A new pet health advice line, similar in principle to the now-defunct NHS Direct service, has been launched for pet owners.

pet-gp.co.uk offers a 12 month subscription for £4.50 per month, or owners can seek one-off advice from its team of veterinary nurses (not veterinary surgeons as the name implies) for £12.50.

The company implies says on its website that the average vet bill is £300, and that 2 out of 3 visits are unnecessary anyway, so a quick call to them first could represent a considerable saving.

However, VetSurgeon.org sees a number of flaws in this logic:

• Even if the figure quoted for the average vet bill is correct (something disputed by the BVA), it doesn't cost £300 to consult a general practitioner veterinary surgeon; if an owner walks out of a practice with a £300 bill, clearly there was something wrong with the animal, and the trip was necessary.
• Therefore, the potential saving to the owner by avoiding an unnecessary consultation is nothing like £300. 
• Even veterinary surgeons are not able to diagnose illness properly without seeing an animal. Veterinary nurses are not allowed to diagnose at all. So the advice that can be given must necessarily be very limited. £12.50 perhaps sounds like value for money for veterinary advice, until you discover that the advice is 'go and see your veterinary surgeon'.
• Many - perhaps most - veterinary practices offer clients basic advice free of charge over the telephone anyway. 

BVA President Gudrun Ravetz said: "Although triage phone lines have been used in the NHS for several years, for pets these can be more problematic as animals are unable to speak themselves, and many symptoms may be subtle signs that will only be picked up in an examination by a vet."

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