Calls come in when you're performing surgeries, examining patients, or handling urgent cases. We capture leads, schedule appointments, triage emergencies, and log details instantly in your systems. With our AI-first answering service with human support as an extension of capabilities, worried pet owners and urgent cases never hit voicemail.
The AI Receptionist from Smith.ai greets every caller professionally and captures essential patient information through structured intake questions. By collecting key details upfront — such as pet type and symptoms, urgency level, medical history, appointment needs, and owner concerns — the system helps identify and prioritize emergency cases and routine appointments based on your practice's protocols and availability. Our human agents seamlessly step in when callers request to speak with someone directly or have emotional situations that require detailed information collection and routing to the appropriate veterinarian or technician.
The AI Receptionist from Smith.ai combines cutting-edge AI technology with optional human support to deliver unmatched call handling capabilities. Unlike competitors who offer basic subscription services, we provide white-glove implementation and ongoing support to ensure your success.
What sets Smith.ai apart:
Make better business decisions with real-time call data powered by AI, visualized in your Smith.ai dashboard. Every call summary is enriched with AI-generated metadata including actions completed, caller disposition, priority, relevance, call recording and transcription, and more. Track appointment patterns, common concerns, and client behavior through historical tables and charts to predict practice growth, staffing needs, and ROI with superior accuracy through our AI-powered analytics.
While our answering service with human support delivers exceptional results for most businesses, we understand that some situations require dedicated human coverage. That's why Smith.ai also offers comprehensive virtual receptionist plans with 100% live, North America-based agents answering your calls 24/7.
Our virtual receptionist plans provide dedicated human agents trained specifically on your business and industry.
Improve customer experiences with 24/7 AI-powered engagement built specifically for your business. Unlike basic AI competitors that offer one-size-fits-all solutions, Smith.ai delivers infinite customization with white-glove implementation tailored to your exact needs and goals.
While other AI services leave you to figure it out alone, our expert team works closely with you to craft custom AI behavior that sounds like your business, follows your procedures, and delivers results that match your goals.
The AI Receptionist from Smith.ai becomes your veterinary practice's communication partner, handling the constant flow of calls so your team can focus on what matters most: caring for animals. You know how it is: between emergencies, routine appointments, and worried pet parents, your phones never stop ringing. Your AI Receptionist manages all of it professionally, 24/7.
Here's what changes for your practice: No more missed calls when you're in surgery or dealing with an emergency. The AI answers instantly, schedules appointments, processes payments, and captures critical information about the pet's symptoms — all while your staff stays focused on the animals in your care. Pet parents calling at 2 AM about a sick dog get immediate, professional assistance instead of voicemail.
The financial impact is huge. You're saving $70,000+ annually compared to hiring an in-house receptionist, but getting better coverage. Your AI Receptionist never calls in sick during busy seasons, handles multiple calls during emergency rushes, and maintains perfect consistency whether it's a routine vaccination inquiry or a panicked call about a pet emergency.
What really sets this apart is how human support extends your AI's capabilities. When pet parents are emotional about a sick animal, need to discuss end-of-life decisions, or have complex medical questions that need routing to the right specialist, our North America-based receptionists step in with genuine empathy. They're not veterinary experts — they're professional communicators who excel at showing compassion, gathering detailed symptoms, and ensuring every pet parent feels heard during stressful moments.
Integration with your veterinary CRM isn't an afterthought; it's central to how your answering service becomes part of your practice. With connections to over 5,000 business tools, including veterinary-specific platforms, every call automatically updates your patient records without anyone touching a keyboard.
When a client calls about their golden retriever's medication refill, the AI identifies them, pulls up the pet's history, and logs the entire interaction in your CRM. New patient inquiries create profiles automatically. Appointment bookings sync with your practice management software. Payment processing flows directly into your accounting systems. This isn't just basic data transfer; it's intelligent integration that understands veterinary workflows.
Our solutions team handles the technical setup using platforms like Zapier, Make, and N8N to create custom workflows matching exactly how your practice operates. Maybe you want emergency calls to trigger immediate alerts to on-call vets, or vaccination reminders to follow specific protocols. We build these automations during your white-glove onboarding, ensuring everything works perfectly with your existing systems.
