Client Relations & Marketing

Play a game to remember pet and client names.

Changing guidelines, research findings, and product choices can create a muddle of confusion. Sort through it and offer clients the best protection for their pets.

A trip to the optometrist's office reminded this veterinarian that clients are willing to pay for quality care-especially if it prevents hassles in the long run.

Get your facts straight with ethically clear and ethically ambiguous situations.

Veterinary behaviorist Dr. Melissa Bain has basic knowledge you can share on pet training with new or newly exasperated owners.

Dr. Jay Stewart, owner of Aumsville Animal Clinic in Aumsville, Ore., and a CAPC member, offers these tips to help your clients bridge the gap between awareness and action.

Page 100-104

Unfortunately, you can't read clients' minds and predict the information, products, and services they want. But you can take a good guess through a revolutionary process called listening.

"No. Here's why a strong recommendation for the care you believe in is the best marketing tool you possess."

It's probably more than you think. For example, a typical dog owner spends $219 a year on routine veterinary care, while a cat owner spends $175, according to the 2007-2008 APPMA National Pet Owners Survey (see Figure 1).

Months into the pet food recall, the veterinary world is out of sorts, with some dry and wet food varieties still off the shelves. But amid the frustrations, there's some good news: The recall has shifted clients' focus from cost to quality of their pets' diets.

The number of pet-owning households continues to grow, according to the 2007-2008 APPMA National Pet Owners Survey. About 63 percent of households own pets today, a 7 percent increase from 1988.

Yes. But oddly enough, few pet owners take the right steps to protect their pets, their families, and themselves from infestations (see Figure 1)

Where does Rover sleep? How much do pet owners spend every year? For answers to these questions and more, explore this list of fun facts about pets and the people who love them.

The dogs, cats, birds, fish, gerbils, and hamsters you see today might look like the same animals that walked into your practice 10 years ago, but they're different. A sign of their status change might be the number of companies that cater to four-legged consumers, including Old Navy, Harley-Davidson, Origins, and Paul Mitchell, just to name a few. You can also look to what their human companions are spending on these and other products-an estimated $40.8 billion in 2007.

University Park, Penn. - 7/24/2007 - The Penn State Equine Identification Program, to be held over the next year, will assess the the impact of microchipping horses for identification and tracking for the National Animal Identification System (NAIS).

A breakdown of communications step by step at a clinic.

Blogging can help bring back that loving feeling-in your work life.

A client handout on the benefits of microchipping

After the death of two wonderful dogs over the past several years, my family decided to take a few years off from being dog owners. Well, we're back in action now, puppy classes and all.

Feeling your blood start to boil? Avoid scalding yourself and others when you're faced with fiery flare-ups from clients or co-workers.

Quick identification of a "stray" can lead to a happy reunion when pets go missing. The other possible outcomes are not quite so cheerful.

A Mayo Clinic study finds that behavior, not skill, is the key to positive patient perception.

Build on the groundwork you've already laid to cross the marketing finish line with style.

Washington - Privacy of animal-registration database information and feeding methods to produce foie gras comprise the official list of resolutions to be addressed at the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) House of Delegates (HOD) annual meeting, July 14.

Concerned about the threat of feline heartworm infection, team members at Valley Animal Hospital in Roanoke, Va., decided to launch a campaign to educate clients.

Most veterinary hospital owners are proud of their doctors and support staff and know how hard they work to offer outstanding patient care. Given that, it may be easy to assume that we are providing better care than we actually are. A client-satisfaction survey is an excellent way to measure the quality of service – as perceived by clients.

My idea to help abused families blossomed into a program that shelters pets while their families get the help they need to escape dangerous situations and rebuild their lives.