How it works

Three steps

1. 1

   Tell us what is going on

   Type it the way you would say it out loud. An assistant asks a few short questions — species, age, what changed and when — and writes it up as a case for a professional to read. You choose the state your animal is in first, because that decides what we are allowed to do.

2. 2

   A licensed professional reads it and replies by chat

   Paid cases sit in a queue, oldest first, and a professional claims the ones they are qualified to answer. When one takes yours, their greeting arrives in your thread. Every message carries their name, credential and license state. Meet the people who answer.

3. 3

   Keep the written summary and follow up

   The case summary and the whole conversation are yours to keep, in your account. The thread stays open for follow-up questions for 7 days, so you can come back with what happened next.

What this is, and what it is not

It is information and guidance from a licensed veterinary professional, in writing, about what you have described. It is not an examination, not a diagnosis and not a prescription. Nobody here sees your animal, so nobody here can tell you what is wrong with it or what to give it. No veterinarian-client-patient relationship is created, and nothing you read here replaces having your animal looked at in person. If that is what your animal needs, we say so plainly and tell you to go.

Emergencies come before payment

Before anything else, and before you are shown any price, the assistant checks what you describe for emergency signs. If it looks like one, you are told to go to a clinic now and the conversation ends there. No price appears on that screen and nothing is charged. We would rather lose the sale than take money for telling you to leave.

Struggling to breathe, unable to stand, bleeding heavily, a seizure, or something dangerous swallowed: those need a clinic now, not a chat. If that is your animal, stop reading this and go.

What it costs

The price is on the payment page, in full, before you type a card number: everything charged that day, anything that recurs, and when. Nothing is charged while the assistant is asking you questions. It is a membership, and you can cancel it yourself, in one step, from your account page. The Terms of Service set it out in full.

Where we can answer

Most of the United States, but not all of it, and a few states only by a professional licensed there. The state your animal is in is the first thing we ask, and this page says what happens for each one, as it stands today.