The Best Veterinary Telemedicine Services

Your best friend can receive timely medical help without ever leaving home, and this guide to our favorite televets can help.

Otto’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 the veterinarian your pet already sees. It shows exactly how much your vet charges for this service and what hours they are responsive. To request an appointment, fill out a few fields—summary, details, 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 Otto 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 move.

“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.”