Vet Tech Tips: Smartphones

Smartphone tips to make your visit to the vet more productive.

Video of a cat with a painful gum condition showing how she is eating.

Diagnostics

Cats are very good at hiding how they are feeling, and often cat minions (parents) and veterinarians have to rely on the smallest of clues to make a diagnosis of an issue. It can be very helpful to your vet if you capture a quick video of the behavior you are seeing at home before you bring the cat into the vets office. This gives your vet a quick way to see the cat in it’s home environment, rather than on the vet’s examination table.

Monitoring

Videos and photographs can be useful for monitoring an ongoing issue over time, either to see if it getting better or worse.

Here is a quick photo of an x-ray of a 13yr old cat, which happened to show no issues such as cancer or heart failure. (good news!) It has become a good baseline for the future.

Records

Snap a quick photograph of any diagnostic imaging (X-rays or ultrasounds) or test outputs, such as EMG. These records will allow you to easily compare before and after photos, and if you need to take your cat to a specialist, you have a copy of these important images with you. This can also be valuable in the case of an emergency or sharing with family or friends.

Translation

If you are traveling or residing with your pet in a country where your native language is not the language of the area, a language translation app on your phone can be critical for communicating with your vet, especially if an emergency arises, even if it doesn’t have medical translations.

How have you used a smartphone to enrich the health care management of your cat? Leave us a comment below!

7 thoughts on “Vet Tech Tips: Smartphones

  1. Penelope Smith

    This is some really good information about smartphones and vet. It is good to know that you can get x-rays on phones. It seems like that could be really helpful for veterinary.

  2. Marcus

    Thanks for talking about vets and technology. It is important to know how to care for animals the best. We need to find someone to care for our pet pig.

    • kirstengay Post author

      Hi Marcus!

      Thank you for your kind words. There are two interpretations of your message. If you are looking for a vet for your pig, and are in the Rutland Area, Eastwood Animal Clinic has pet pig clients, if they are small enough to come into the office.

      If you are in the eastern Upstate New York area, one of our board members recommends you reach out to:
      Delaware valley SPCA in Sidney NY has connections and interest in pet pigs. Ask for Erin.

      If you are looking to rehome your pig, also try the Delaware Valley SPCA.

      We hope that helps!

  3. Vivian Black

    I love how you talked about snapping a photograph of imaging or anything that will allow you to keep a record that is up to date. My husband and I just moved to Fair Oaks, CA and we are looking for a vet to take care of our 4 dogs. We will keep these tips in mind as we search for a professional to help us.

  4. Tori Raddison

    I love how you said to take a quick video of your cat at home because that way your vet will be able to see the behavior occurring naturally. It’ll also give them more context than they’d get from just examining them there. My cat has been acting weird lately, so I’ll be sure to take a video next time he does it. Then I’ll show it to my vet next week.

Comments are closed.