AI Receptionist for Veterinary Clinics

Short answer: an AI receptionist answers every call to the clinic, books vaccinations, check-ups and nail clips, and takes repeat prescription requests for a vet to approve. On emergencies it asks the questions your vets wrote and, when the answer matches a red flag such as breathing trouble, collapse or a suspected poisoning, it puts the caller through to a vet or gives your out-of-hours clinic's number at once. It never advises on symptoms, doses or whether an animal needs treatment.

What calls does a vet clinic get?

What does an emergency call sound like?

A small-animal clinic in Denver, 6.50pm, ten minutes before closing.

1. Greeting. "Thanks for calling Front Range Animal Clinic, this is the clinic's automated assistant. Is your pet in an emergency right now?" Asking that first is a choice you make in the greeting.
2. The caller. "My Labrador just ate a bar of dark chocolate."
3. Your rule. Suspected poisoning is on your always-transfer list, so the agent does not ask about amounts or work anything out. It says your line, "I'm putting you through to a vet now", and transfers.
4. No vet free, or after hours. It reads the name, address and number of the emergency hospital you use, and offers to note the call for your team in the morning.
5. The record. The call, its transcript and its outcome are in your console, so the vet who calls back knows what happened.

In the UAE, a dog collapsing after a walk in August is a heatstroke risk, and many clinics in Dubai would put that on the always-transfer list too. Your vets decide what goes on it.

What goes in the knowledge base?

• Appointment types with their lengths: vaccinations, consults, dentals, neuters, nail clips.
• Species you treat, and those you refer (exotics, horses, farm animals).
• Your emergency list and the sentences to say, written by your vets.
• Your out-of-hours arrangement: the clinic or hospital, address and number.
• How repeat prescriptions work and how long they take.
• Pre-surgery instructions, such as when to withhold food, in your vets' exact words.
• Pet travel paperwork you help with. In the UAE, export and import documents are a common reason to ring a clinic.

When should it hand over?

• Anything on the emergency list.
• End-of-life conversations, always.
• A worried owner asking whether to come in, when it is not a clear booking.
• Complaints and billing disputes.
• Calls from other vets or referral hospitals.

Transfer works on imported Telnyx and Plivo numbers. If your number is on Twilio, the agent cannot transfer, so its emergency fallback must be reading the emergency clinic's details; plan for that before going live.

What rules should a clinic keep in mind?

This is a pointer, not legal or professional advice. Your clinic is responsible for the advice and care it provides, including on calls the agent answers.

• US: advice about a specific animal and prescriptions generally depend on a veterinarian-client-patient relationship, and state rules on telemedicine differ. Keep the agent to booking, logistics and your scripted emergency lines.
• UK: the RCVS Code of Professional Conduct expects practices to have arrangements for 24-hour emergency cover, and prescription-only medicines need a vet's decision. Put your out-of-hours provider's details in the knowledge base so the agent can give them.
• UAE: veterinary clinics are licensed by federal and emirate authorities. Owners' details are personal data under the UAE's data protection law, and international workspaces store data in London.
• Everywhere: owners' names, numbers and addresses are personal data. Recording is off by default; tell callers in the greeting if you switch it on.

Is it a good fit?

It suits clinics whose front desk is also the person holding the cat, and clinics that want routine bookings taken in the evening. It is not a replacement for a nurse on a triage line: if your clinic gives telephone triage advice, keep that with a qualified person and let the agent route callers to them.

What do you need to start?

Your clinic number imported from Twilio, Telnyx or Plivo, your appointment types, your emergency list and your out-of-hours details. See the AI receptionist page and the US, UK and UAE pages, then pricing.