Pets in California now have wider access to telehealth options

• Pet owners often had to wait for limited appointment slots so vets could perform in-person physical exams even if an animal had only a minor ailment or needed a routine prescription from an already established vet-client relationship.

State of play: The new law states that vets must "employ sound professional judgment to determine whether using telehealth is an appropriate method for delivering medical advice or treatment."

• They must make clear to pet owners the limits of telehealth and are barred from prescribing controlled substances like the tranquilizer xylazine without an in-person physical exam.

The big picture: The nation's ongoing vet shortage has resulted in "long wait times at clinics, lagging surgeries at shelters, slowing adoption rates, and pet owners being more inclined to put their next visit off," Michelson Found Animals Foundation CEO Brett Yates wrote in an August essay for Veterinary Practice News.