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Chewy's new vet care clinics aim to revolutionize the pet business again

Ron Hurtibise, South Florida Sun Sentinel on

Published in Business News

Outside the clinic’s exam rooms, small video screens display patients’ names and portraits.

Inside exam rooms, 40-inch wall-mounted video screens will show results of a pet’s bloodwork and X-rays, plus answers to common questions about any condition that the pet might be exhibiting.

A cats-only room features interactive toys for felines and a Feliway-branded diffuser that sprays calming pheromones.

If serious decisions are called for — major surgeries or even euthanasia — pet owners are taken to another room with a plush sofa and chair. In this room is a mirror mounted just a couple of feet off the floor for owners and their pets to pose for selfies.

The back of the center is reserved for tests and surgeries. There’s a digital radiology suite, a full dental care station and 400 different types of drugs. During surgeries, pets’ vital signs are transmitted to vet techs’ iPads.

Along a wall is an array of different-sized “patient enclosures.” Carter explained that “we don’t call them cages or kennels.”

 

While inside them, pets look through clear glass rather than bars, and the enclosures are equipped with dimmable lights for post-surgical comfort.

Employees are provided a break room and attached to it is a chill room for privacy. These aren’t normally found in vet clinics, Carter said, but Chewy added them because it knows the work can be “insanely emotionally taxing.”

The suicide rate among workers in veterinary medicine, he says, is four times that of the general population. Malhotra says the stress of the job is causing fewer people to become veterinarians even as the country’s pet population continues to increase.

Care prices are competitive and Chewy Vet Care offers memberships for $39.99 a month per pet that entitle owners to priority booking, unlimited visits for wellness care, sick care and urgent exams, no exam fees, routine diagnostic testing and all required vaccines.

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