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Decision Data: Satisfied with Cat-Friendly Practice?
January 6, 2020
John Volk , Karen E. Felsted, CPA, MS, DVM, CVPM, CVA
, Brendan Howard, Business Channel Director
John Volk
Karen E. Felsted, CPA, MS, DVM, CVPM, CVA
Dr. Felsted is a CPA as well as a veterinarian and has spent the last 15 years working as a financial and operational consultant to veterinary practices and the animal health industry. She also spent three years with the National Commission on Veterinary Economic Issues as CEO. She has written an extensive number of articles for a wide range of veterinary publications and speaks regularly at national and international veterinary meetings. She is the current treasurer of VetPartners, a member of the Veterinary Economics Editorial Advisory Board, a member of the CVPM board of directors and the current treasurer of the CATalyst Council. In 2011, she was awarded the Western Veterinary Conference Practice Management Continuing Educator of the Year and in 2014, the VetPartners Distinguished Life Member Award.Dr. Felsted enjoys exotic international travel, and when the dvm360 team last heard from her, she was headed to the Galapagos.
Brendan Howard, Business Channel Director
Brendan Howard oversees veterinary business, practice management and life-balance content for dvm360.com, dvm360 magazine, Firstline and Vetted, and plans the Practice Management track at all three Fetch dvm360 conferences.Brendan has proudly served under the Veterinary Economics and dvm360 banners for more than 10 years. Before that, he worked as a journalist, writer and editor at Entrepreneur magazine and a top filmed entertainment magazine in Southern California. Brendan received a Masters in English Literature from University of California, Riverside, in 1999.
A data dive yields insights on becoming a Cat-Friendly Practice through the American Association of Feline Practitioners—and how satisfied veterinary hospital owners and managers are with the results.
It can often be difficult for a veterinary practice owner or manager to decide how to change their business model, when to add services and how to adjust for changing times. The team at dvm360 has been working with two of the sharpest veterinary analysts around (John Volk and Dr. Karen Felsted) to examine major changes practices have made and how happy the decision-makers were when all was said and done.
For the next few months, we’ll be sharing results from their study as well as resources and commentary to help you make a decision as a practice owner or manager—or make a plan happen once you’ve decided.
This week, we look at which practices are selling products and refilling prescriptions online.
NOTE: Categories are based on the survey question, “What were your practice’s gross revenues in 2016?” as well as questions about 2017 behavior and decisions.
| Practices with gross revenue of ... | Percentage |
| Less than $500,000 | 6% |
| $500,000-$999,000 | 9% |
| $1 million-$1.5 million | 12% |
| $1.5 million-$2 million | 14% |
| $2 million-$3 million | 23% |
| $3 million-$5 million | 9% |
| $5 million or more | 13% |
Source: dvm360 Decisions Survey; Dr. Karen Felsted of PantheraT Consulting; John Volk of Brakke Consulting
What is the No. 1 reason you pursued Cat-Friendly Practice certification?
(Respondents selected only one)
| Reduce patient stress | 29% |
| Improve cat owners' satisfaction and compliance | 27% |
| Increase cat visits | 22% |
| Improve standard of care | 16% |
| Sponsored by AAFP | 5% |
| Reduce employee injuries | 4% |
| Reduce number of fractious cats | 1% |
| Educate staff on unique needs of cats | 0 |
| Increase profits | 0 |
Source: dvm360 Decisions Survey; Dr. Karen Felsted of PantheraT Consulting; John Volk of Brakke Consulting
No. 1 benefit seen after becoming a Cat-Friendly Practice
(Respondents selected only one)
| Increased cat owner satisfaction | 25% |
| Less patient stress | 20% |
| Improved staff compliance with good feline handling techniques | 18% |
| Satisfaction that we are practicing good feline handling techniques | 15% |
| Fewer fractious cats | 7% |
| Increased staff training | 5% |
| Fewer employee injuries | 0 |
| Increased profits | 0 |
| No benefit | 7% |
Source: dvm360 Decisions Survey; Dr. Karen Felsted of PantheraT Consulting; John Volk of Brakke Consulting
Satisfaction with impact of becoming a Cat-Friendly Practice
| Extremely satisfied | 23% |
| Moderately satisfied | 29% |
| Satisfied | 46% |
| Dissatisfied | 1% |
| Moderately dissatisfied | 1% |
| Extremely dissatisfied | 0 |
Source: dvm360 Decisions Survey; Dr. Karen Felsted of PantheraT Consulting; John Volk of Brakke Consulting
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