Google. Apple. Uber. VitusVet: The evolution of telephone support.

How many of your clients come in daily to purchase refills, preventatives, food and other pet supplies? Chances are it is a good number...but it's declining. Competition from online providers, like Chewy and Amazon.com, has never been tougher.  Some of these companies are so well-funded that they are willing to LOSE money in order to get your clients' online pharmacy business because they know that, once they get them away from you, they'll never buy medications/food from you again.  We've even seen some online providers with retail prices that are less than the average veterinary practice pays wholesale!

Despite this trend, and while convenience and low price are important to the modern consumer (Are you really any different?), a significant number of clients would still prefer to buy these items directly from you.  Why?  Because they trust you.

When Banfield’s State of Pet Health 2015 was released, it shed light on some worrying statistics. Beyond reflecting the general decline in the use of veterinary services (dogs averaged 1.5 visits in 2006, down from a mean of 1.9 visits in 2001), it suggested that veterinarians and pet owners are increasingly operating on two totally different wavelengths, with our conversation topics and vocabulary diverging sharply from the common concerns of pet owners.

While the majority of veterinarians want to speak about vaccines, spay/neuter, & parasite control, pet owners are most concerned with their pet's diet, exercise, play, and emotional well-being. These differences are creating less schedule routine visits, more emergency situations, and more pet owners seeking Dr. Google.

There’s two ways we can apply this information. Either veterinary professionals must change their rhetoric to match the expectations of their clients, or we need to do a better job educating the public about why we advocate for preventative medicine like antiparasitics, dental cleanings, and vaccine protocols.

VitusVet has partnered with Pet Poison Helpline to implement a one-touch call button, and make their entire database of veterinary toxins available for free to app users, hoping that knowledge of poisons will help save pets’ lives.

Columbia, Maryland - VitusVet, a mobile app solutions provider, has partnered with Pet Poison Helpline, a 24/7 animal poison control center, to give pet owners and veterinary professionals access to potentially lifesaving information from an app on their mobile phones. Pet Poison Helpline has managed over one million cases since its inception over 12 years ago, and provides treatment advice for poisoning cases of all species, including dogs, cats, birds, small mammals, large animals, and exotic species. Both VitusVet and Pet Poison Helpline share the common goal to improve the health and well-being of pets, and the partnership will allow both companies to save even more lives in an innovative, and always accessible manner.

Each year, over 10 million pets are lost or stolen in the United States. Even with our best efforts to keep our pets safe and secure in our homes and yards, situations can change in an instant and things can quickly go awry.

Keeping our pets safe is about more than just trying to contain them in our homes and yards. Outfit your pets with proper pet identification at all times can go a long way toward preventing the heartbreak of losing a pet.