Building a Relationship to Help Veterinarians Succeed

Written by John Bork

On my first day in the veterinary industry, 22 years ago, a family rushed through the door with their German Shepherd that had just been hit by a car. After a long four hours in the care of the doctor, the dog recovered. I will never forget the looks of relief and joy on the family’s faces. When we finally closed up and the staff walked out around 10:00 P.M., the doctor was giving high-fives and congratulating us on the work we accomplished as a team. It was my first day, and I already knew this was my calling — or so I thought.

There’s another story I have to tell about that day. After feeling like heroes, after the high-fives and kudos, I witnessed a darker side of the veterinary industry. As we said our goodbyes, I noticed the doctor stopped before getting into her car. She was crying. For the past several days, she explained, she hadn’t been able to be there to put her 3-month-old baby to bed — and she knew it would be the same story tomorrow.

And that’s when I realized what my true calling was. It wasn’t just to work in the veterinary industry; it was much more specific. I knew I would never be a doctor myself, but I could support them. Being a veterinarian can be tremendously rewarding, but it shouldn’t come at a cost to one’s mental, physical, or social health. That’s why, more than two decades later, I jumped at the chance to join PetSmart Veterinary Services.

It’s our mission to keep veterinary medicine in the hands of doctors. But it’s not just about giving veterinarians a place to call home — it’s also about making sure they have the support they need to be able to run their practices successfully. Veterinarians are busier than ever before. Turnover is twice what it is in human healthcare. Stress levels are through the roof.?

That’s why PetSmart Veterinary Services is lowering the barrier to entry for ownership, creating an environment with significantly reduced startup costs — including a turnkey in-store hospital with state-of-the-art facilities — and providing critical back-office support for marketing, recruiting, IT, and more. Our job is to ease the headache of running a business so veterinarians can focus on doing what they love: caring for pets and putting smiles on the faces of pet parents as often as possible.

If you’re thinking this all sounds a little too good to be true, don’t worry — there’s no catch! This is a mutually beneficial relationship between the veterinarian and PetSmart; your success is our success. Our stores flourish when a veterinarian is our partner in the PetSmart space.? For us, it’s as simple as that. We want to do everything we can to support independent veterinarians because we know, in turn, that they will provide the best service to their clients. And that will keep people coming back again and again.

Together, we can create a future for veterinary medicine that serves everyone better: the pets, their parents, and the veterinarians themselves, who will receive the resources and support they need to thrive as business owners. We are currently looking for veterinarians to operate independently owned veterinary hospitals in stores across the country. If you’re interested in ownership opportunities with PetSmart Veterinary Services, visit us online or email [email protected] to request an application. We look forward to working with you.

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Disclaimer: The franchisor is PetSmart Veterinary Services, LLC. This application does not constitute an offer to sell a franchise. The offer of a franchise can be made only through the delivery of a Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD). Certain states require that we register the FDD in those states. We will not offer or sell franchises in those states until we have registered the franchise (or obtained an applicable exemption from registration) and delivered the FDD to the prospective franchisee in compliance with applicable law.