🦴 Insurance Spikes, Kibble Dips, and an AI Collar That Tattles—your Wednesday Pet Intel

Good morning, weekday warriors & whiskered companions.

It’s Wednesday, June 4th, and if Monday still has its claws in you, a fresh dose of pet intel will do the declawing.

The Big Picture:

(Sources: naphia.org¹ , dvm360.com², bls.gov³)

Bottom line: New insurance dollars, sparse rural coverage, and cost jitters are re-wiring how (and where) owners seek care. Practices that bundle preventive plans and virtual touch-points will fetch the loyalty.

Pet Tech & Innovation

Fi Series 3 Plus — the collar that tattles

Fi’s new Series 3 Plus ships the hardware free and lets the $14/mo plan do the heavy lifting: double-sensitivity GPS, an IP-68 shell that laughs at 50 m of saltwater, and an AI “Behavior Translator” that flags sudden spikes in barking, licking, scratching, drinking, or couch-potatoing — all on your Apple Watch.

Why you care

• Pre-empt the ER bill — 80%–accurate behavior change pings can steer owners to you before “mild itch” becomes $2k pyoderma.
  

• Paperwork, begone — the Watch app OCR-scans vet records and insurance PDFs into one dashboard, so Fido shows up with data, not a shoebox.
  

• Escape-artist insurance — Fi’s boosted LTE-M sees a runaway pup in 5 sec vs. 15 sec last gen.
  

Bottom line: Fitbits walked so Fi could bark-translate; expect showing your veterinarian screenshots of your pup’s health metrics by the end of the year.

Animal Industry

California’s Tele-Vet Tune-Up (AB 1502)

An all-purpose “sunset” bill for the California Veterinary Medical Board—AB 1502—quietly packs a telehealth upgrade. The measure passed the Assembly 75-0 on June 2 and is now parked in the Senate.

What the bill actually says

• Establishing the VCPR: A veterinarian may create a veterinarian-client-patient relationship via a live, two-way video exam. Phone-only calls or online questionnaires don’t cut it.
  

• After the first exam: Once that VCPR exists, the vet can decide whether follow-ups need video, or if phone, text, or async messages are fine.
  

• Hard stops: No new-patient diagnoses or controlled-drug scripts without that initial physical or video exam on record.
  

Why clinics should care

• Shortage safety-valve: California joins 23 other states that now let real-time video stand in for the first hands-on; handy when the nearest DVM is a 40-minute drive away.
  

• Chart-audit ready: Platforms must store encounter records for 3 years and hand them to clients on request—cleaner paper trail, fewer Board headaches.
  

• Clock’s ticking: If the Senate keeps the pace, rules could take effect Jan 1 2026. Time to draft tele-SOPs, pick a HIPAA-lite video tool, and train CSRs on “camera-shy” coaching.

Bottom line: AB 1502 doesn’t fling the clinic doors wide open to phone-only care—but it does hand vets a legit video on-ramp and trims red tape for every follow-up after that. Get your webcam pointed at the exam table before Sacramento hits “approve.”

Pet Stat-Of-The-Day

52% — That’s how many U.S. cat-and dog-owners skipped or declined recommended vet care in the past year. (news.gallup.com)

The Fine Print

• 71% blame cost. Even households pulling six figures said the bill felt too steep.
  

• Every 6 seconds a U.S. pet owner faces a vet bill ≥ $1,000. (Forbes Advisor)
  

• $25-$186: Current range for a “routine” exam, before meds or diagnostics jump on the tab.

Why it matters

Half the country is rationing care, leaving pets sicker, clinics quieter, and an estimated $20 B care gap on the table.

Wellness subscriptions, tele-triage, and friction-free financing aren’t bells and whistles anymore—they’re the life raft for owners and practices alike.

Tails End: 2 Truths & 1 Lie

One of these factoids belongs in the litter box. Can you spot the stinker?

Here are your three statements:

1. The USDA has flagged 243 rural zones in 46 states as veterinary‐shortage areas for 2025—the highest count on record.
   

2. Roughly 1 in 3 U.S. dogs now sports a GPS or smart-health collar, according to the latest pet-wearables survey.
   

3. Just 5.4% of dogs and 2% of cats in the U.S. carry health-insurance policies, despite record vet bills.
   

Think you know which claim deserves the red card? Hit reply with the number you believe is the lie. Correct guessers score bragging rights and a shot at a surprise swag drawing in Sunday’s issue. Good luck! 😉

Paws and reflect: Got a question you want our vets to tackle? Hit reply. Until then, keep the treats crunchy and the walks adventurous—see you Sunday!

— The Knowledge Kennel Team 🐾