I started working in outback Australia as a cattle and horse vet in 1992. I then worked in the UK for 3 years in various large and small animal practices before establishing Dandenong Ranges Veterinary Centre in the beautiful eastern outskirts of Melbourne, Australia in 1999. With the advent of smartphones I produced a pet care app in 2012 (VetCheck) which has over 10,000 installations.
Medechat, VetCheck 24/7 & PetCheck 24/7 is how I see the future of veterinary medicine as we strive to improve the mental health of vets across Australia and New Zealand.
I am also an advisory board member of the AVA Veterinary Business Group. In my limited spare time I am also the President of Wheelchair Sports for Kids - a charity that provides fun, friendship and fitness to children using wheelchairs.
The veterinary centre was opened on 26th July 1999 in beautiful Olinda, in the heart of the Dandenong Ranges, Victoria, Australia. At that time there was one vet - Moss and one veterinary nurse - Elissa Taylor (now Roberts).
The original site was at 2 Basin-Olinda Rd, Olinda and was chosen for its exact central location in the Dandenong Ranges. Previously, the building was used as a hardware and lawn mower shop. There was a fire causing the hardware shop to close and it never re-opened.
This site was perfect for the first few years but ultimately more room was needed and hence the surgery has now moved into the main street.
The new Veterinary Centre is located in spacious surroundings at 1449 Mt Dandenong Tourist Rd, Olinda and is at the heart of the local community.
Moss and his wife Christine decided to settle in the Dandenong Ranges with their family after years of travel around the world. Originally from Mackay in Queensland, Moss has worked in over 15 different veterinary clinics in Australia and overseas but loves the people and idyllic surroundings of the Dandenongs.
The surgery endeavours to employ local people and accepts school work experience students from families who are clients. We also allow trainee veterinary students and veterinary nursing students to see practice with us.
In 2018, Dr Moss set out to deliver a reliable, functional and user-friendly telehealth platform for progressive veterinarians / specialists and customers (pet owners / GP veterinarians) to communicate and consult. One main aim was for Medechat to help reduce a lot of the pressures encountered as a working vet and/or business owner.
To date vet telemedicine services are affiliated with insurance companies and are bypassing the regular vets of pet owners. Medechat is designed so that vet practices can utilise their own vets to provide telemedicine to pet owners. A video consultation can never replace hands-on examination of an ill or injured pet, but Medechat is useful for assessing remote patients unable to access a veterinarian in person, emergency triage, post surgery checks, skin examinations, etc and offers staff flexible hours or work from home.
It enables pet owners convenient access to lower cost professional advice, drive in-clinic visits and helps prevent pet owners from seeking independent external video consultation or advice from Dr Google!
With the arrival of Covid, Medechat was fast tracked to enable practices to continue consulting over the period. It is now used by the VetCheck 24/7 service to provide after hours telehealth consults with VetCheck Vets and is also available for practice use on it's own or alongside the VetCheck 24/7 service.
In 2021 after the launch of Medechat, it became clear that something the veterinary practices were lacking was an after hours triage service. Dr Moss pivoted the business to start delivering this service alongside the Medechat platform.
Practices are able to divert their after hours (or anytime) calls to experienced vet nurses at VetCheck 24/7. They will resolve the issue themselves if possible. If the advice of a vet is required, they will book a Medechat video consultation with one of the qualified and experienced VetCheck vets. If it is a true emergency, they contact the practices on-call vet or refer the client to their preferred emergency clinic.
Demand for the service grew quickly across Australia and New Zealand and prompted the development of the bespoke call log system where all calls received are logged in detail and summaries emailed to the practices so they can follow up with their clients.
Today, there are 60+ vet nurses in both Australia and the UK, taking calls 24/7 on behalf of our practices making VetCwheck 24/7 the largest employer of vet nurses in Australia.
10 years ago, as a Vet, I sensed that my clients owners were having difficulty managing the various aspects of their pets details. From simple things like registration, insurance and microchip details to their vaccination and medical history. I was then adding to this with after care information and treatment schedules.
I decided to put my veterinary experience to good use and develop an App to simplify pet care for owners. I wanted to distinguish the App as not just another pet diary or contact and information holder but a complete package. It not only stores all your details and contacts in one place but also provides accurate information on illnesses that might affect your pet. These are constantly updated as new diagnoses and treatments become available.
The App also assists with illness detection and prevention. The weight charting in the App will show in an instant any sudden weight loss or gain which might indicate that there is a problem. And if your pet does require ongoing medication or has specific dietary requirements, all your pets details can be emailed directly to your boarding kennel for instance or maybe a new Vet.
But it’s not all serious stuff, there also really useful pet tips and some fun pet trivia. I get a lot of feedback that the pet tips have been really useful, like how to deal with excessive barking and that challenging experience of toilet training puppies. With a really clear and stylish interface, VetCheck is a must have for all animal owners.
With the success of the VetCheck 24/7 service for practices it became clear that there was also a large segment of the consumer market that didn't have a regular vet. Dr Moss decided that a direct to consumer service based on VetCheck 24/7 would fill this void.
PetCheck 24/7 will be launched in October this year and will be available as a subscription service. For $29.99 a month users will be able to make unlimited calls to the PetCheck vet nurses, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week as well as access telehealth consultations with vets for a fee through the Medechat telehealth platform.
The PetCheck 24/7 vet nurses will provide general advice, setup paid telehealth consultations if vet advice is required or assist the user to find their nearest emergency centre in true emergencies.
The service will be app based so users can easily access the service when needed directly from their phones.
