Technicians

Full mouth extractions offer hope for a cat with widespread oral inflammation.

Be clear when assigning tasks.

Don't be shy-show clients the value of your invaluable team.

Have an awful boss at your veterinary practice? Learn how Rachael Simmons dealt with hers.

It's your chance to play Sherlock-look for the clues and see if you can crack the veterinary case of the wailing basset hound.

Your terrible, horrible, no-good manager may not be as bad as you think. Consider these eight secrets that help explain why they do the seemingly crazy things they do.

Take this quiz to find out if you're looking up to par for practice!

Have a Google+ account but rarely use it? Check out these pages for some inspiration.

Who needs a functional staff anyway?

Stand up straight and send a message.

Grab some laughs between veterinary client visits!

It's time to adjust your cat-titude to make way for service that leaves pet owners purring. Consider this advice to come up to scratch when clients visit your practice.

Use this advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to wash your hands the right way every time:

Consider this advice to stay positive when you're being reviewed at your veterinary practice.

Dr. Andrew Roark says despite all the advances in technology, until pets can talk, the physical exam is still essential.

Editor's note: Practice Life is a new column designed to offer tools to help your practice manage daily challenges, big or small, more efficiently

Help make sure you're spreading the microchip message and improve the chances lost pets will find their way home:

Q: Sometimes when we mention a pet needs to lose weight, clients blame the animals. How do we keep these conversations positive?

Q: We have an inventory item that has repeatedly been short when counted. It's a very specific eye medication ordered in limited quantities, and only a handful of clients use the medication. One of the clients has recently been sent to collections, and she happens to be related to a team member. I fear that the missing medication is walking out of the clinic in the hands of an employee. How would you recommend that I approach this employee? We are prepared to fire her for the crime, but we have no proof that she's the culprit. Help! -Suspicious of sticky fingers

Whether you're the reviewer-or the reviewee-it's time to embrace a new outlook on employee reviews. Hint: The manager may be doing them wrong.

Be supportive of pet owners when they're faced with their cat's diabetes diagnosis. Use these communication techniques to ease the burn of this challenging disease.

On the road to veterinary practice improvement, carefully crafted solutions that involve the team win the race.

Sick over work-literally? Whether you only pick up the occasional pet mess or you're in the back treating animals every day, you need to know how to control zoonoses.

Get down and dirty for the team.

"Underemployed" dogs need stimulation.

Tip 1: Do the tough work.

Use this tool to help your veterinary team create or refresh your practice parasite protocol.

Want to fix what's wrong with veterinary medicine? First, remember what's right.