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The calls come while your team is restraining a dog.
Brimeo answers every call to your clinic — the 9pm retching dog, the refill request, the "do you see rabbits", the client who just wants to know if they should come in now. It triages by presentation, books the right appointment length into ezyVet, Provet Cloud or Cornerstone, and hands anything clinical to a person before it gets to a decision.
"He keeps trying to be sick and nothing's coming up."
How big is he, roughly — and does his belly look swollen or tight?
He's a big dog, a Great Dane. Yeah, actually his belly does look swollen.
That combination needs to be seen right now, not this afternoon. I'm connecting you to our on-call team immediately.
Actions taken
Escalated — large breed, swollen abdomen, non-productive retching
On-call team alerted, callback number taken
Written back to ezyVet
Live demo
Hear how it handles a triage call.
The number below is a working veterinary agent, not a recording. Tell it your dog ate chocolate, or that your cat has been in and out of the litter box all afternoon. Ask for a refill. Ask whether you see bearded dragons. The difficult calls will tell you more than the straightforward ones, and it takes about two minutes.
Click the mic and talk for up to 60 seconds. Your browser will ask for microphone access.
By using this demo and our AI voice features, you agree to our Privacy Policy. This is a demo — you're responsible for how you use it, and we're not liable for anything it generates.
The short answer
What is an AI receptionist for a veterinary clinic?
An AI receptionist for a veterinary clinic is a voice agent that answers every inbound call, reads your live schedule, books the right appointment type at the right length with the right provider, takes refill and records requests into a queue for a veterinarian to authorise, and routes anything that presents as an emergency to a person immediately.
It is not an answering service that takes a message for the morning. It is not a phone tree. And it is not a triage nurse — it can recognize that a call needs a human now, but it never decides that a call doesn't.
By the numbers
Why the phone is the constraint, and not something you can hire your way out of
Veterinarian unemployment. Whatever you conclude about the long-run supply of veterinarians, at that rate there is effectively nobody to hire this year.
Source: AVMA 2025 Census of Veterinarians.Average weekday clinic hours in 2024, up from 9 the year before. Practices have already stretched the day. That lever is mostly spent.
Source: AVMA 2025 Report on the Economic State of the Veterinary Profession, 2024 data from 524 independently owned practices.Appointment slots per weekday for a full-time companion-animal veterinarian. That's the ceiling. Everything the phone does is either filling those slots or wasting them.
Source: AVMA 2025 Report on the Economic State of the Veterinary Profession.A note on our sources
Most pages like this one open with "24–28% of veterinary calls go unanswered" and "85% of callers never call back." We couldn't trace either to a study. The 85% figure appears to originate in an unattributed 2014 blog post and has been reprinted ever since. They may both be directionally true. Neither is something you should make a purchasing decision on, so they're not on this page. The three figures above come from AVMA's own survey work, with the year and sample stated.
What it handles
Built for the calls a veterinary front desk takes.
Triage by presentation, not by keyword
A caller rarely says "emergency." They say the dog keeps trying to be sick and nothing comes up, or the cat has been in and out of the box all afternoon. The agent is configured on the presentations your practice treats as urgent, and it escalates on the pattern — not on whether the caller used an alarming word.
The right appointment type, at the right length
A tech appointment for vaccines, a DVM sick visit, a recheck, a surgery drop-off and a quality-of-life consult are five different lengths with five different providers. The agent books against your real schedule and your real durations rather than dropping everything into a fifteen-minute slot.
Refill and records requests into a queue
One of the highest-volume routine calls a front desk takes. The agent captures the patient, the medication, the pharmacy and the last exam date, then queues it for a veterinarian to authorise. It never authorises anything itself, and it tells the client that a vet has to sign off.
Species and service scope
If you don't see rabbits, reptiles or birds, the agent knows before the client drives over. It refers out with the name of a practice that does, instead of booking a visit that gets turned away at the door.
Reminder call-backs
Your reminders go out and the phone rings all week — vaccines due, heartworm prevention, "I got a text about Bella." Those are inbound calls, and they're the ones most likely to hit voicemail because they arrive in clusters. The agent takes them all at once and books.
