Whilst veterinary medicine is often far behind human medicine, in terms of virtual health care, we are quickly catching up. More clinics and companies are providing telehealth services, whether through insurance companies or out-of-hours providers. Telehealth is an innovative way to make vet care more accessible to all.
At Vetsy, we have embraced this technology and telemedicine. Imagine us as your local veterinary practice, but all online. We can offer you video consultations, assess your pet, discuss your concerns, and provide treatment plans and prescriptions for ongoing care.
We review our cases, regularly follow up and check in with patient progress, through our web app messenger or emails. The key to us providing such service is to establish what is known as a veterinary-client-patient-relationship (VCPR), with you and your pet. Through this relationship, we can clinically guide you on your pet’s health, discuss preliminary diagnosis and treatment options, have access to previous medical records, be readily available should you need us and overall ensure the well being of your beloved pets.
The main difference is that veterinary telemedicine is more like booking an appointment with your regular vet. Through Vetsy, you will be seeing the same familiar face for your video consult. We become familiar with our clients, the whole household of pets and ongoing ailments. We establish that friendly, approachable relationship of the James Herriot days, but through the screen of your mobile phone or tablet. What’s more, you can do all this from the comfort of home, in your slippers, with your beloved pet sleeping soundly next to you!
In comparison, with the online “teletriage” services you are often talking with a vet you have never seen before. These services aim to help you decide whether you need to seek emergency vet care or whether you can wait a further 24 hours until your usual practice is open. They are able to offer general advice and give helpful tips. Yet without the established VCPR, they cannot offer prescriptions or further treatment.
A virtual veterinary appointment at Vetsy, works similarly to an in-person visit. You can simply schedule the appointment via our website www.myvetsy.co.uk, at a time that suits you.
Our platform uses a video interface to perform the physical assessment and discuss your pets concerns. Although telemedicine vets lose a few senses, namely touch and smell, with the remote nature compared to a direct physical exam, they can use you as a surrogate!
Telemedicine relies heavily on a thorough clinical history and who best to describe what’s happening than the owners themselves. We can use the camera to assess general body condition, demeanour, gait, dental concerns, skin or more specific lesions. What’s more, through our web app messenger system you can upload photos or videos to highlight intermittent concerns.
The use of telemedicine provides many benefits for pets, clients and even vets!
We love to see pets in their most relaxed state in their home environment. Not tremoring on a consult table, being wrestled for an exam, or cowering in a cat carrier. We appreciate the stress a veterinary visit to a clinic can impose on some pets, therefore we are here, to completely remove those fears.
Potentially it benefits the owners more. Whether you physically struggle to get to a vet clinic, due to health, poor weather or transportation issues, or simply just a hectic schedule that will not give! Our service provides flexible appointments throughout the day, suiting those early birds before work, post school run drops off, all the way through to after hours appointments.
We are also here for our fellow colleagues in practice. Many veterinary clinics in the UK are feeling the pressure of a high case load, and being overstretched with nationwide staff shortages. This has therefore led to waiting lists, clinics closing their books or waiting weeks before your pet can be seen. We aim to alleviate some of the scheduling pressure to such clinics, by seeing patients with minor medical conditions, reserving in-person appointment slots for those patients that absolutely need them!
We also like to offer our benefits to other vets. Occasionally, life as a practising vet can become overwhelming, and it is not unusual for vets to experience burn out and exhaustion. Telemedicine provides vets with an opportunity to continue their passion and love for medicine, without the added challenges and stress of a busy animal hospital.
We cannot reiterate enough that veterinary telemedicine is a complement to direct veterinary care, and never a replacement. It has inherent limitations that also must be considered.
If our vets feel it is in your pets interest to receive a direct exam, we will happily refer you to your brick and mortar practice. This may be because your pet would benefit from further investigations, diagnostics or more immediate treatments, which cannot be provided at home.
Our Vetsy promise is that if we can't help your pet and you need to see a vet in person, we will refund you the cost of your appointment. This way ensuring we put your finances, in your pets best interests.
Research shows that 70% of pet concerns can be dealt with remotely, therefore you may be surprised how much can be done from the comfort of your home.
The most common concerns include;
We hope you can appreciate virtual care has many benefits, making it an ideal supplement to in-person care. From convenient scheduling, freedom from stressful distractions and the hassle-free nature of seeing the vet from home, you can fully engage in your veterinary consult, discuss your pets concerns in a leisurely manner and have that undivided attention that your pet deserves!
