Pet Smile Month

Re: Pet Smile Month

chris beasley — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 19:41:33 GMT

Dispite the fact I was late with the registration, we have now received our packs. Well done Pet Smile Month!

Re: Pet Smile Month

Mrs Dot Dot — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 21:45:59 GMT

We got our dental packs on Friday.... disappointed in them because they promote Dentastix and Whiskas dental bits bigtime, the leaflets are OKish but I loved the booklets from lasy year... they were great... they gave so much info and great pictures... I wish we could get hold of them all year round, and generall y I don't think they are much kop!!

Re: Pet Smile Month

Saskia Quinn — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 21:29:33 GMT

On the subject of psm, I was discharging a dog today after an ACTH stim test, they remarked on the dog 'smelling' all the time - of course the first thing I do is lift the dogs lips and the teeth were absolutely terrible and front ones loose.

I advised booking him in for dental to which they replied, 'when she gets her teeth done, could we give her them pedigree rask things to chew?' and I said, 'well, it depends on how many teeth she goes home with'

Re: Pet Smile Month

Fiona Leathers — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 22:18:59 GMT

We tend to give out samples of the things that we recommend as well, like Plaque off, RCW dental diet & chews, logic etc etc. Explain to owners that once in blue moon is fine for Pedigree & Whiskas but they don't actually clean the teeth.....manual brushing is the gold standard.....anything else is bonus.

Re: Pet Smile Month

. . — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 15:36:50 GMT

Just wondering what everyone thinks of the PSM packs this year? I was really disappointed when they arrived yesterday. I'm not happy about promoting Whiskas and Pedigree, when we are trying to get clients away from grocery diets. Also, we don't currently promote Dentagen etc in our dental clinics, and won't be starting now just because that is what is in the packs and on the posters etc. Also, the dental guides included in the packs in previous years have been excellent, and this year it's just a brief leaflet with the sponsors products on the back. I know the contacts of the packs depends upon the sponsors of PSM, but I don't think we we will be participating this year, which is a shame. We do promote dental care all year round though!

Re: Pet Smile Month

Claire Cameron — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 23:01:28 GMT

[quote user="eghamcb"]

The 14th August was the cut off date to regester. As I have just discovered my boss did not send in the paper work, I have just sent it.

Will wait and see but Im sure we have missed it!

[/quote]

oh no, gutted

Re: Pet Smile Month

chris beasley — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 23:00:24 GMT

The 14th August was the cut off date to regester. As I have just discovered my boss did not send in the paper work, I have just sent it.

Will wait and see but Im sure we have missed it!

Re: Pet Smile Month

Claire Cameron — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 22:49:32 GMT

I'm in brand new practice so not had anything through for PSM yet, which company do I contact about it?

Cheers x

Re: Pet Smile Month

Kay Eminson — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 20:19:21 GMT

We are still trying to get in contact with the people who do the PSM to 'opt in' but the fax number doesnt work?

We have all the dental food samples sorted which we got from Hills. Its just a matter of getting people in I suppose. We sell all the toothpastes and brushes/finger brushes but its getting them off the shelf!

Booked a dental check in but then the client cancelled! Most disapointed. Plus a lump removal today wanted the teeth checked too but they were okay so I put a note on the p/o form so the nurse discharging could push products but then the client was avoiding it!

And with the Boss trying to recruit a new vet and a receptionist I dont think it's a prioty to draw up 'offers' and advertise. I suppose we could ask our vet to mention on our radio show when she is on next!

Re: Pet Smile Month

louiseRVN — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:23:57 GMT

[quote user="katie precious"]

[quote user="louise chappell"]

I am really keen about PSM, just had a talk with virbac in order to promote nursing dental checks. Its just that I am finding clients at my practice dont want to see a nurse as they are sooo used to seeing vets and they are a bit off putted, and makes me feel down about it.

I am hoping the introduction of PSM will help promote my clinics a little more, but It is next month and feels like all the promotion is left a little late to get good advertisement. We are hoping to get an ad in the newspaper as we are under new management so I am trying to get more advertisement from that. I may try the local press office and see if I can get something in the newspaper!

We are quiet at the moment (due to credit cruch I feel but getting busier now people are getting used to new boss), so I want to get clients in. We are planning on offering 15% off dental and may be food (not sure yet), and if anyone has any other tips I would greatly appreciate it xxx

[/quote]

do your nurses see animals post op or the vets??

our nurse clinics are quite busy but i do think that is because of how they are used by the vets...

nurses see all surgicals 2 + 10 days post op regardless of whether there are sutures to remove or not. we also see dentals back 7 days post op. all clients get a phone call the day after the op to check they are ok and have the option of coming in sooner if worried. all our neuters are weighed 1 month post op and 3 monthly thereafter and dentals are offered free dental checks with the nurse usually every 3 months. our nurse clinics run very well here, if you want to know what else we do to get them running, feel free to pm me x

[/quote]

Where I work there were no Qualified Nurses until I came in, so the vets have been doing all post op checks, cat neuters they never used to see back-eeekk!!!

