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Ask client concerns early Asking clients what concerns
they have regarding their pets is an important part of the veterinarian- client-patient relationship, but when is the best time to ask? A new study shows that soliciting
client concerns at the onset of a veterinary appointment reduced the number of times concerns were raised by the client at the end of the appointment.
NEWS
Study compares ranges of feral, house cats Feral cats are more active and
have a much larger range than pet cats, according to a new study. Scientists used radio telemetry and collar-mounted activity sensors to track
populations of owned cats and feral cats in a large area of central Illinois over two years. The average range of a pet cat was about 5 acres. “Some of the cat owners were very
PRAC TICE MANAGEMENT “Not soliciting client concerns
at the beginning of an interview increased the odds of a concern arising during the final moments of the interaction,” the study says. “This required the veterinarian to choose among extending the appointment to address the concern, ignoring the concern at a possible cost to client satisfaction, or deferring the concern to another visit.”
When clients don’t pay A client in North Carolina agreed
in writing to pay for the $689 emer- gency procedure. But when she came to pick up her cat, she offered only $200 instead. The veterinarian, who had more than $30,000 in accounts receivable, dug in her heels. She refused to release the cat and told the owner she would charge an additional $11 a day in boarding costs.
The veterinarian quickly learned
the public relations implications of playing “hardball.” She was vilified when the story hit the news media and blogosphere. But what about from a legal
standpoint? Does the law back up her hard-line approach? Yes, according to Jon Rankin,
an animal law attorney in Framing- ham, Mass.
NEWS
surprised to learn that their cats were going that far,” said Jeff Horn, lead author of the study in a University of Illinois news release. “That’s a lot of backyards.”
“We do more”: Vets’ Impact on Global Health In the wake of the victory over
rinderpest, everyone from the United Nations to The New York Times is prais- ing the work of veterinarians around the world for their work in eradicating
the deadly “cattle plague.” “The long but little-known campaign
to conquer rinderpest is a tribute to the skill and bravery of ‘big animal’ veterinar- ians, who fought the disease in remote
Trends magazine, September 2011 Read the full articles at
trends.aahanet.org
EPA to ban some rodenticides The U.S. Environmental Protec-
tion Agency is preparing to ban the sale of certain rodenticides to the general public, a move that could help prevent one of the most frequent causes of pet poisoning. In addition to banning the most
and sometimes war-torn areas—across arid stretches of Africa bigger than Europe, in the Arabian desert, and on the Mongo- lian steppes,” said New York Times science writer Donald G. McNeil Jr.
toxic anticoagulant rodenticides (brodifacoum, bromadiolone, difethi- alone and difenacoum), the agency also plans to stop the sale of most loose bait and pellet-form roden- ticides to cut down on accidental poisonings of children and pets.
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