Vetster experience

So I tried Vetster today for the first time;  this is an online vet service - I found an Ontario-based vet and made an apt for 30 mins later.   They’re doing a trial of it with our benefits at work so would be no charge to me, and I was worried cause Sash was on Day 3 of diarrhea and that’s long even for her.

Plus side - long weekend, holiday Monday, we’re an hour from my vet and I was reasonably certain not tragic, but had a couple very specific questions relevant to meds she’s on and interactions (turns out good call - one of them needs to be stopped if they have diarrhea - key detail).  Aka the kind of call I would’ve had a hard time justifying an emergency bill for but ended up being helpful (Sasha is feeling much better now btw!).   This was affordable by any standard ($55) but even better with free thanks (temporarily) to work.

Also - I was emailed her notes afterwards that I could either just keep for my reference or share with their normal vet so they have a full picture of what’s going on.

Some neutral notes for the curious: 

• it’s a video call, you pick any time with more than 30 mins notice 
• you can choose the vet you want.  There’s info about where they are licensed to practice, if they can write prescriptions (I’m pretty sure in Ontario all vets can write scripts?  But I don’t actually know, and I have no idea the rules other places), and areas of expertise. Also a random blurb but those were painful ;).  I’m sure some people like them though.
• You can send notes, history, video (if it were relevant - I skipped this step!  lol squirrel note: when Sasha was like a year and a half old and demonstrating exercise induced paralysis which TERRIFIED me because I had no idea whatsoever what it was and still have trouble believing it’s a thing even though I saw it multiple times, the vet then did ask me to video cause he’d never seen it in person 😂)….  Anyways - I could see that for lameness or a cut or something weird that was visual for sure.
• The call was on time, the vet asked appropriate questions and answered my questions; my dog is better now, so I’m going to say it helped :)

The down side:

• obviously it’s video - they can see your pet if you so choose but can’t do anything physical
• They have no history on the animal besides what you choose to share and no relationship whatsoever w you…. Which means any vet I’d trust is going to be very careful given that the average pet owner is an idiot (present company excluded of course!); ie - you get the vet equivalent of “is the power on?” Or “did you reboot?”

Overall a good service and, I think (?) appropriately priced.  Not sure how it works on the vet’s end at all so can’t comment to that.  My vet was at home on her couch so I’m assuming it’s a “on call” situation but I don’t actually know.

I didn’t even know such things existed so figured I’d share in case it helped anybody else.