks, and Ewing Park's shaded paths suit a dog past its running years.

Licensing and rabies

Iowa requires dogs to hold a current rabies vaccination, and Des Moines licenses pets at city level. We vaccinate on the visit and leave you the certificate the licence application wants.

Des Moines Service Area & Pricing

Transparent pricing, with no hidden travel fees within our primary service zones.

Illustrated map of Iowa with Des Moines marked at the centre of the state and a shaded ring covering the Polk County service area

Neighborhoods Served

Beaverdale Sherman Hill Drake Ingersoll Park South of Grand Waveland Park Highland Park Union Park River Bend Woodland Heights Capitol East Merle Hay Fairgrounds Easter Lake

Don't see your neighborhood? Contact us to verify coverage.

Zip Codes Served

50310 50311 50312 50313 50314 50315 50316 50317 50320 50321 50322 50324

Transparent Pricing

House Call & Wellness Exam
Travel fee + comprehensive nose-to-tail exam (1 pet)
$175
Additional Pet Exam
Exam fee for each additional pet during the same visit
$85
Sick Visit / Consultation
Travel fee + focused diagnostic exam
$195
Telehealth Follow-up
Video consultation for existing patients
$65

That is the call-out and the examination. Vaccines, laboratory testing and any medication we leave behind are listed separately on the invoice, and the doctor tells you the cost first.

Questions Des Moines pet owners ask us

Practically none. A lit room and somewhere to sit, plus the bedroom door shut if your cat has a hiding spot under the bed. In winter, if the drive hasn't been cleared, a quick message means we allow the time rather than run behind for everyone after you.

That belongs in a building with a theatre. We refer to established surgical and imaging practices around Des Moines with your record sent across beforehand, and we handle the assessment leading up to it and every recheck once your pet is back home.

They do, on the same basis as a clinic visit. An itemised invoice with everything coded lands in your inbox the same day, and most claims go straight through on that alone.

That's the sensible way to do it. The trip is billed once for the address and each animal after the first gets a reduced exam fee, so three animals means one visit and one invoice.

Straight to an emergency hospital rather than waiting for our morning list. BluePearl on Merle Hay Road has emergency clinicians on site at every hour, and Iowa Veterinary Specialties runs an overnight service as well. Ring us next day for the follow-up.

On the spot, card or phone, on the tablet the doctor carries. The receipt is emailed there and then and nothing arrives in the post afterwards.

Not with a day's notice. Our doctors work a planned route — the north side one day, the south and east the next — so telling us early lets the slot go to another family in the same part of town.

For anything urgent once we have finished for the day, BluePearl Pet Hospital at 4631 Merle Hay Road runs emergency and specialty care around the clock, and Iowa Veterinary Specialties keeps an emergency team on duty at all hours too.

"We've got two dogs, a cat and two kids, and getting any of that to a clinic together was never happening. The vet came to the house in Beaverdale, did all three animals, and it was easily the calmest appointment we've had."

Sarah & Josh D.

Beaverdale, Des Moines, IA