For our two sons, the vet’s is a place of high comedy: where every once in a while, they get to see someone taking our cat’s temperature. “FROM HER BUM!” as our four year-old put it last time he tagged along.

But veterinary surgeries are a serious business, and sometimes an upsetting one for kids if the outcome is bad. For that reason, we really like the idea of a new iPad app called Dr. PetPlay by Pretendasaurus, which puts kids in the role of a vet for their own toys.

The app gets them to choose the type of their animal: dog, cat, rabbit and horse through to monkey, bear, elephant and, ahem, brontosaurus or Tyrannosaurus Rex. Then they take a photo, type in their name, set their birthdate and weight, then record the ‘symptoms’ of their current illness.

There’s an X-Ray mode to see how their bones are looking, complete with the ability to zoom in or scribble notes, as well as a heart and temperature monitor (how your child chooses to measure the latter is entirely their decision!).

Every time they create a record, it’s stored on the iPad to be accessed next time they’re playing. We said we liked Dr. PetPlay because of the sometimes-upsetting nature of a visit to the vet’s, so why? It’s a nice attempt to help kids understand what a vet does, which may in turn help you to explain if and when the vet can’t help your real-life pet back to health.

Dr. PetPlay costs £1.99 for iPad on Apple’s App Store, although you’ll need an iPad 2 or newer device: the original iPad won’t cut it in 2013’s virtual vet clinics!