Vet apps a complete and utter waste of time

[Reallynothappyagain]

Typically when the vets are shut and it’s a weekend my cat became unwell.

We have insurance which gives us access to a Vet app called Joii. Has amazing reviews online. I felt really optimistic that as it’s linked to my insurance company I’d get some help.

Got connected to a bot who asked lots of questions. Then got connected to a vet. He asked lots of questions, asked for photos and a video of my cat. All provided. He then asked if I had medication at home for my cat and listed 3. Of course not. Then asked did I have a cone err no.

IHe said she needs to see a vet. I asked if he could provide authorisation to use out of hours vet as it’s £270 here before you even set foot in the door.

He said they can’t do that. I asked if he could prescribe medications he said under UK law they can’t unless they physically see an animal.

So basically his advice was to see a vet. What a waste of time.

I genuinely thought they’d be able to prescribe (GPs prescribe after a phone consultation!!).

Had anyone used this app and have good things to say? I found it a complete waste of time.

I'd have felt the same op. Such a waste of time.

Ours all do an excellent impression of being starved, even mid-meal - it's quite impressive

Bit of a waste of time, sure, but if you are insured just go to the out of hours vet? It wouldn’t occur to me to seek permission first, you pay the premium so they cover your vet bills.

Haha. Yeah he's definitely one of 'those' cats! X

I have used our PetPlan advice phone line twice. Pretty much told to go to the vet since they couldn’t tell anything over the phone. Felt very very pointless, and of course our trip to the vet was a wasted visit, as we didn’t need to be there.

I acknowledge that there are limits to what can be seen or understood in a call, but why offer the service at all if everyone is going to be told to go to the vet? Clearly they won’t advise anything else for liability reasons. It just adds to our policy costs.

We use First Vet and I’ve had good experiences with it. But we’ve only used it so far to figure out whether it was something we needed to take our cat to the vet for. First time was a no, second time was a yes if you want, or just carry on watching her (took her because she’s my Precious First Cat 🤣).

I guess the online advice service is there to cut down on people who use the real vet for trivial reasons and then try to claw back the cost of the unnecesssary consultation via their insurance.( Presumably reducing desputes)
My own insurance uses Jolli and my experience is that they reassure you if it is something that can wait for a normal appointment, but encourage you to go out of hours if they think the video consultation shows something urgent.
I wouldn't expect them to prescribe over the phone.
Any claims you put in after treatment is a separate thing, but they look favourably on a consultation online prior to a visit.
Jolli are also good on advice for inexperienced owners.

Where would you have got the cat's meds from if he'd prescribed them? Normally the vet would give them to you, a normally pharmacy won't stock animal meds unless it happens to be something humans use too.

I can’t imagine anything other than pet fees taking up the majority of a cat rescue’s fund.

You can get them online, you just upload the script.

If something is urgent enough to require prescribing out of hours it is likely too urgent to wait for an online pharmacy to deliver.

Lots of online animal pharmacies. Often much cheaper than buying meds from the vet. You ask your vet for a prescription and buy what you need online.

This is nothing to do with vets making money! Your insurance company provides the free video consults in the hope you can be advised NOT to visit the vet. Obviously depending on the nature you will often be advised to go the vet by the vet you speak to online. They have no idea what your policy covers, that is between you and your insurer so of course they can't say if it will be covered.

But it was a weekend and a situation where the animal needed treatment before the vet opened on Monday - what are the chances of the online medication order arriving before the vet re-opens? If the cat needed treating before the vet opens an over the phone prescription won’t be much help imo.

I used Joii when my dog was poorly recently. I have access to them through my insurance. She had persistent vomiting and it was a Saturday. I had taken her to the vets in the morning who gave her some anti sickness meds but it didn't stop it. Then they were closed. Mid afternoon I contacted Joli, got the bot and then a vet. They asked a lot of questions and asked me to monitor her and call back in an hour. When I did, and she still couldn't keep anything down, they said she needed to be seen. I had to contact the out of hours vets linked to my vet practice. I took her in and they kept her overnight and gave her fluids. I was able to pick her up the next day and she was much better.

While Joii couldn't see or treat her, it stopped me dithering about and wondering if I was doing the right thing taking her or not taking her to the out of hours vet. I just followed their advice. The bill was about £1,000 for the initial visit, out of hours treatment/hospital stay which the insurance paid.

We've got the Joii app through our insurance too. We've used it a few times when our dog has had a dodgy tummy, just to put our mind at ease really. They're fine but it all leads to chicken and rice and ordering their treatment plan, which you can get (more or less the same) from Amazon. It serves a purpose for ruling out anything which needs urgent vet attention.