CONSENT TO TELEHEALTH SERVICES

Noah’s Ark Animal Clinics

Effective Date: August 1, 2026

Presented and acknowledged separately from the Terms of Use. Retained for not less than three years.

1. What You Are Consenting To

You are consenting to receive veterinary telehealth services for your pet from Noah’s Ark Animal Clinics (“Noah’s Ark,” “we,” “us”). Telehealth uses video, audio, photographs, and messaging to let a credentialed veterinary professional at another location help you make decisions about your pet’s health. It does not involve anyone touching, handling, or physically examining your pet.

2. Standards of Care

The standards of care that apply to veterinary practice apply equally to telehealth visits and to in-person visits. A telehealth visit is held to the same professional standard as a visit in one of our exam rooms.

3. Risks and Limitations of Remote Assessment

Remote assessment carries risks that in-person care does not. You acknowledge:

  • Information may be insufficient. Poor lighting, low-resolution photos, an unsteady connection, or an uncooperative animal can prevent an accurate remote read. This can delay recognition of a problem.
  • Records may be incomplete. What we can tell you is limited by what you can tell us.
  • Remote assessment can miss things. Conditions a physical examination would catch — a heart murmur, an abdominal mass, a subtle lameness, pain on palpation — cannot be detected through a screen.
  • Technology can fail. Sessions may be interrupted, delayed, or unavailable.
  • Security is not absolute. Despite reasonable safeguards, no electronic transmission is perfectly secure.

4. Before Any Telehealth Evaluation, You Are Advised That

  1. We may recommend an in-person visit with one of our veterinarians or another licensed veterinarian.
  2. Federal law prohibits prescribing certain drugs or medications based only on a telehealth visit.
  3. The appointment may be terminated at any time, by you or by us.

5. What Noah’s Ark Telehealth Does Not Include

Our telehealth services are limited to teletriage, general advice, and follow-up check-ins for our established patients. Through these services we do not diagnose, prescribe or recommend medication, provide or modify treatment plans, give a prognosis, recommend preventive care for your individual pet, or issue health certificates.

Your session may be conducted by a credentialed veterinary technician rather than a veterinarian. A veterinary technician is not licensed to practice veterinary medicine and cannot diagnose your pet, recommend medication, or provide a treatment plan.

6. Emergencies

Telehealth is not an emergency service. If your pet shows signs of an emergency — difficulty breathing, collapse, seizure, uncontrolled bleeding, suspected poisoning, a distended or bloated abdomen, straining or inability to urinate, trauma, or heatstroke — transport your pet to the nearest emergency veterinary hospital immediately.

7. Contact and Continuity

  • We will give you the name and contact information of the veterinary professional conducting your session, and their credential number where required by law.
  • We will ask you for an alternate means of contacting you in case the session is interrupted.

8. Privacy and Records

Applicable privacy laws extend to telehealth. Your identifying information will not be shared with researchers or unrelated third parties without your consent. De-identified information may be used internally for quality review and training.

Sessions may be supported by automated tools, including artificial intelligence and audio-capture or scribing software, and you consent to their use.

9. Alternatives and Your Right to Withdraw

Other options are available to you, including bringing your pet directly to one of our clinics or to another veterinary practice, and you may choose any of them at any time.

You may withhold or withdraw your consent to telehealth at any time. Doing so will not affect your ability to obtain care from us in person or anywhere else, and will not affect your pet’s right to future care.

10. No Guarantee of Outcome

You may benefit from these services, but no result can be guaranteed or assured.