Words that Work: Communicating the Value of Preventive Pet Healthcare, March 2013

Partners for Healthy Pets is an alliance of more than 20 leading veterinary associations and animal health companies committed to a vision of improved overall health for pets. As an associate member, The Vet Gazette will be regularly posting updates. Check back on Friday for another post and visit thier website to learn more!

Research shows that pet owners are willing to embrace preventive healthcare visits if they know it will benefit their pets. Unfortunately, research also shows that many pet owners don’t completely understand the value of routine care. Effective communications skills help establish trust between the pet owner and your healthcare team. They also lead to client and patient compliance.

As professionals, we are good at making recommendations about pet health, but we are not always as diligent about effectively communicating the value and benefit of what we are recommending. The more we understand about a pet owner and the pet’s environment, the more we can help the pet owner understand the value of what we are doing and the more willing they are to provide their pet with the care you recommend.

Our clients need to understand the value of veterinary services, and the goal of Partners for Healthy Pets is to help you build appreciation for preventive healthcare by helping you better communicate the value of your services.

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Entry, Creative Corner
Teri Williams, Georgia

Externship with the Arkansas Livestock and Poultry Commission (ALPC)

Entry, Experiences
Justin Padgett, Auburn

There is little doubt after completing a Veterinary Pathology course that the field lies at the heart of all things veterinary medicine. Whether the specific discipline be public health or internal medicine, the skills learned and required  in anatomic and microscopic pathology act as “iron sharpening iron” to enhance any DVM’s skills in a chosen trade. Pathology requires a keen knowledge of gross and microscopic anatomy, a meticulous understanding of diseases and their routes of infection, and a detailed knowledge of the body’s responses to pathogenic stimuli.  It is for these reasons that I seek out any opportunity to spend extra time in the pathology laboratory and witness disease processes firsthand. I had a chance to pursue this goal this past winter break when I participated in an externship with the Arkansas Livestock and Poultry Commission (ALPC).

I was made aware of the opportunity to spend time with the ALPC through the American College of Veterinary Pathologists (ACVP) website.  The ACVP site is a great resource for any student looking to match with hosting pathology institutions that range in orientation from government to industry and research to zoo animal.

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Entry, Creative Corner
Kelsey Krammer, Ohio State

"Cat", oil"Hippo", oil"Rhino", oil

Puppy Goes to the Farm

Entry, Creative Corner
Brittany Murphy, Georgia

O to the farm we go

To run over the fields high and lo.

But wait! Bark, bark, growl

Around this strange, leggy creature I prowl.

My human just laughs and soon I see,

Horses are fun and their poop is TASTY!

Grain, hay, molasses….oh what delicious glories

Alas, later, my tummy didn’t agree with me….