You don't need an IT department to manage this. Our onboarding specialists and account managers customize everything to fit naturally with your workflows. They understand veterinary practices — the difference between wellness visits and sick appointments, how to handle prescription refills, when to flag potential emergencies. This is enterprise-level integration delivered at subscription pricing, configured specifically for veterinary medicine.
Customizing your answering service for veterinary practice goes way beyond generic scripts. Through our white-glove onboarding, we program it with your exact protocols, terminology, and the specific way you want pet parents treated.
We start with a detailed consultation about your practice. What types of appointments do you offer? How do you triage emergency versus routine calls? What information do you need about symptoms? Do you handle exotics, or just cats and dogs? Our onboarding specialists dig into these details, learning your workflows and understanding exactly how you want different situations handled.
Then we craft custom prompts that speak your language. Your AI learns to distinguish between a wellness checkup and an urgent care need. It knows to ask about the pet's age, breed, and specific symptoms using terminology pet parents understand. It captures whether this is about dogs, cats, birds, or reptiles, routing calls appropriately. Every interaction aligns with your practice's approach to animal care and client communication.
The customization includes specific protocols for different caller types. New clients get different questions than established ones. Emergency symptoms trigger immediate escalation protocols. Prescription refill requests follow your specific validation process. You decide the rules, and we program them precisely. Plus, your dedicated account manager helps refine and adjust these prompts as your practice evolves, ensuring your answering service grows with you.
Let's talk real numbers that matter to your practice. An in-house receptionist costs around $77,000 annually when you include salary, benefits, training, and overhead. The AI Receptionist from Smith.ai starts at just $97.50 per month. Even with our comprehensive virtual receptionist plans that include dedicated human agents, you're looking at $292.50 per month. That's massive savings you can invest back into your practice, whether for new equipment, additional staff, or expanded services.
But here's what makes our pricing even smarter: You only pay for what you use. With our per-call pricing, if you exceed your plan's calls, you just pay for those extra calls — you don't get forced into a more expensive tier. No setup fees, no cancellation fees, no surprises. Want to save more? Annual billing gets you 10% off.
This isn't about cutting corners; it's about being strategic with your resources. That $70,000+ you save annually could fund a new veterinary technician, upgrade your diagnostic equipment, or expand your facility. Meanwhile, you're getting superior coverage: 24/7 availability for emergencies, perfect consistency during busy seasons, and the ability to handle multiple calls when everyone's calling about the latest pet food recall.
Your AI Receptionist never takes vacation during your busiest boarding season, never gets overwhelmed during emergency rushes, and never forgets to capture critical symptom information. Plus, with human support included for complex situations, you're essentially getting a full reception team for less than the cost of one entry-level employee.
Human agents in our AI-enhanced plans aren't just backup — they're an extension of your AI's capabilities, handling the moments that genuinely benefit from human understanding and empathy. This is especially critical in veterinary practice where emotions run high and situations can be sensitive.
Your answering service handles the bulk of routine calls brilliantly — scheduling wellness visits, confirming appointments, providing office hours and directions. But when complexity or emotion enters the picture, human agents provide seamless support. Picture a pet parent calling in tears about their elderly dog's declining health, or someone trying to describe unusual symptoms they can't quite articulate. These situations need human compassion and careful listening.
Our North America-based receptionists are trained as professional communicators, not veterinary advisors. They won't diagnose conditions or give medical advice, as that's your expertise. Instead, they excel at what humans do best: showing genuine empathy during difficult conversations, carefully gathering symptom descriptions, deescalating panic about pet emergencies, and ensuring every detail gets captured accurately for your veterinary team.
The handoff is seamless. Callers can request a human anytime, or the system automatically connects them based on your predefined scenarios — maybe all end-of-life discussions, payment arrangements, or calls mentioning specific emergency symptoms. These agents understand the veterinary context enough to route calls appropriately, distinguish between true emergencies and worried owners, and provide the reassurance and professionalism that builds trust in your practice. They're your communication specialists, ensuring every pet parent feels heard and supported while your veterinary team focuses on treating animals.