Exploring the future of the veterinary industry

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Back to the Future of the Veterinary Industry

We think and write a lot about the the various challenges and innovative solutions that are shaping the future of our industry. Just last week we covered some of the latest innovations in veterinary medicine and linked six stories making headlines this month. And this week, we’re going back to the same well to explore the future of the veterinary industry as there was some great coverage on what the future of the veterinary industry could look like, and what it means for you as a clinician, specialist or owner.

Veterinary Practice News published a piece highlighting a new ownership model that the author believes could solve some of the industries largest challenges including employee burnout, private equity buyouts, and a diminishing number of qualified veterinary professionals. Having more clinics operate under a worker cooperative business model, where practices are owned and self-managed by its workers, could increase retention, job satisfaction, and ultimately create more welcoming and desirable workplaces for veterinary professionals.

If a world where nearly all vets work in a place where they feel valued, happy, and have exceptional work-life balance feels far fetched, you’re not alone. That’s why so much attention is being paid to what the future of our industry should be, and how we can get there. Today’s Veterinary Business has been covering this for a while, and recently published two interesting articles:

How to Future-Proof Your Practice provides a three step guide for clinic owners to understand their current business and associated challenges, and create change to ensure they are bringing the innovation and creativity required to meet the ever changing demands of clients. And wouldn’t you know it, the very first step is to review your business model.
There are some minor changes that could be made, or as we saw in the story above, perhaps a complete overhaul is needed to change the culture at a practice to ensure its sustainability.

TVB’s second article this week, How to Bring Back the Joy in Vet Med, highlights six proven leadership practices that can activate well-being in veterinary team members by providing meaning in their work beyond a paycheck:

We encourage you to read the full article to create a deeper understanding of how to implement these steps, and the science behind each one.

1. Communicate the Work’s Bigger Impact

2. Recognize and Nurture Potential

3. Foster Personal Connections

4. Discuss Values and Purpose During Hiring

5. Enact Integrity Through Modeling Values-Based Behavior

6. Give Employees Freedom

After all, it’s no secret what the key to a clinics success is: energized, empowered, and talented employees who are excited by their work.

Our take: If you ask us, the future of veterinary medicine is bright, but only as bright as we want it to be. Each of us can be a force for good and a catalyst for change at work. It can feel daunting to take on this burden alongside your other responsibilities but it needs to be done to uplift each other - especially if you are in a management position or a clinic owner. The acts can be small like giving the coffee instead of receiving it. Or they can be much larger, like institute new work policies designed to create meaningful connection between employees, work-life balance, and understand the work’s bigger impact.

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How to deal with nasty clients

The University of Aberdeen was much more professional when naming their “new practical guide for managing rudeness in veterinary practice”, but we prefer the more colloquial, “how to deal with nasty clients.”

The guide aims to help veterinary professionals manage and respond to rudeness, as well as provide recommendations on how to develop a supportive practice environment.

The guide is pretty good - it includes background on why this is important, strategies to implement in the clinic, mental health considerations for you and clients, and even considerations on working with neurodivergent clients.

It’s nothing short of comprehensive. But maybe too comprehensive… we’re all about learning in quick segments to improve retention and this 68-page guide may a bit too daunting for anyone who wants the quick takeaways to bring to work.

Download your copy for free from the University of Aberdeen here.

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The Chonk Chart

This isn’t new, but we chuckle every time we see the cat chonkiness chart so we thought we’d share it here for us all to smile.

Yes, obesity in cats is serious. And yes, there are better and more descriptive names we can use to communicate with clients. But come on… look at these chonkers 😻 

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From the NYT: Animal

The New York Times released a new 6-part podcast series called Animal at the end of May where writer Sam Anderson goes on a journey around the world to meet new creatures and the people who love them.

The first episode is on a daschund named Walnut and the following episodes cover puffins, manatees, ferrets, wolves, and bats.

All episodes are available to stream now wherever you get your podcasts, or at:

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Quick Hits

Here are some of the other stories that caught our eye and we're following this week from around the veterinary world and animal kingdom: