VSA - Vet Student Answers
Improving pet health one step at a time
Introduction
About Us
Have you ever had a question about your pet, but you're not sure if it was worth a vet visit? If so, you have come to the right place! We know that all pet owners want is nothing but the best for their furry friends, but this can sometimes lead to stress. Especially for first-time pet owners, it is hard to know when to start worrying, and when to stop overthinking. VSA offers advice from vet students that strive to educate and offer peace of mind, telling you if your fluffy baby is just being silly, or actually sick. Just look through our 'Library' section, or book a consultation for more tailored advice.
Our Goal
VSA aims to educate the general public on the basics of owning a pet. Most people actually lack the knowledge of what the basic needs of an animal are. People get caught off guard on the degree of the responsibility of pet-keeping, resulting in high pet abandonment rates, leading to increased load on animal shelters, and adding to the stray problem. This is not a judgement of the character of the pet owners, they just need a method of knowing.
From personal experience, as a previous pet owner, getting into veterinarian school broadened my horizons. It showed me keeping a pet using just general knowledge was not enough to even maintain the basic needs of an animal, let alone providing comfort, enrichment, training, etc.
That is why VSA is made, bridging the gap between the professional and the uninformed. We believe that no person should ever need to have a university degree before keeping a pet.
Ever wondered how veterinarians make diagnoses? They accumulate years of university education and on-field experience into objective data, and present you with treatment options. What VSA does is not so different. As vet students, although lacking in experience, we have the same fundamental knowledge that licensed veterinarians do. Through consultations, our goal is to provide with the objective data, and you can be informed to make the decisions yourself.
As vets students, we would also like to use this opportunity to better prepare ourselves for the future ahead as veterinarians. Offering these consultations allow us for more exposure to day-to-day problems pet owners have that we might not see when we become veterinarians.
Consultations
Step 1: Enquiry
Send an enquiry through email or down below in the 'Contact us' section, briefly describing what problem your pet has, or what advice you would like to receive. If any serious problems are identified at this stage, we will inform you to seek professional help, and no payment is needed.
Step 2: Payment
We will reply to your email with a bank account number, and after payment is received, we will begin the consultation.
Step 3: Consultation
During a consultation, you can ask as many questions and follow-ups as you like, as well as send images, videos, or voice recordings. We will answer to the best of our capabilities, as quickly as we can, and provide proof to our advice, such as online studies, university lecture material, and personal experience. Based on different findings, different action plans moving forward will be suggested to the client, but the responsibility of decision-making will ultimately fall onto the client. The advice provide will maintain as objective as possible, minimising any bias that might sway the client.
Step 4: Termination
After all the questions are answered, we will ask if you have any remaining questions. If there is none, the conversation will end. Any other questions afterwards will be regarded as a new consultation, so make sure you think of all the questions you want to ask before terminating the conversation. If we do not get a reply within 24 hours, the consultation will automatically be terminated, so make sure to check your phones for any notifications too!