After-hours routing to your emergency partner
When you're closed, the agent gives the right emergency hospital by name, with the address and directions, and tells the caller whether to phone ahead. Not a voicemail greeting listing three numbers at speed.
Multi-pet households
A client with three animals says "it's about Bella" and expects you to know which one. The agent pulls the household by phone number, sees every patient on the account, and asks the one clarifying question if it's ambiguous — instead of taking the species, breed and age again from someone who's given them to you eleven times.
Boarding and grooming, with the vaccination check
Where you offer them, the agent books the stay or the slot and checks the vaccination record against your requirements first. Bordetella lapsed, rabies expiring before the boarding dates — it catches that on the call and books the vaccine appointment alongside, rather than turning the client away at the door on drop-off morning.
Call by call
Which calls does a veterinary clinic get, and what happens to each?
The agent doesn't diagnose. It treats unproductive retching as a presentation you never sit on — whatever the breed — and it pulls the record, so if this is a Great Dane the person picking up knows that before they say hello. It asks the two things not on file: how long it's been going on, and whether the belly looks bigger than normal. Then it routes straight to your emergency line or your after-hours partner. It does not offer to book tomorrow.
Written backEscalation logged with the presentation, duration and the client's own words, timestamped, with breed and last recorded weight pulled from the file and an alert to the on-call number.
The caller doesn't think this is urgent. The agent pulls the patient record, sees a neutered male, and treats straining without producing urine as an escalation — because in a male cat that can be a urethral obstruction, and an obstruction is measured in hours. It asks how long, and whether anything is coming out. Then it gets them to a person. It does not offer Thursday.
Where there's no record — a new client, or a pet that isn't on the account — it asks the one question that changes the answer: male or female.
Written backEscalation logged with the reason it escalated: male, straining, duration, and the client's own words. Whoever picks up knows in one line why this call jumped the queue.
Species and last recorded weight come off the file. The agent asks the three things it can't know — what, roughly how much, and when. It does not advise inducing vomiting and it does not estimate whether the amount is dangerous. It routes to your team, and where you've configured it to, it gives the animal poison control line as a parallel step.
Written backToxin exposure logged with substance, estimated quantity and time of ingestion, against a patient whose species and weight are already on file — so whoever picks up isn't starting from zero on the dose question.
The agent finds the patient, reads the last exam date and the medication history, captures the pharmacy and quantity, and tells the client a veterinarian has to authorise it and roughly when to expect that. If the last exam is outside your policy window, it says so and offers the appointment instead of leaving the client to find out on Thursday.
Written backRefill request queued against the patient with medication, quantity, pharmacy, last exam date, and a flag if the exam window has lapsed.
If you don't, the agent says so in the first ten seconds and names a practice that does. If you do, it books the exotics appointment with the right clinician and the right length, because a reptile consult isn't a fifteen-minute slot.
Written backEither a booked appointment with species and presenting concern, or a logged referral-out with the species asked about — which, read monthly, tells you what demand you're turning away.
The agent recognizes this call and does not attempt it. It says a member of the team will speak with them personally, confirms the best number to reach them on, and puts the call through or alerts your staff immediately. It does not ask qualifying questions. It does not offer times.
Written backPriority human callback flagged with the patient record attached and nothing else — no scripted intake, no form.
You're not. The agent gives your emergency partner by name with the address and directions, says whether to call ahead, and — if the caller describes something that sounds urgent — treats that as card one rather than as a directions request.
Written backAfter-hours contact logged with what was asked and where they were sent, so Monday's team knows who came in overnight.
A post-operative concern goes to a person. The agent doesn't decide how worried to be about an incision. It pulls the surgical record, sees the procedure and how many days out she is, asks what's changed and since when, whether she's eating and whether she's been at the site — then routes to the team that did the surgery. It does not tell anyone that redness is normal.
Written backPost-op concern logged against the surgical record with day-since-procedure, the described change, and the client's answers — so whoever calls back has the file open already.
What does it read and write in ezyVet, Provet Cloud or Cornerstone?
