Your Clients Are Skipping Wellness Exams

That’s the message from Partners for Healthy Pets. The industry group looked at practice management systems in 5,000 hospitals and found that the percentage of “inactive” clients had increased significantly since 2012. More than half of dogs and cats had not had a visit to the hospital in 18 months.

We see these trends throughout the industry. PHP’s response was to increase marketing to inactive clients. And the results were positive. It shows the power and importance of strong communication plans for the profession.

Do you have a strategic marketing strategy for communicating with lapsed clients? Comment at our website.

If you’ve been forwarded this edition, you can subscribe here.

Michael

The Top Story

Veterinary Industry Study

More Clients Going “Inactive”

A review of the databases from approximately 5,000 companion animal veterinary practices in the U.S. shows a steady increase in the number of inactive clients over at least the past 3 years, according to a study by Partners for Health Pets.

Read the full story at AAHA

More Veterinary Industry News

Industry Associations

AAHA Revises Position on Declawing

After many months of review, the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) has revised its position on domestic cat declawing.

R ead the full news release at AAHA

Veterinary Medicine on TV

New TV Show Follows Students at Cornell

A new Nat Geo Wild series premiering Sept. 19 follows a group of students through rotations at the prestigious Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine.

Read the story in the Chicago Trib
Visit the show website

State Veterinary Boards

Texas Board Rules Against Vet Accused of Shooting Cat with Bow & Arrow

The Texas Board of Veterinarian Medical Examiners found a violation in the case of Brenham veterinarian, Kristen Lindsey, who is accused of killing a cat and then bragging about it on social media.

Read the article at KXAN

Pharmaceuticals

Veterinary Generics Squeezed by Distribution “Blocking” Agreements

In her daily quest to provide pet owners affordable treatments for their animals, Dr. Julia Lucas routinely seeks out generic versions of drugs. Finding sources for most generics isn’t simple, she discovered a couple of years ago.

The reason is that dominant veterinary-supply distributors in the United States are bound by exclusivity agreements with Zoetis, the world’s largest animal drug manufacturer, that prevent them from selling generic drugs that compete with the Zoetis brand.

R ead the full story at VIN

Animal Science

UK Study: Dogs Can Identify People with Prostate Cancer

In a recent UK National Health Service (NHS) preliminary study, trained dogs were able to sniff out prostate cancer 9 out of 10 times, making them a more accurate predictor than the standard (but controversial) Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) screening test, which has a high “false positive” rate.

Read the full story at The Bark

What Your Clients Are Reading

Dear Dr. Fox: Affordable Veterinary Care is Lacking in US

Pets are companions for millions of people in this country, and many of us are on a limited income. Just the price of food from Walmart is a stretch. I’d love to feed my pets the homemade food you recommend, but it’s out of the question. So are visits to the vet. So many animal lovers fall into this category. I’ve even heard several stories of people going through their limited retirement funds to try to save a beloved pet. What’s the moral thing to do here? Are pets for the well-off only?

Read Dr. Fox’s Response at the Poughkeepsie Journal

Community Veterinary Partners works with veterinarian owners who want to continue running the medical side of their practices, but want help with the day-to-day administrative and team management tasks. We help create a long-term strategy and a sustainable way for your practice to continue thriving — well into the future. Contact us to learn about how to partner with CVP and secure your financial future and the legacy of your hospital.