Get All of Your Questions Answered by a Vet Online

Online services are available to ask a vet questions about your pet. Various non-emergent issues, like issues with behavior, diet, or even whether some vague, non-emergent changes in your pet require a trip to get an exam might be a few things that an online vet consultation service can offer.

Having A Vet Diagnose And Treat

In the United States, if you want a vet to actually diagnose or treat your pet with a prescription or advise about scheduling any diagnostic or treatment procedure, the vet must have recently seen your pet to do a thorough exam and collect a history, in order to do so. The amount of time that amounts to “recent” is legislated regionally.

Any vet can become licensed to offer online, telephone, or text services to help their clients obtain a diagnosis and even a prescription without having to make the trek into an office for a repeat exam. However, unless the correct license is obtained, and the vet has seen the animal being treated in a “recent” time frame, as decided by their state or local laws on the matter, they can’t provide diagnostic services or offer treatment over the phone or computer.

It’s great if your own vet already offers these phone or online services, especially if driving to a hands-on appointment requires an amount of hardship for you and your pet. You should call your pet’s regular vet and find out if they already offer online services, ideally, instead of asking questions of a vet who has never treated or seen your pet before.

What Online Services Can Do

Online vets can offer lots of helpful guidance but are limited to advice that doesn’t require diagnostic services or treatment. If you have questions about behavioral problems or changes, about growth and development about a pet, general questions about a disease process that your pet is currently dealing with, or issues with diet, an online vet is the perfect place to get educated answers that are specific to the kind of pet you own.

After Covid made office visits difficult on many people, the need for this type of mobile consulting service became clear. Online vet consults are growing in popularity among busy people, people who live in remote areas, and more. It is inconvenient for many people to have to drive or find a way to bring an animal to a vet’s office for a minor issue or a question that could technically be answered on the phone. Traditional medical care frowns upon phone diagnoses, and many vets didn’t have a clear way to bill for these kinds of consulting services until now.

Handy For Exotic Pet Owners

To sum it up: if you have some questions about your pet that don’t require any potential immediate exam, treatment, or diagnosis, a mobile, online vet might be the perfect thing for you and your pet. One of the best parts of this kind of service is the help it can potentially provide to the owners of exotic or unusual pets. The specialists who have a broad knowledge of animals that are more exotic are getting online services, as well, to be able to assist pet owners from all over the world.

Owners of chimpanzees, exotic fish, lizards, insects, birds, and any number of unusual pets will no doubt be excited to have a question answering service that is specific to the problems of their exotic pets. The very specific needs of all kinds of animals can be helped by experts who have a lot of knowledge to share.