Roles

Population: My veterinary clients.

Understand your workplace rights-whether you're a veterinary team member or manager-in four lessons from top employment attorneys.

Our kennel technicians would spend time running back and forth between our food display and food room, and they would often forget what they went back to the food room to get.

For the past few years, our veterinary practice's kennel business has been declining. I recently learned that an employee pet-sits for clients on the side. The other day a client approached me in an exam room asking if I was the employee who offered pet sitting. When I told him we board pets at the clinic, he said, "Oh dear, I hope I don't get someone in trouble." In fact, the moonlighting employee gave him a tour of our kennel just last week. I realize some people want a more personal approach, but the fact that the pet sitting is a secret going on behind the owner's back bothers me. Help! -Blindsided by boarding

Consider these three ways to overcome client objections with advice from Liza W. Rudolph, BAS, CVT, VTS (Canine/Feline), a technician with the internal medicine service at Saint Francis Veterinary Center in Woolwich Township, N.J.:

You can handle their bark, but you don't want a bite. Firstline Board member Mandy Stevenson, RVT, offers tips for how each team member can stay safe in practice:

Your preventive pitch may be perfect, but some new veterinary client education tools could press more pet owners to do the right thing and keep up with your recommendations.

Use this advice to help out your veterinary practice's super-mommies-to-be.

Understanding the difference between the action of management and the art of leadership is crucial to a successful veterinary practice.

A cancer diagnosis had become as common as a urinary tract infection. I had forgotten the impact of a poor prognosis.

Veterinarians have seen an increase in pets eating the substance.

How my beloved dog Chaser led me to a career in the veterinary field and a passion for preventive care.

Rural Veterinary Experience Teaching and Service (RVETS) travels to rural communities that rely on horses to survive.

Client handout: Parasites at a glance

You've got to shut out the negative and harness your own happiness in life-and in veterinary practice.

Producers who once ordered drugs direct from manufacturer will now need veterinary prescription.

Find answers to your questions about hyperthyroidism.

An expert lays out the overtime law for Illinois then discusses the bigger issue: overtime conversations with the boss.

Offer these tips to your veterinary clients to keep their canine companions from eating their feline friend?s feces.

Consider these seven common myths clients believe about Lyme disease. Then learn how to respond to pet owners and protect their pets' health.

Vaccination recommendations can be confusing to pet owners. This toolkit delivers team training, free client handouts, exam room education strategies and more, all designed to make it as easy as possible for veterinarians and their teams to explain vaccinations to pet owners. (With an educational grant provided by Zoetis)

Learn to compare yourself to other veterinarians in a healthy way.

A veterinary team tames excessive gingival tissue in a boxer.

It's time to cut the cord on your old ways of communicating with clients. Get in sync with pet owners with this advice.

Resistance may play a small role in efficacy failures, but evidence suggests lack of education is the real reason preventives don't work.

Veteirnarians should avoid direct opposition of animal welfare groups during this cultural shift.

It's time we pulled our heads out of the sand and talked about the sad state of the veterinary industry.

In addition to educating clients about zoonoses and sending parasite prevention reminders, Nancy Potter, a Firstline Editorial Advisory Board member and practice manager at Olathe Animal Hospital in Olathe, Kan., says her practice uses the "three times" rule to make sure pets get fecal exams.

Veterinarians aren't the only ones saddled-our clients deal with it, too.

In the right forum, your veterinary clients can be your best defense.