What it reads
- Open slots by day, provider and appointment type, at your real durations
- Which clinicians see which species, and which don't
- Patient records: species, breed, age, weight, last exam date, current medications
- Vaccine and prevention status, and what's due
- Your published exam and consult fees, and your after-hours policy
- Your emergency partner's details and your on-call rotation
What it writes back
- The appointment, against the right patient, clinician, type and length
- Escalations, timestamped, with the presentation in the client's own words
- Refill requests queued for veterinarian authorisation, never authorised
- Cancellations and reschedules with a coded reason
- New client and patient records with species, breed and presenting concern
- Referred-out enquiries, so you can see the demand you're declining
Where the write is direct, and where it isn't
| System | What happens |
|---|---|
| Provet Cloud, Vetspire | Open APIs. Read availability, create and update appointments, write records and notes. |
| ezyVet, Digitail, Shepherd, Covetrus Pulse, Instinct | Cloud platforms with APIs that are partner-gated to varying degrees. Where we have approval we write directly; where approval is pending we book against a synced calendar and push a structured record for your team to accept in one click. We'll tell you which applies to your practice on the first call. |
| Cornerstone, AVImark | Server-based and installed on your machine. Direct write depends on your version, your server setup and your licensing. In most cases the agent books to a synced calendar and hands your team a structured record rather than writing into the database. |
| No PIMS at all | About one practice in four is here. Google Calendar or your booking tool, plus a structured record by email or SMS. It works, and it's often the practice that needs this most. |
The boundary
What it handles. When a person takes over.
The agent handles
Booking, rescheduling and cancelling appointments
Confirming appointment type, length and provider
Quoting your published exam and consult fees
Taking refill requests into the authorisation queue
Records and referral requests
Species scope, hours, directions, what to bring
A person takes over
Anything presenting as urgent
Every euthanasia and quality-of-life call
Any question about whether to come in now
Treatment plans, estimates and payment arrangements
A client unhappy about a visit that already happened
Anyone who asks for a person
What the agent is never allowed to do
It can escalate. It can never reassure. The agent is allowed to decide a call needs a person now. It is never allowed to decide a call can wait. Every ambiguity resolves upward, which means it will sometimes escalate calls that turn out to be routine. That is the correct error to make, and it is deliberate.
It does not diagnose, and it does not estimate risk. It will not tell a client whether the amount their dog ate is dangerous, whether a lump is concerning, or whether a limp can wait until Monday.
It does not give at-home advice. It will not tell anyone to induce vomiting, withhold food, give a human medication, or try anything before they get seen.
It does not authorise prescriptions. A valid veterinarian-client-patient relationship is a legal precondition for prescribing, and only a veterinarian can confirm one exists. The agent takes the request and queues it.
It does not take euthanasia calls. Not an intake, not a scheduling question, not a callback form. That conversation begins with a person.
It does not pretend to be a person. If a client asks whether they're speaking to a human, it says no.
These boundaries are written down during onboarding and they're visible in the transcripts. You can read every call it took.
Onboarding
How long until it's answering your phone?
Step 1 — Discovery and configuration
We map your appointment types and their real lengths, which clinicians see which species, your fee schedule, your refill policy and exam window, your emergency partner, and — most importantly — the presentations your practice treats as never-wait. Then we listen to your recent calls, because how your team already talks to clients is the thing worth copying.
Step 2 — Build and test
We build the agent, connect it to your practice software, and run it through the calls that go wrong: the retching dog, the blocked cat, the euthanasia call, the client who talks over it, the species you don't see, four people calling at once on a Monday morning. You listen to those recordings before it takes a single live call.
Ongoing — Weekly calibration
Someone reviews transcripts every week and changes the agent as your fees change, your emergency partner changes, or a client finds a phrasing that trips it. This is a service, not a login.
What changes by month three?
Three things change on three different timescales, and it's worth knowing which is which before you start.
Every call gets answered, including the Monday-morning cluster and the ones during afternoon surgery. The first thing most owners notice isn't bookings. It's how much of the inbound was never an appointment: refills, "did the results come back", directions, "I got a text about Bella." That volume was always there. You just couldn't see it separated out.
This is the part vendors don't mention. The agent will escalate calls that didn't need it, and you'll want it to stop doing that for two or three specific presentations. That tuning is the work, and it's why calibration is weekly rather than at go-live. If nothing changes in this window, nobody is reading the transcripts.
