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February 23, 2023

As we learn more about veterinary consolidation and veterinary non-compete clauses, it made me wonder what happens if people get fired as veterinary clients from a hospital or clinic that's owned by a big veterinary corporation. If you're banned by one, does that mean you're banned by all facilities owned by that company? I asked around and got an interesting answer. Plus, don't miss a peek at our latest partial litter of foster puppies (3 from a litter of 6) - photos and a video of them playing with Clover. Calling them the Birthday Bunch. Might name them all after CAKE. 

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#VetTwitter Conversation about Clients Fired from Veterinary Hospital (or Not)

Admittedly weird that this question hit me like a flash in the middle of the night recently. So I asked on #VetTwitterwhich is a good hashtag to follow if you want to know what veterinary professionals *really think and what they experience (good, but often bad too). 

So, I asked this:

Question for #vettwitter -- Let's say a veterinary client gets fired from a practice that's owned by one of the big veterinary corporations. Does that mean they're fired from ALL practices owned by that big veterinary corporation?

A DVM in Texas replied: It is VERY hard to get fired from the big corps. Almost unheard of. But my guess is it’s location dependent.

fired from veterinary veterinary hospital twitter thread 1

I replied: Oh, that's interesting. Thanks. I did a whole video (like 30 minutes) early in the pandemic explaining to veterinary clients how NOT to get fired from a veterinary practice since so many people were freaking out and getting the boot.

Then, check this out ... the DVM replied [insert shocked face]: We had a client in active litigation with our hospital at BP that we were told we still had to provide services to.

I'm assuming BP is an abbreviation for BluePearl, which got bought by Mars Inc in 2015.

fired from veterinary hospital twitter thread 2

How crazy is that? Someone is suing the place you work, and the team still must provide services. Yikes! That must lead to some awkward encounters. 

Makes you wonder WHY someone would keep going to a veterinary hospital they were suing, though. That's super weird, I think. 

What's even more interesting to me (as I replied on Twitter): Wow. And, yet, so many non-compete clauses and geographic footprints apply to ALL locations for the company. Not good for morale. I really worry that I won't have access to the type of care / relationship I want for my dogs' veterinary care as consolidation continues.

I do worry about how all this will playout in the rest of my dog-loving lifetime. For now, I simply watch and report on anything that seems interesting when it comes to people getting fired from veterinary hospital (s). 

BONUS! Our Latest Foster Puppies!

They came with the names Angelica, Suzie, and Dil, but since they are kind of my birthday present to myself, I'm playing with birthday-themed names. The current line of thinking is to name all of them cake, just in different languages or different types of cake. 

Maybe?

  • Gâteau (French) for the all-black female
  • Torta (Italian) for the brown/white smooth coat female
  • Köku (Icelandic) for the brown/white wire coat male ... or maybe we just call him Cake!
About the Author Roxanne Hawn

Trained as a traditional journalist and based in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, USA, I'm a full-time freelance writer for magazines, websites, and private clients. My areas of specialty include everything in the lifestyles arena, including health and home, personal finance and other consumer interests, relationships and trends, people and business profiles ... and, of course, all things pet related.

I don't just love dogs. I need them in my life. Seriously.

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