Even after pandemic-era restrictions have loosened, many have found that telemedicine still offers a flexible alternative that helps get them medical care they might not have otherwise. And now, the Arizona Humane Society is offering telemedicine appointments for pets.
The move aims to help ease Maricopa County’s animal welfare crisis by helping more pets stay healthy and in their homes.
Whether it’s time, cost or transportation, Melissa Thompson with Arizona Humane Society said she sees cases almost daily where getting a pet to the vet’s office pushes owners to consider surrender.
“For us, access to care is not just access cost-wise, but also access physically. So trying to get to a veterinary clinic can be difficult. And this service is not just for the pets and people in the Phoenix area. This is for anybody in the state of Arizona," Thompson said.
Thompson said it’s a strategy she’s seen work well to keep pets and families together, especially once owners know they have other ways to get the care their animals need.
It’s a positive domino effect that Thompson traces back to the introduction of telemedicine for veterinary care triggered back in 2021, when state law first made tele-vet care possible.
But even then, she said, “post-COVID, the last couple of years we have actually been sitting at about 22- to 23,000 animals coming into our doors, through the shelter, per year.”
Prior to the pandemic, the yearly average was closer to between 17,000 to 18,000 animals entering and receiving care in an Arizona Humane Society shelter.
And, Thompson added, “that's not including our public clinics treating animals that are owned.”
Once a 2023 state law made the solution permanent, she said it was just a matter of getting the right technology in place and training staff to deliver care remotely — especially for simpler cases.
“Taking those easier cases off of the regular practitioner in the clinic so that those more difficult cases can be seen in those clinics,” explained Thompson.
Thompson said the hope is that the new offering will ultimately help shrink appointment backlogs for both medical care and surrender appointments, and she’s confident that it will.