All post op checks and dentals, weight etc are supposed to be booked in for me but because I havnt got a full day list (I should get myself cloned!!) people are still tending to book them in with vet- this is very frustrating for me! Its only been a month so I am hoping people will get used to it soon, am begining to get more in and the clients are getting used to me- very close nit community, so am sure things are going to improve. And once we have TP staus other nurses will be able to do clinics too making it easier arranging appointments for clients. xx

Re: Pet Smile Month

Kathryn Welsh — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:16:30 GMT

We're not doing PSM but have been running dental offers for the last 3months and for the next 3months also... We offer Pre-ga bloods FOC and take a further £50 off the bill - people love it - is only for descale and polish but can be used for extractions and just charge per-extraction and antibiotics on top... Working great for us - and getting them onto t/d or teeth brushing afterwards. Have put a waiting room display on dental stuff but no mention of the offer - they hear about that from the vet as they decide if case is suitable for offer - ie not much work required!! I see all the dental poc's after 3 days and the vet sees them the week after that if had extractions.

Re: Pet Smile Month

Katie Tallett RVN MBVNA — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 09:07:39 GMT

[quote user="louise chappell"]

[/quote]

do your nurses see animals post op or the vets??

our nurse clinics are quite busy but i do think that is because of how they are used by the vets...

Re: Pet Smile Month

dinkyd — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 20:48:35 GMT

Hey Kay88

You know whats so satisfying about this sortof thing- is when you work your socks off to make the event worthwhile and get the people involved who want to be - stuff the others - its the pets you are helping!

Iv had this problem in the past but i always tried my best to get those membersof staff involved who want to be - all it takes is vet who is willing to support you and even if it is only the two of you!Take pics of pets you have in for dentals - before and after pics and incorporate this into your display - we were never very luck with the press but receptionists are fantastic at helping promote these events as this is usually who the client has first contact with.Get your display up - use balloons etc- and have a wee talk with a reptionist and a vet!

Re: Pet Smile Month

Maisy — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 19:33:07 GMT

With any of these promotions, publication of the event and interest in it is key to the event being successful!

While you may not get hoards coming in for their toothy checks, its still a good way to maximise awareness and often the reps may help out with products/freebies etc. Last year we had some good feedback from clients as well as a surge of dentals...!

Re: Pet Smile Month

louiseRVN — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 19:19:03 GMT

Re: Pet Smile Month

Katie Tallett RVN MBVNA — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 14:20:33 GMT

we do psm and it works really well!! we offer free dental checks with the nurse( most of our nurse clinics are fee anyway) and the vets / receptionists are really behind our clinics. vets will check all animals coming in for other things too. we offer £20 off the price of dental work and this year is the first year that we are also offering 10% off dental care (t/d, logic, brushes etc) as there are always pets who don't quite need a dental. works really well in our practice, we also put ads in the local paper and all of our surgeries are on the psm website as a participating vets. last year we did around 50 dentals across the practice in psm and from this we did po dental care, pre op bloods and also treated for the conditions picked up by thoses bloods. we also get our clients to come back every 3 months for a free dental check with the nurse following dental tx so this helps to boost our clinics- people just see it as them going to the hygienist.

agreeing with the above post- you all have to know at what point they need dental tx- we have a scaling system in practice from 1-5 and a 2 would benefit from dental care where a 3 could do with a s+p. (we have posters with pics and grading to help with this but they are just ones that we made.

Re: Pet Smile Month

Fiona Leathers — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 08:56:45 GMT

What negative first comments!!!! Its up to you to publise Pet Smile Month!!

Last year we made front cover of our local paper just by phoning them up & explaining what was going on. We had a photographer come out and take pictures of us with giant toothbrushes and a dog - we thought it would go somewhere at the back but NNNOOOOO front cover!! The response we got from that was immense, increased foot fall through the door. We discouraged people from other vets coming by saying that their vet should be doing the same thing, but lots of people didn't know anything about it!! Get posters made up of gross mouths, write to anyone who hasn't been seen recently with animals over the age og ?5? Encourage them in and then see if you can generate income from the consults. You need to have everyone one board, singing from the same songsheet about what constitutes dental disease - no point you recommending dental treatment then the vet saying "it can wait, not bad enough yet!" Its not about pulling the teeth. its about keeping them in the mouth!

Re: Pet Smile Month

Avril Louise Jackson RVN — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 02:00:46 GMT

I have a great dog. She's half Lab, half pit bull. A good combination. Sure, she might bite off my leg, but she'll bring it back to me

hehe!!!!!

Re: Pet Smile Month

Saskia Quinn — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 23:14:31 GMT

aw Guys, dont get so downhearted about Pet Smile Month - between vet and nuse consultations, just lift the lips of the pet and take it from there! Fair enough there may not be so much publicised about it - but you will still have patients come into the surgery, for whatever reason!

Re: Pet Smile Month

louiseRVN — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 19:00:37 GMT

I have signed up for it, but feel its probably going to be a let down. Am trying to set up nurse clinics up at work as they have never had them and found a lot of the clients are used to seeing the vet-therefore dont want to see just 'a nurse'. Hopefully this will change in time as the few people I have seen I have managed to presuade them, I have only been here a month so its expected that its going to take time.

I think if I can get the clients in it will be good,, I like the idea of the pictures for kids to design, but am pretty sure we wont have any time to organise local news stations. We are doing a letter drop soon as we have a new boss so maybe we will include pet smile month in the letter drop.

I wanted to get a display up pretty sharpish to start advertising but not got anything yet through the post, any body else?

Re: Pet Smile Month

Freckle — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 16:27:29 GMT

not sure if we are doing it - haven't been told anything anyway!

in the past i have never really seen it be a big sucess, but that might be down to lack of promotion etc