The Best Veterinary Telemedicine Services for Your Pet

No matter what kind of pet you have, veterinary telemedicine services are a great way to deal with problems that don’t warrant an emergency visit to your local vet. If you’ve ever fallen down a Google rabbit hole trying to figure out if your pet’s actions are normal, you should give a virtual vet visit a try.

With veterinary telemedicine, you talk to a vet over text, phone, or video chat to get real-time advice on what you should do for your pet. It’s not a replacement for regular in-office visits, and most vets on telemedicine services can’t diagnose or prescribe medications for pets they haven’t previously seen in person, but they are able to give helpful advice. The coronavirus pandemic made these teleservices all the more vital, and we think the appeal will last long after the pandemic is over. After trying a number of these services, here’s what we recommend.

If you’ve postponed a visit because of the pandemic, call your vet. It’s likely their clinic is open (if it ever closed). You’ll just have to follow special rules so they can see your pet, like waiting outside the clinic rather than inside and wearing a face mask. Be sure to check out our other pet guides, like the Best Gear for Newly-Adopted Pups and Kittens, Best Cat Toys and Supplies, Best Pet Cameras, and the Best Dog Tech Accessories.

Updated March 2021: We’ve added more services like Chewy and Pawp and updated prices.

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Telemedicine vs. Tele-Triaging

It’s important to know the distinction between veterinary telemedicine (sometimes called televet) and tele-triage. We have recommendations for both.

A vet client-patient relationship (VCPR) is required for a vet to diagnose and prescribe medication, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association. That means a vet must have seen an animal in person first, usually within a certain number of months before they can diagnose and prescribe medications via a televet service.

Not all vet offices have made the jump to telemedicine, but fortunately, there’s still a lot that can be done if your vet isn’t available on one of these apps. A tele-triage service can help you make the decision on whether or not a midnight run to an emergency animal hospital is necessary, or if it can wait until the morning. It’s also useful for those general questions that come with pet ownership that you might usually just Google: Should I bathe my cat? Is that food my dog stole going to make him sick? What’s normal litter box behavior?”

“You can’t prescribe, treat, and diagnose, but you can triage, support, provide guidance and general advice,” says Brandon Werber, CEO and founder of AirVet. “That’s really what people need 99 percent of the time at 11 pm when their vet is closed and their dog is puking.”

Laura Berg, vice president of business development at AskVet, says her team frequently fields medical questions, but they also get (and happily answer) less pressing questions, like how to figure out the size of dog clothing. “We provide the ability for a pet owner to ask a question they might think is dumb but they still want advice on,” she says.

Several experts I spoke to say cats rarely, and in some cases never, get veterinary care because of how hard it can be to put a cat in a carrier and how stressful the experience can be on them. Cats still need to go to the vet, no matter how much of a struggle it is, but telemedicine opens up a world for cat owners to show a veterinarian what’s going on when they’re in their own home.

“Pet owners want more and more information about their pet when they’re at home,” says Jeannine Taaffe, head of digital health at Kinship, a company that focuses on using emerging technologies to improve the pet care space. “At-home diagnostics will be transformational for cats. Because they’re so stressed out at the vet, their blood work and urine levels can be inaccurate. Vets don’t always have an accurate baseline. It’s really challenging.”

Best If Your Vet Is in Network

Best for: People with vets in-network

Available on: iOS, Android

Cost: Varies by practice

TeleVet’s app is among the easiest to navigate if your vet is in-network. Just create a profile for your pet and connect it with your vet. It shows exactly how much your vet charges and what hours they are responsive. To request an appointment, fill out a few fields—summary, details, attach any videos or pictures—and select if you’d like to video chat or talk on the phone. Add your method of payment and submit. Your vet will then reach out to schedule an appointment.

Hannah Lau, a vet at the Adobe Animal Hospital in Los Altos, California, uses TeleVet and says her appointments usually involve walking clients through mini exams—asking them to show a pet’s gums, counting respirations per minute, letting the pet trot so she can see them walk.

“You get clients really involved and engaged in their pet’s health,” she says. “I think it makes them feel like an advocate for their pet, and that way they can see what my thought process is as well.”

If You Use Chewy (Free)

Best for: Answers to general questions

Available on: Web

Cost: Free for Autoship customers

I use Chewy for ordering food and other goods for my pet. It’s convenient and has excellent customer service. If you automatically get certain items shipped to your doorstep every few weeks or months, you’re a Chewy Autoship customer, and that means you can now access its easy-to-use veterinary telemedicine service. (It doesn’t cost anything to sign up for Autoship.) 

You can change schedules or cancel appointments at any time. The service is only available Monday to Friday from 8 am to 8 pm ET, so it’s not for middle-of-the-night emergencies, and it’s also not yet available in Alaska, Hawaii, and Idaho. 