Slot fill, refill turnaround and the after-hours pattern are aggregate measures. They need a season's worth of calls before a month-over-month comparison means anything — and veterinary demand is seasonal enough that a single month tells you very little. A chart at week two isn't telling you much yet.
It books into the software your practice already runs on.
Plus anything else with an API — and your existing phone number, plus a synced calendar for the roughly one practice in four running no practice management system at all. If your setup can't be connected, we'll say so on the first call rather than three weeks into onboarding.
How it hands a call to a person.
When a call needs a person, the agent doesn't just transfer it. It briefs whoever picks up first, so a worried client doesn't start over.
What's in the brief
- Which patient on the account, where the household has more than one
- Patient: species, breed, age, weight
- The presentation, in the client's own words
- How long it's been going on
- Current medications and last exam date
- Whether this patient has been seen for something related recently
- Whether the client sounded distressed
Your team picks up already knowing. The agent stays on afterwards to book the follow-up if there is one.
What practice owners ask us before they buy.
Will it recognize an emergency?
It's configured on the presentations your practice treats as never-wait, and it escalates on the pattern rather than on whether the caller used an alarming word. It will sometimes escalate a call that turns out to be routine. We'd rather it did that than the reverse, and we tune it down over the first few weeks — never up.
What happens if someone calls about euthanasia?
Nothing automated. The agent recognizes the call, says a member of the team will speak with them personally, takes a callback number and alerts your staff. It doesn't ask questions and it doesn't offer times. That conversation starts with a person.
Can it authorise a prescription refill?
No. A valid veterinarian-client-patient relationship is a legal precondition for prescribing and only a veterinarian can confirm one exists. The agent captures the request with the medication, pharmacy and last exam date, flags it if your exam window has lapsed, and queues it for authorisation.
Does it work with ezyVet, Provet Cloud or Cornerstone?
Provet Cloud and Vetspire have open APIs and we write directly. ezyVet, Digitail, Shepherd and Covetrus Pulse are partner-gated to varying degrees — we'll tell you exactly which applies to your practice on the first call. Cornerstone and AVImark are server-based, so it depends on your version and setup; in most cases we book to a synced calendar and hand your team a structured record. And if you run no practice management system at all — about one clinic in four — that works too.
What about species we don't see?
The agent knows your scope. If you don't see reptiles, it says so in the first ten seconds and names a practice that does, instead of booking a visit that gets turned away. It also logs what it referred out, so you can see monthly what demand you're declining.
Is this HIPAA compliant?
HIPAA doesn't apply to veterinary practices — it covers health information about people, and a patient under HIPAA is defined as a human being. What does apply is state law on veterinary client and patient records, which varies, plus your own duty of confidentiality. We encrypt everything in transit and at rest, and you own your data and your transcripts. If a vendor is selling you HIPAA compliance for a veterinary clinic, ask them which provision they think applies.
What does this cost compared with hiring another CSR?
Different pricing bases, so compare carefully. A CSR is a salary plus benefits for rostered hours, in a market where veterinarian unemployment is 0.7% and nearly every practice raised wages last year. This is a flat monthly fee that covers evenings, weekends and four people calling at once on a Monday. Our pricing is published — no quote call required.
Does it work with our existing number?
Yes. You forward your line — during opening hours, after hours, on no-answer, or all three. Nothing about your published number changes.
Does it make outbound calls?
No. Brimeo answers your phone — inbound only. That includes the call-backs your reminders generate, which is where most of the volume is anyway. Automated outbound calling carries consent obligations and carrier registration requirements that plenty of vendors market straight past. We'd rather tell you where the line is than sell you into a problem.
Can I hear what it said on a call?
Every call recorded and transcribed. Recordings and transcripts are kept for 90 days. If it got something wrong you'll see exactly what, and it gets fixed in that week's calibration.
What if it doesn't know the answer to something?
It says it doesn't have that and gets someone who does. Handling that well is harder than handling the calls that go to plan, and it's worth asking any vendor about.
How long until it's live?
Within 3 business days of sending us your details in most cases: about a day to set up, then time to fill any gaps and test. You hear the recordings before it takes a live call.
Answer every call. Escalate the ones that matter.
These boundaries are written down during onboarding, and they're visible in the transcripts.