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If you’re a VCA client, you can skip the on-hold message and have Alexa call the vet.
So we all know Alexa can turn on the lights, read us bedtime stories from Kindle books, accidentally send private messages to friends and order groceries on Amazon. But now the smart speaker has a new trick. If you’re a VCA client, try saying, “Alexa, call the vet.”
VCA and Alexa have teamed up to offer services that used to require a computer, or at least a telephone. Now, if you’re tired of listening to your vet’s on-hold recording, being able to simply say “Alexa, call the vet” could be just what the (cat) doctor ordered.
‘Alexa Call The Vet And Make An Appointment’
But nothing is as simple as it seems. You can’t just say “Alexa call the vet and make an appointment. ”
Apparently the only requests she understands are “Alexa, open VCA,” “Alexa, ask VCA when my cat is due for vaccines” or “Alexa, ask VCA to book an appointment for my cat.”
Brendan Lynch, VCA’s vice president of digital strategy says the company wants to make “every interaction between pet owners and our animal hospitals as convenient and easy as possible.”
That would also include the app VCA began offering before Alexa came on board. Like other vets’ apps, VCA’s lets clients schedule appointments, access their cats’ health care information, receive reminders and personalized cat care tips and chat online with a vet 24/7 if they have questions about their cats’ health.
Cat Care With Your Phone
For those of us who like to do anything and everything possible with our phones, there are other ways to automate cat care.
For instance, you can control some timed feeders with your phone. One even lets you talk to your cat, dispense treats and play with your cat using your phone.
My cats would probably freak out if they heard my voice coming from a self-feeder. And since they don’t have dry food, those phone-controlled gadgets wouldn’t work for us anyway. But I do like the idea of an app that would let me access my cats’ health care records and make an appointment without having to listen to that tedious on-hold recording. I think I’m going to download my vet’s app right now!

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