What procedures and services are most profitable?

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Here is a short, blunt, sweet answer that you will hear again and again in most professions: IT DEPENDS.

If you are in an area where HBC's are common, being able to handle trauma caused by such injuries may be your bread in butter. If you are in an area where show dogs/breeding is the big issue, therio and the ability to C-section without damaging fertility may be the big ticket item. If you are in an area where the population is focused on alternative health and well being, it may be having an extensive knowledge of alternative therapies, limited vaccinations protocols, and different diets might be the largest area. Areas where people buy dogs that are generally sound but with breed issues it may be preventative care.

I do not think there is anything wrong with being profitable, but there isn't a single pathway to do it. I know vets who make really good money running discount S/N clinics all day every day. I wouldn't do it because I am not ok with the methodology necessary to make the model profitable in that area (lack of monitoring, intubation, etc.) I know vets who specialize (board certified) who don't make anything. Don't assume being boarded will be profitable; vet behaviorists are one of the lowest paying vet professionals around and yet behavior problems cause more animals to go to shelters each year than anything else.

My understanding is that, in general, the most profitable avenues with a clientelle willing to tolerate up front costs is routine preventive care; routine visits twice a year instead of once a year, dentals before extractions are necessary with retail sale of oral care materials for at home use, well-pet bloodwork, etc. This is the stuff that isn't absolutly necessary at the moment, but may make good financial sense for the owners in the long run, which is the problem...most people don't think in the long term, and most people think 'if it all looks ok out here, I don't want to know if there are underlying problems creeping up.'

I even know vets who are making over $100k simply because they are mobile and cater to taking care of pets in the home in areas where the cost to take time off to go to a vet clinic isn't viable or the inconvenience of the exec's spouse of dragging pet and kids to the vet clinic isn't worthwhile.

Check out your school's library. There should be quite a few books available about differnet models for eliciting profit from a clinic...and differnet people do it different ways. Our vet handles her own emergencies; her clients have her cell phone number. She came in on Christmas eve and day to deal with an injury to our dog. She didn't charge us a tremendous fee for it, but you can bet I have told at least 50 people since then...and she has new clients out of it. And she will see my six dogs until I can provide the care myself. Her focus is on non-judgemental care of her patients and clients, and it may not make as much per visit, but it means she gets lots of referrals and a lot of customer loyalty.

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Also it's important for everyone to realize which cases are really best treated by a boarded specialist/referral hospital and to make that recommendation. Whether or not the client is willing and able to comply with that recommendation is another matter, but at least you've made the best recommendation.

It is also important to realize there are places where specialists aren't available, or are an unreasonable distance away. IE many people can't take their pet 6 hours away during a working week to get treatment. In these areas, vets have to become great generalists who can provide the options a specialist would provide in a more urban area without harming their patient. Specialists were incredibly rare and mostly at a few hospitals and vet schools when my mother was a vet tech; now they are so common in some urban areas that people forget there are many places where they just aren't available. I think in those situations many vets still say 'happy to send you to a specialist' but the reality is they may be doing the procedures if the dog is to get any treatment. The vet my mother worked for wasn't boarded, but was known in a 2 hour radius for ortho work. The vast majority of vets working in small to medium zoos also aren't boarded. Sometimes CE, interest, and necessity will dictate how a cllinic operates.
 
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