The calls that actually matter
A clinic phone is not a lead funnel. It is a mix of refill questions, appointment changes, and the 9 p.m. call about a dog that just ate something it should not have. Most small businesses miss 20–30% of inbound calls during work hours alone. After hours, that number is worse if the only option is voicemail.
Voicemail is a bad emergency room. Callers hang up and try the hospital that still answers. An answering service that only takes a name and number is better than silence, but it still dumps the hard part on you at 6 a.m.
Aveline is an AI receptionist trained on your hours, your services, and what you count as an emergency. It talks to the caller, books what can wait, and transfers live when it cannot. You get a text either way. We set it up around the number you already give clients. Most clinics go live in 3–5 days. It is $497 a month, depending on call volume, with no contract.
What “emergency” means on your line
You decide the rules before Aveline ever talks to a client. Typical splits look like this:
- Trouble breathing, collapse, uncontrolled bleeding, toxin ingestion with active symptoms — live transfer to the on-call vet or the ER you name.
- Vomiting that started an hour ago, a limp, a mild ear issue — collect details, book the next open exam, text the team.
- Refills, records, and “are you open Saturday?” — answered from your script, no interruption.
The point is not to play veterinarian. It is to stop the after-hours line from being a black hole, and to stop lunch and surgery from overflowing onto whoever happens to be nearest the front desk. You approve the script. If a rule is wrong, we change it.
Where the exam actually lands
Clinics live in a PMS — appointment types, doctors, and the next open exam — not a generic calendar. If you run ezyVet, Cornerstone, Avimark, Shepherd, Instinct, or DaySmart Vet, Aveline books into the Google Calendar or Outlook that system already syncs, then texts the team. After-hours emergencies still transfer live. Everything else is a morning slot, not a SOAP note.
If your PMS is not on that list, we still go live the same way: Google Calendar or Outlook plus a text. We do not write into the medical record.
What Aveline does not do
It does not diagnose. It does not write to the medical record, SOAP notes, inventory, or payments. It does not invent availability you do not have. It does not replace the person who should take a crashing patient. Live transfer exists for that. If you want every after-hours call to go to voicemail except true emergencies, say so — Aveline will follow that too.
Same product is used by boarding, daycare, grooming, and shelters. Other trades are welcome on the local businesses page. For why clinics miss nights in the first place, see why after-hours calls go unanswered.