GAINESVILLE — Milo, a 3-year-old goldendoodle, was recently diagnosed with Addison’s disease, meaning he lacks steroid production to calm down when stressed.
“He could die here if he is not treated. But with treatment (he’s) perfectly fine,” said Varesha Mauney, 56, of Palm Beach Gardens in South Florida. Mauney says Milo’s health care requires daily treatment. “He has to take medication for the rest of his life,” she said.
Caring for his condition can be costly and time-consuming — care that may be less of a burden for Mauney and thousands of others across the state now that the Florida Legislature has unanimously passed a bill allowing virtual veterinary care.
A televet is great for follow-up questions, prescriptions and developments about existing conditions like Milo’s, Mauney said.
Current state law allows veterinarians to treat animals via telemedicine only if the patient has been seen in person within a year.
The new proposal, which is still awaiting the governor’s signature, would allow telemedicine for pets as a routine form of treatment, and would create a series of regulations for televet care in the state. It would also allow telehealth for initial appointments that establish a vet-client relationship, and allow vets to prescribe certain medications via televsion.
“There are some prescriptions that a vet can’t prescribe because (they’re) too strong of a drug,” said Rep. Sam Killebrew, R-Winter Haven, who sponsored the House bill. “If a vet is talking to a pet owner and the vet doesn’t feel comfortable making a diagnosis or prescribing something, then you can say, ‘I don’t feel comfortable doing this,'” says he. “This is at the discretion of the pet owner and the veterinarian.”
Vet telemedicine is expected to grow 18% per year for the next 10 years. By 2020, at the height of the pandemic, people working remotely will be eight times more likely to own a pet, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association, with work-from-home jobs driving demand for telehealth vet services .
“Veterinary clinics don’t want 10 people with a minor issue with a pet in their entrance yelling and screaming to get an appointment, where in fact it can be resolved, instead of telemedicine,” says Mark Cushing, CEO and founder of The Animal Policy Group and co-founder of the Veterinary Virtual Care Association.
If telemedicine works with people, it will work with pets, Cushing said. “Why did human medicine adopt telemedicine in all 50 states? For these reasons: Many people lived in places where they were not close to a doctor or a hospital or a practice,” he said. “The same thing is true for pet owners.”
Alex Steverson, a Tallahassee veterinarian, argued against the law during a Senate committee hearing last month.
“Our patients can’t talk,” Steverson said. “We rely on the interpretation of a lay, non-medical owner, to tell us what they think is wrong with their pet.”
The American Academy of Pediatrics doesn’t recommend telemedicine with babies under 2 years old, due to the fact that they don’t communicate, he said. Similarly, pet owners can be “way off base about what’s wrong with their pet,” Steverson says.
Michael Sturgeon, 45, has been a veterinarian for 17 years. He practices at the Animal Veterinary Clinic in Gainesville — and does not practice telemedicine.
“It’s going to be difficult to advocate for those pets, as veterinarians, even over the phone, just based on what the owner is telling us,” she said. “Because often, even in brick and mortar, they tell us what they want, but they miss the underlying problems or worry about the cost and it becomes a challenge for all of us.”
Sturgeon said her priority is for the pet to be happy and healthy and for the owner to be “financially aware of what they’re investing in,” she said.
As an advocate for veterinary telemedicine, Jennifer Hobgood, a lobbyist for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, is concerned about veterinary shortages and access to health care for pets in the country. .
“The current system of care based on brick-and-mortar clinics doesn’t serve the public and it doesn’t serve pet owners,” Hobgood said. “We need broad access to telemedicine to help meet geographical, logistical, financial barriers.”
In Florida, there are at least 19 counties where access to veterinarians is inconvenient, according to the Veterinary Care Accessibility Project. Among the counties with the lowest scores measuring access to care are DeSoto, Hendry, Gadsden and Lafayette.
The University of Florida projects a shortage of 14,000 to 24,000 companion animal veterinarians by 2030, said James Lloyd, the former dean of UF’s College of Veterinary Medicine.
Sam Welker, 71, has two dogs and 15 cats in his Gainesville household. He doesn’t trust virtual vet care.
“Of the 15 (cats), maybe six, maybe seven are on special food, special medications and some of them go to the vet at least once a month,” Welker said. “So, we like our vets.”
Hank Williams Jr., Welker’s 14-year-old Treeing Walker coonhound, goes to the vet for acupuncture every two weeks. Jubal Lethario, Welker’s 4-year-old German shorthaired pointer, comes once a year.
“I don’t want to risk it,” Welker said. “I trust my vet when I see them in their office, when I see their diplomas.”
This story was produced by Fresh Take Business, a news service covering business news from the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications. The reporter can be reached at [email protected].
