Pet medical privacy: who should see what, and when?

Pet medical records are not protected by HIPAA — that law covers human health information only. State veterinary record law varies, and most controls over your pet’s information end up being practical decisions you make: what to share with a vet, a sitter, a finder, or a public scan page. Pick per-context what is actually useful to that audience.

Owners often assume their pet’s medical records carry the same legal protections as their own. They do not. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a US law that covers protected health information for humans. It does not apply to pets. Veterinary records are governed by a patchwork of state veterinary practice laws — most of which give the owner reasonable access to their own pet’s records but do not create the kind of broad privacy framework HIPAA does for people.

Who actually sees pet medical information

In normal pet ownership, four groups end up seeing some slice of your pet’s information. The right amount to share is different in each case.

• Your veterinarian. Gets the full picture — history, medications, conditions, lab work. Records typically stay with the practice; you can request copies.
• A sitter, boarder, or groomer. Needs the operational subset — current medications, allergies, behavior notes, vet contact, your contact, emergency contacts.
• A finder (someone who scans your pet’s tag). Needs the minimum to get the pet home — a name, a way to reach you, and any medical alert that affects how they should handle the pet in the next hour.
• The general public. Should usually see almost nothing — a pet’s name and an image are typically enough on a public-facing page.

The Driyu privacy controls (in plain English)

Driyu profiles distinguish between what you keep for yourself (always private) and what is shown on the public recovery page when someone scans your tag. The public side is controlled by individual toggles in your profile settings:

• phone — show or hide your phone number on the public scan page.
• email — show or hide your email on the public scan page.
• city — show or hide your city on the public scan page.
• state — show or hide your state on the public scan page.
• emergency_contacts — a single toggle that turns the entire emergency contact list on or off for the public page.
• Medical alerts — each alert is controlled individually. You can publish “needs daily medication” without publishing the specific medication names.

Defaults are designed to support recovery if a pet is found. You can change them at any time, and the change takes effect the next time someone scans the tag. For a wider view of what Driyu does and does not share, see what Driyu shares and what it does not.

When a medical alert is worth making public

The clearest case: a pet that needs a daily medication on a specific schedule. A finder who keeps the pet overnight benefits enormously from knowing “this dog gets medication every morning — please contact the owner before delaying.” That is a recovery-relevant note. By contrast, a list of every supplement and the dosage of each is information a finder does not need. The judgment is: would this make the next 24 hours safer for the pet? If yes, publish the alert. If no, keep it in the private record for your sitter, vet, or family.

How Driyu notifications work (and what we do not do)

When a finder submits a found-pet report through a Driyu scan page, the owner is notified. A raw scan — just opening the page — does not notify the owner. This distinction matters: it means scans alone (curious passersby, accidental opens) do not generate notifications. Driyu also does not track GPS location of pets; the tag is a contact handoff, not a tracker. QR tags do not replace a microchip — they complement it. The chip is the permanent ID; the tag is what gets a finder to you in the moment.

Sharing records with a new vet or specialist

Most US states give owners the right to request records or have them transferred to another veterinarian, though the exact mechanism varies. Some practices charge a small fee. Ask your clinic what their process is — most will email records or fax them to a new vet within a few business days. Keeping a copy yourself, in a Driyu profile or any organized folder, means you are never starting from scratch when you switch vets, move, or see a specialist.