Opinion
In last week’s AHD Bulletin, we urged veterinary teams to consider spending more time with new and existing clients presenting new pets. We asserted the need for onboarding processes or guidelines as paramount to developing long-term relationships with pet owners, the health of pets and the revenue that flows from interactions with happy, engaged clients.
AAHA’s End-of-life guidelines define the emotional, social and physical needs, including support AFTER a pet’s death. Note how these guidelines focus on maximizing patient comfort and minimizing suffering while providing a collaborative and supportive partnership with the owner/caregiver client. Timely, empathetic and nonjudgmental communication is the hallmark of effective client support.
Source: Animal Health Digest. Link. Note the absence of describing pet parents in the AAHA EOL guidelines.
Caregiver is a more applicable term to the stewardship roles of pet owners and pet owner families than pet parent.”
Even caregivers from seasoned pet households need support when a new pet is added. Homing or rehoming a new pet changes everything for several weeks at minimum. Changes to the pet owner mix in a recent VetWatch <see pages 5, 6, 7> demonstrate inherent needs for client onboarding processes or guidelines including best communication practices.
INSIGHTS: Consider how pet caregiver clients would positively react to monthly or quarterly contact. These can be as simple as making sure everything is going okay and addressing any observations or the concerns they raise.