An Instant Service

Best for: Emergencies—when you need answers to general questions instantly

Available on: Web

Cost: $19 a month

A Pawp subscription includes instant chats, as most of these services do, but it also has a huge perk: a $3,000 emergency fund. After 14 days of using Pawp, the fund will be available to you for up to six pets. This is used to cover unexpected (i.e., emergency) vet bills. 

You’ll have to start a virtual call with a Pawp vet first to confirm your emergency—still, it’s more than what other services and even some pet insurance companies will offer. You can use the fund once a year. You can read what’s covered by the emergency fund here.

Other Great Services

Best for: People with vets in-network, for immediate concerns

Available on: iOS, Android

Cost: Varies by practice

Virtuwoof, like TeleVet, is another service that connects you only to your current vet, so you’ll need to check if they’re in-network. The process is just as easy. You make profiles for each of your pets, adding information like age and breed. When you need to talk to your vet, click “Start a New Visit” on their profile and select a reason from a drop-down menu of 11 common options, including “other” for anything not mentioned. 

You can see exactly how much the vet charges for new issues, follow-ups, and general inquiries. Virtuwoof says its average response time is between 5 and 10 minutes.

Best for: People with vets in-network, for organizing your pet’s medical information

Available on: iOS, Android

Cost: Varies by practice; app organization features are free

PetDesk is a telemedicine app with a perk. Not only does it connect you to your pet’s vet via video chat, but it also offers an easy way to keep track of your pet’s medications, appointments, and other needs.

All of your pet’s information is in one spot, including name and contact information for vets, preferred emergency animal hospitals, and groomers. From the homepage, you can see what’s open, make calls, visit respective websites, and in some cases, request an appointment directly in the app or start a video call.

Once you create a pet profile, you can save health records and prescriptions. In the To-Do tab, you can create reminders for giving your pet medication, restocking food and supplies, and scheduling checkups, or ask for notifications on their birthday. While you will need to have a vet in-network to make virtual appointments, you can use the service as a free medical dashboard for your pet’s records.

Best for: Emergencies—when you need answers to general questions instantly

Available on: iOS, Android

Cost: $30 per virtual session

You can talk to the vet your pet already sees if they’re a part of AirVet’s network, or you can talk to any of the licensed vets listed in the app. You can switch between the two options as needed, which is handy if you’re trying to connect when your vet isn’t available. The goal is to get you connected with an expert immediately.

Using AirVet is pretty straightforward. You create profiles for your pets with their breed, age, and weight, plus you can add any notes like prior or existing health problems. If you have your vet connected, it will tell you if they’re available at that time. If not, you can choose the “Need Help Now” option to start a video call. From there, you’re asked to select a problem from a list of 10, ranging from general medical questions, ear infections, and throwing up to behavioral problems. You can also attach photos. I was connected in less than a minute with a vet who has been practicing for more than 45 years.

You can go through your case history to refer back to vets you spoke with, which is a nice extra. It also tells you in which practice each vet works.

Best for: Emergencies—when you need answers to general questions instantly

Available on: Web, iOS

Cost: $30 for a three-month subscription

With AskVet, the formula is very similar. I connected in less than a minute to a vet tech, who then asked me a follow-up question and routed me to a veterinarian, which altogether took less than two minutes. That holds up with the company’s claim that the average time to be assisted is one minute.

Chat sessions can go as long as you need. The longest, according to Laura Berg, vice president of business development at AskVet, was four hours, when a pet had to go to the emergency room. The vet found a nearby emergency room, called and prepped them for the patient, and then switched from chat to phone call with the owner to stay with them while they drove to and waited in the ER. Once your chat is over, you’ll get a transcript of the conversation emailed to you. You can also refer back to it on the site’s history tab.

Another perk? You can access an emergency fund of up to $1,000. Your fund grows $45 a month until it reaches the $1,000 cap. It’s not as convenient as Pawp, which gives you a $3,000 fund after 14 days. 

Honorable Mentions

If you still haven’t found something up your alley, try one of these services.

• Ask Veterinarian Online: This service connects you to a vet quickly once you sign up for Just Answer, which a veterinary assistant will send you via the website’s chat function. You can then chat via the web browser, email, or text. It costs $31 a month and an extra $28 to hop on the phone.
• Whisker Docs is pricey at $40 for an instant call or chat, but you can opt for a $17 a month subscription for unlimited support. If you don’t have a pressing question, an email costs $5.
• Fuzzy Health costs $17 a month for a subscription, like Whisker Docs. It has the same 24/7 chat support that’s quick and helpful, but I didn’t like how product-heavy it is—it recommends products via a pet health quiz without you actually speaking to a vet. If you use Fuzzy Health, take its product recommendations to your own vet to clarify if it will work for your pet’s needs.
• Bond Vet, VetTriage, and Vetster all cost $50 an appointment. (Vetster has a $30 veterinary technician option that probably works better in most situations.) That’s not much less than a standard in-office visit.

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