Having a dog or cat in the home is a joy for many people, but there is no question that it can get expensive.

Dr. Kate Elden, Chief Medical Officer of veterinary teleheath service Dutch.com says that veterinary care has been going up for years.

“The cost of care has steadily outpaced inflation since 2019. And this last year, 75 million pet parents skipped or declined veterinary care due to cost or access, meaning they couldn’t get in to see a veterinarian when they needed,” she said.

Seeing a vet by telehealth is certainly easier and probably less expensive than seeing an in-person vet.

But according to Dr. Michael Q. Bailey, president of the American Veterinary Medical Association, telehealth on its own is not enough.

“Before you start utilizing telehealth, you should have what we call a veterinary –client patient relationship or VCPR, and it should be established physically. If you do telehealth without an established physical VCPR, you’ve taken away a vital component of our veterinary training, of our medical training, and what’s even more, of our diagnostic procedures that can save lives," he said.

Dr. Elden of Dutch.com agrees.

“That would be the ideal situation, that every pet has an online vet and an in-person vet,” said Dr. Elden.

She maintains that pet owners can close an accessibility gap with telehealth. Dr. Bailey says that an owner with a sick pet shouldn’t try to get in with a vet they’ve never seen before. He recommends getting familiar with your vet when you first get your pet.

“Establish a relationship with a veterinarian on a regular basis,” said Dr. Bailey.

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