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Veterinary Practice News Editorial Blog:
September 21, 2011
Dogs Not Allowed
Katherine Dobbs, RVT, CVPM, PHR
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I happen to own both dogs and cats (and various other assorted fur-bearers), and for the most part they tolerate one another. Actually, a few of my cats like to tumble and toss with the dogs, which is an interesting sight. But I realize this is not the norm. During my years in practice, I certainly respected the fact that often these two species do not mix.
Designing veterinary practices with separate entrances so the species don’t mingle in the lobby is a relatively new idea. This is good for two reasons: to avoid getting the dogs excited and barking, and to avoid getting the cats nasty and bad tempered. Both contribute to the comfort of the clients, and certainly the staff.
In the September issue of Veterinary Practice News, there is a great article about the Bayer Veterinary Care Usage Study. One part of this study asked dog and cat owners what services would entice them to bring their pets to the veterinarian more often.
For most of the services mentioned, the numbers were pretty close between dog owners and cat owners; they both would like to see more competitive product prices, wellness programs with monthly bills, extended business hours, online appointment scheduling, and so on. But one service stood out to me with the largest gap between species-specific owners, and that is “species specific days or times.”
For dog owners, they would be enticed by this “dog only” time in only 8 percent of the respondents. But in cat owners, they would like to see “cats only” time, or “dogs not allowed” time, in 18 percent of the respondents.
In my experience, I’ve never seen a practice determine species-specific days or times, so I wonder how this would work in reality. But the numbers certainly suggest that aside from going all the way to only allowing one species or another, we certainly can cater more to cat owners if we provide a more pleasant environment for their feline family members. This could involve the separate entrances as mentioned, but also separate lobby areas, and exam rooms designated to specific species (after all, animals know what has come before them!)
In this same issue of Veterinary Practice News, there is a great article about how to cater to cats. I hope everyone reads this, because it is startling to realize that while more cats are owned than dogs, cats are certainly seeing the veterinarian less often.
Also good to know, this article states that the Bayer study found that 58.2 percent percent of cat owners stated that their cats hate going to the veterinarian, and 37.6 percent of cat owners said that just thinking about taking their cats to the veterinarian is stressful. Obviously, there needs to be compelling reasons to take care of the cats, but also to comfort the cat clients and demonstrate that we are sensitive to the needs of their furry friends. Grab the September issue of VPN for more great info on how to make cats more comfortable in your practice!
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