One night a month ago, Nicole Leven’s dog, Miles, wouldn’t stop throwing up and she didn’t know what to do.
“He was having some stomach problems where he would be fine and then he would be vomiting all night long,” she recalls. “Then he’d be fine, we’d feed him rice and he’d be sick again.”
Leven could have rushed to the emergency clinic or waited it out. Instead, she picked up her smartphone.
For $15 a month, a new service and iPhone app called BarkCare provides “virtual veterinary” advice to dog owners via phone, text, e-mail or video conference, 24 hours a day. Subscribers can upload photos of discolored fur or videos of night tremors, or engage in a real-time chat at midnight with one of BarkCare’s veterinarians.
The service, which has offices in Chinatown, launched to the general public in September. According to the company, it already has about 1,200 clients, of which about 35 percent live in NYC.
“New Yorkers are a bit neurotic and some may call three or four times a day,” says Henrik Werdelin, co-founder of BarkCare. “But they don’t just connect to see if their dog is sick. It’s also about whether something is healthy, like a specific treat, or to find out more about dog diabetes.”
Leven, 35, doesn’t call multiple times a day, but she has used BarkCare twice since signing up a month ago on a friend’s recommendation. After the service helped her sort out Miles’ stomach troubles, she found herself using the app again when she found a tick on Miles after a Hamptons getaway.
“They were, like, ‘Get him wet immediately because where there is one, there will be more,’ ” says the Forest Hills resident, who works in p.r. “I did and they were right. He was covered.”
Alex Burke, 33, has also found the service useful with her dog, Penny. She received a free BarkCare trial when she adopted the dog.
“Shortly after I got Penny, she was coughing,” recalls Burke. “So I took a video over the weekend and sent it to them asking, ‘What is this?’ They said it sounded like kennel cough and recommended getting to the vet on Monday. Another time I e-mailed them a photo because she had some bumps on her skin and they said it didn’t look like anything. That actually saved me a vet visit.”
Local vets, however, say virtual vet advice can be dangerous. “There is a huge liability risk,” says Dr. Catherine Reid of Haute Vet, a practice that makes house calls throughout the city. “What I may be interpreting from your description of the problem may not match the actual symptoms.”
Dr. Martin Kamen of Blue Pearl Veterinary Partners agrees. “I’m sure there is some utility for a younger animal,” he says. “But I don’t think it can replace the benefit of coming in for a heart-rate check, rectal temperatures or assessing for dehydration.”
And BarkCare can’t help with every internal issue.
“We had someone call in [and] his dog had eaten some panties and he hadn’t pooped them out yet,” recalls Werdelin. “So the BarkCare staffer on call recommended going to the vet to induce vomiting. He did and his wife met up with him at the clinic to make sure their dog was OK. Then it turned out the panties weren’t hers.”