Dr. Allison Conner Advanced Animal Care

 

Good morning. I'm Dr. Alison Conner here at Advanced Animal Care. We wanted to set a few minutes aside to talk a little bit more about the telemedicine services that we've been offering.

What Are the Telemedicine Options?

We do have some telemedicine options. Our current options are through Facebook Messenger and, if that is something you're interested in doing, then schedule one of those appointments. What we'll need you to do is go to AAC Telemedicine and become a friend. And then at that point, we would be able to contact you through Messenger at your appointment time. We can also do FaceTime, of course, if you do have to have an iPhone or an iPad for FaceTime, so that's an option as well. We just need to make sure we have a current telephone number for you. Our third option for those who may not have Facebook or an iPhone would be Zoom. That's an app that you would need to download and then you could contact us for further information on how to use that. We do need a good email address to do that, but just call if you have any questions about that.

Is My Pet Eligible For Telemedicine Services?

With our telemedicine services, it's not going to be an option for every situation. Definitely call if it's something you're interested in, and we can let you know if it is a condition that qualifies. We can only do telemedicine if we have seen your pet within the last 12 months. And again, depending on the condition that we're dealing with, it may not always be applicable. It may not be a service that we can do for your pet, but certainly, call if it's something that you are interested in.

If we determine that your pet and your pet's condition qualify for telemedicine, we will schedule you an actual appointment time. What you can expect is that sometime around that appointment time (please give us a little leeway as we are getting backed up at times)-ideally within 10 minutes of that appointment time - you should get a call from us, probably the doctor or it may be one of the triage nurses to triage.

How Can I Prepare My Pet For a Telemedicine Appointment?

We may have you do a few things with your pet. We do want them to be readily available and in a well-lit area so that we can maybe do a few exercises to help us with that physical exam portion.

So, one thing is we may ask you to kind of lift up the lip to show us their gum color. We want to make sure they're good and pink. Maybe we can get a little peek at their teeth. Do the best you can. We know everybody's not always very cooperative and it can be less than perfect. We may ask you to do some range-of-motion exercises. Lift the head upwards and downwards and then side to side.

Along the back, we may have you palpate for any pain. So, we're going to have you gently pinch down the back all the way down the back for any signs of reaction there. We may ask you to ... in certain situations, as with a skin situation, bring that lesion a little closer to the phone and then the ear, as Carrie was showing us, was perfect there. We might have you get a little close up on the ear so we can peek in there. Same thing with the eyes. We may need a closeup on those eyes.

And again, depending on the situation, we may ask you to do different things, but definitely have your pet in an area where we can have you do a few things, so we can see as well as possible.

What Happens After the Telemedicine Appointment?

If your pet has qualified for the telemedicine appointment, we are able to still prescribe medications that we see are warranted. Again, we may determine that your pet needs to physically be taken and, if that's the case after a telemedicine visit, you won't be charged twice for that exam. Telemedicine visits are the same cost-wise as a regular exam or, if it's a recheck, it's the same charge as for a recheck exam. Again, if we feel like we need to get our hands on that patient, you won't be charged twice for that exam.

We hope this helps you guys out. Stay safe.