During the coronavirus, sick patients can visit the doctor's office via telehealth appointments. Now, pets can finally do the same thing. Chewy, the pet delivery service brand, has created a product that can connect vets with sick pets and their owners. Anyone with the company's Autoship delivery membership can sign up for their free "Connect-with-a-Vet" service. No more worrying about taking your pet to the vet!
Sumit Singh, the Chewy CEO, said that this was something that had been in the works even prior to the pandemic. Once the virus hit though, there was a clear and dire need for online assistance, so the connection became a top priority. Not only that, but more and more people began adopting pets at the start of the lockdowns.
"It was one of the irons in the fire, but clearly, the pandemic has accelerated our effort," said Singh.
The service isn't a replacement for in-person vet visits though. The vets won't be able to prescribe medication over the video or even diagnose a condition. It's more about what to do if a dog eats chocolate or a cat is showing signs of itchy skin.
"It causes deep stress anyway when your pet is ill, but when it happens at 7:30 p.m. on a Friday evening, you’re just a notch shy from panicking," said Singh.
For now, this service is only available to Chewy members, but in the future might expand to pay-per-visit for non-members.