Both hands are holding a cat and the phone will not stop
A worried owner rings about a dog that's eaten something it shouldn't have. GreetKeeper answers for you, reads your poison-line wording, and gets the pet booked in.
Caller
“My labrador got into a bag of raisins about twenty minutes ago, maybe half a cup. Do I need to bring him in?”
What happened next
- Read out the after-hours poison guidance and the emergency hospital number
- Booked a same-evening emergency slot, owner en route
- Texted the duty vet: labrador, 32kg, raisins ingested 6pm, owner arriving
Every pair of hands in the building is already holding an animal
Restraint takes two of your people. So does a nail trim on a frightened greyhound. That's why your phone rings out at the exact hour owners get home and notice something wrong.
Evening is your busiest calling window and your thinnest staffing. Owners finish work, find the dog limping or the cat not eating, and call you. If nobody picks up, plenty drive straight to the emergency hospital across town, and you lose that client with them.
Your nurses are also fielding calls that don't need a nurse. Your opening hours, whether you take a certain pet insurance, the price of a booster, whether your rabbit clinic runs on Saturdays. Each one pulls somebody off an animal.
GreetKeeper answers those and books your routine work. Anything sounding like poisoning, bloat, a road accident or labored breathing gets your emergency wording read out immediately and the call flagged for you.
Sorting the worried owner from the booster booking
Species, weight and what happened. Those three decide everything, and they're the three an owner can actually give you.
Species and rough weight first
A toxicity question about a four-kilo cat and a thirty-kilo labrador are different calls. It asks early, because your duty vet needs the weight before anything else is useful.
Read the emergency wording, do not assess
Ingestion, breathing trouble, a seizure, a suspected twist, a hit by a car. Each one triggers the exact instruction you wrote, your poison line number included. It never tells an owner their animal is fine.
Handle the routine bookings properly
Vaccinations, boosters, dentals, nail clips and post-op checks go straight into your real availability, with the slot length you set for each procedure.
Take the insurance question at face value
It records which insurer the owner names and confirms whether you're a direct-claim practice, because that's a yes or no you gave it. It doesn't estimate what a policy covers.
Practice software, stated plainly
Your calendar takes a direct write, and your practice software gets everything the owner said. Here's each route.
| Tool | How it connects | What that means |
|---|---|---|
| Google Calendar | Writes directly | Direct write. Works well for clinics running consult rooms as separate calendars. |
| Outlook Calendar | Writes directly | Direct write, same behavior. |
| ezyVet | Email or webhook | The booking is captured in full and entered by your team. |
| Cornerstone | Email or webhook | Species, weight and reason arrive together for your desk to enter. |
| AVImark | Email or webhook | Your team keys in the appointment from the call summary. |
| Vetstoria | Email or webhook | Owners who prefer an app keep booking there, and phone callers get the assistant. |
What it costs against one client who drove elsewhere
The number that matters to you is how many evening callers currently reach nobody.
| Plan | Monthly | Calls included | After that |
|---|---|---|---|
| StarterFor a single location taking calls one line at a time. | $49 | 200 | $0.45 per call |
| ProfessionalBooking, routing and transfers included, not an add-on. | $149 | 750 | $0.35 per call |
| ScaleFor busy phones and longer opening hours. | $349 | 2,000 | $0.25 per call |
If you're single-vet forwarding evenings and the lunchtime gap, Starter fits: $49 a month, 200 answered calls, 45 cents each after. Three vets with Saturday hours generally means Professional at $149 for 750 calls, then 35 cents.
Calls are counted rather than minutes, which suits you. A frightened owner describing a swollen abdomen takes as long as it takes, and your bill doesn't move.
Keep clinical judgment with your vets
It reads the instruction you wrote for a described situation, then routes the call. Deciding whether an animal needs seeing tonight stays with your vets, who get the facts first.
The owner's own words, the species, the weight and the time reach your screen together. Ask your nurses which details they want first, and put those questions at the top of the script.
GreetKeeper does not make a HIPAA claim. Keep your script to inquiry and scheduling: who's calling, which animal, what happened and when they can come in. Clinical records, imaging and treatment history belong in your practice system, so ask us what's stored before you forward the line.
Utah requires a spoken AI disclosure at the start of the call for regulated occupations, and veterinary medicine is one, so switch it on if you practise there. Maine requires clear notice in trade generally.
What clinic owners ask
Will it tell an owner their pet is fine?
Never. There's no scenario in your script where it reassures. It reads your wording, offers a slot or the emergency number, and flags the call. Anything resembling a clinical judgment goes to one of your people.
Can it handle a poison call at nine at night?
It answers, captures species, weight and what was eaten with a timestamp, reads your poison-line guidance, then texts your duty vet. Whether the dose matters is the vet's call, made with the facts already in hand.
Does it work with ezyVet or Cornerstone?
The details arrive for your team to enter, with species, weight and the owner's words attached. Google Calendar and Outlook take a direct write during the call.
Can it book a euthanasia appointment?
Most clinics route that to a person deliberately, and we'd suggest you do the same. It's a setting, and the default we recommend is a transfer with a note rather than an automated booking.
What does it say about insurance claims?
Whether you do direct claims, which insurers you deal with, and nothing at all about what a policy covers. Those questions belong between the owner and their insurer.
Other appointment-led clinics
Hear it take a poison call
Your emergency wording, your duty rota, two minutes.