By: Patty Khuly VMD MBA
There’s pretty much an app for all that ails us. So why shouldn’t we enjoy apps for all that ails our patients, too?
We’ve bought mobile applications to help us remember our appointments, manage our spending, run a 5K, and shed twenty pounds. Why wouldn’t we expect to see apps that can make easier work of practice management, client compliance, and pet weight loss, too?
It’s true: Not only do pets have needs that are app-worthy, mobile applications for issues not dissimilar from ours are already on the market. For example, there are apps designed to help our clients …
And yes, now we can even recommend apps to help our patients lose weight, too.
To that purpose I’ve developed an iPhone app for vets and their clients called The Fat Dog Diet. The goal? To help our canine patients shed the pounds that contribute to their snowballing obesity crisis, thereby outsourcing all those annoyingly onerous calorie calculations we really don’t have time for.
Though this niche market for veterinary-themed apps is surprisingly untapped at present, I predict that mobile applications for pets will soon surge in sales. That is, as soon as pet industry players, veterinarians, and pet-addled developers like me bring the same sensibility to apps that exemplifies our products, services, and lifestyles.
We’ve bought mobile applications to help us remember our appointments, manage our spending, run a 5K, and shed twenty pounds. Why wouldn’t we expect to see apps that can make easier work of practice management, client compliance, and pet weight loss, too?
It’s true: Not only do pets have needs that are app-worthy, mobile applications for issues not dissimilar from ours are already on the market. For example, there are apps designed to help our clients …
- remember medications (Pfizer’s app on administering Rimadyl on schedule)
- locate veterinarians (PetMD.com’s app)
- keep pet profiles and vet info close at hand (MyPetEd for iPhone)
- find a dog park (Dogster.com’s app)
- manage their pet’s spending (for Android)
- whistle for their dog (for iPhone and Android)
- clicker train dogs (for iPhone)
- offer enrichment for felines (for iPhone)
- translate canine messages (a whimsical app for iPhone)
- administer first aid (PetMD.com’s)
- manage their pets’ medical information (Pawcard for iPhone)
And yes, now we can even recommend apps to help our patients lose weight, too.
To that purpose I’ve developed an iPhone app for vets and their clients called The Fat Dog Diet. The goal? To help our canine patients shed the pounds that contribute to their snowballing obesity crisis, thereby outsourcing all those annoyingly onerous calorie calculations we really don’t have time for.
Though this niche market for veterinary-themed apps is surprisingly untapped at present, I predict that mobile applications for pets will soon surge in sales. That is, as soon as pet industry players, veterinarians, and pet-addled developers like me bring the same sensibility to apps that exemplifies our products, services, and lifestyles.
Given the fast pace of advancements in mobile technology, it only makes sense that veterinarians will take up apps designed to make our job easier. Whether it’s by communicating a challenging concept in internal medicine, bringing the results of sophisticated imaging to the exam room, or by taking a load off our plates by keeping our clients from over-filling their pets,’ mobile application adoption is inevitable.
Not that all mobile applications for pets, vets, and their people are worth their price tag –– or even the time it takes to download them –– but it’s the future and it promises fun, if nothing else.