AnimalChat phone assistant

A phone line that is never busy

An assistant picks up every call straight away. The caller explains freely what they need — no keypad menu, no keywords. It reads back what it understood, answers one factual question directly, puts the caller through to your team as soon as they ask, and passes everything else on to you.

What every call leaves behind: a message in the animal's record, with name, request and the wording of the conversation. Your usual number stays the same, and your clients have nothing new to learn.

What it explicitly is not: a conversation partner. It holds no dialogue, answers no follow-up questions and negotiates nothing. It listens, confirms and passes on. Where it promised more, it would disappoint.

Request your own greeting

01 · Listen

Hear it for yourself

We record your own greeting — with the name of your practice — and send it to you. That answers the question “will my clients want this?” better than any description.

Examples

Free, no account needed.

Request your own greetingExamples on the home page

02 · How it works

What a call looks like

  1. 1

    Your phone does not ring

    The assistant answers after the first ring, gives your practice name — and says that it is an assistant.

  2. 2

    The caller speaks freely

    No “press two for appointments”. They say in their own words what it is about.

  3. 3

    It reads back what it understood

    Anyone who wants to correct something just says so — no need to start over.

  4. 4

    Simple enquiries are handled

    Opening hours, directions, which animals you treat: answered without you noticing a thing.

  5. 5

    Anyone who wants a person gets one

    One sentence is enough, at any point — then your phone rings. Everything else lands as a message in the animal's record.

03 · Weighed honestly

Four questions we answer before you ask

Including the two uncomfortable ones.

What changes

from day one
Nobody hears a busy signal any moreEvery call is answered — at lunchtime, during surgery, when both lines are busy. Whoever hangs up after twenty seconds today will be greeted from now on.
Factual questions never reach youOpening hours, directions, “do you treat rabbits too?” — the assistant answers from your profile, without anyone picking up at your end. That is the real relief: not faster calls, but fewer of them.
The caller works through no menuThey say in their own words what it is about — and then hear what came across. Anyone who wants to correct something just says so.
The caller keeps the choice — at any moment“I would like to speak to someone” is enough, at any point in the call, and we put them through. The assistant is a first step, not a wall.
Anyone reporting an emergency is put through at onceThe word alone is enough — nobody has to hunt for a keypad in a panic. In case of doubt, the detection always decides in favour of an emergency.
Every conversation is documentedName, animal, request and wording land in the record — not on a note at the front desk. Whoever makes the callback knows what it is about.
Your number stays your numberNo new number on signs, prescriptions and Google listings. You set up call forwarding — that was the whole changeover.

What it cannot do

and why
It holds no conversationIt answers no follow-up question that comes mid-sentence (“and when are you open anyway?”), and it does not probe the way a person at reception would.Our answerThat is a decision, not an unfinished job. Phone systems that fake a conversation frustrate exactly where they break character — and the caller never knows which rules apply. We would rather set the expectation correctly: a very good answering machine that understands what it records.
It does not answer medical questions“Can I give my dog ibuprofen?” gets no answer, but the note that the practice will be in touch personally.Our answerThat is deliberate and will stay that way. An assistant giving medical advice would be a liability risk for you — and the first piece of wrong advice would finish the whole offering.
It books no appointmentsIt takes down the request, but it cannot see your calendar and cannot enter anything.Our answerToday that is one callback less, but not yet an appointment. Connecting the calendar is the next step.
To put callers through we need a second route to your phonesA direct line or a work mobile — a number excluded from your forwarding. If we call your main number, your own forwarding sends the call straight back to us.Our answerYou do not need a second phone — a direct line rings on the same handsets. Most practices with a phone system have had one for years. Without one, everything else still works; only putting callers through does not.
A conversation takes longer than a quick wordAnyone who could settle something with a person in ten seconds tells the assistant first here.Our answerThat is why it answers the most common questions straight away and puts people through without detour on request. For some callers it remains a detour all the same — that belongs to the truth.

What it can grow into

over weeks
The relief becomes a number“47 calls this week — 31 handled without you, 16 put through.” A practice does not notice what did not ring; this line makes it visible.
Calls lost today turn into patientsWhoever hears a busy signal dials the next practice. Those are not postponed appointments, those are clients gone elsewhere — and you never find out.
Fewer interruptions during consultationsThe phone is the main disturbance at the treatment table. Every call that does not reach reception is also one interruption less next door.
The record grows with every callWhat was said on the phone is available at the next contact — including to the colleague who did not take the first call.
Availability as a differenceBetween noon and three the competition is usually unreachable. Anyone answered in that window remembers it.
The channel can become moreAppointments, prescription orders, structured callbacks — all of it builds on the same foundation. What is recorded today can be handled tomorrow.

What you rightly ask

and our answer
“And if your system fails, am I unreachable altogether?”That is the hardest question, and it is fair: if every call runs through us, your availability hangs on us.Our answerFirst the part that does not depend on us: you can cancel your forwarding yourself at any time, with a keypad code on your own phone. Then it rings at your end again as before — you need neither reach us nor ask permission. Beyond that, we can switch your number into emergency mode by hand.
“An emergency is not recognised as one”The most serious risk, and it cannot be argued away.Our answerIn case of doubt the detection always decides for an emergency, not against — better a false alarm than a missed one. Whoever says “emergency” is put through at once, without questions. If nobody is reachable, the assistant names the veterinary emergency service. That is not a guarantee, and we claim none.
“My clients do not want a robot”Some hang up when they realise they are talking to a machine. That happens.Our answerThe assistant says so in its first sentence — concealment backfires. Nor does it pose as a conversation partner it is not. And because one sentence is enough at any time to reach the team, nobody is trapped. The alternative, by the way, is not a person but the busy signal.
“The call lands in the wrong record”Matching by number and name can go wrong — for instance when several people share one phone.Our answerYou decide how strict the matching is: automatic only for a confirmed number, everything else as a suggestion to confirm. A wrong match can be undone with one click.
“What happens to the recordings?”They are your clients' conversations, with names and requests — personal data you remain responsible for.Our answerProcessing in the EU, a data processing agreement, and you set the retention period — counted from the moment you close the case, not from the call. At the provider, the copy is deleted once collected.
“Anyone who wants a person still waits”The relief arises at your end. For the caller who wants to speak to someone regardless, it does not get faster.Our answerTrue. But they are not turned away: if nobody is free, the assistant takes down the request and says so honestly, rather than letting them run into nothing. We promise shorter waiting times nowhere.

04 · Where it fits

Who this is worth it for — and who not

Worth it

  • Practices where regularly nobody can pick up — lunchtime, surgery, peak hours.
  • Practices where the phone interrupts consultations.
  • Practices with a phone system and direct lines — there the setup takes minutes.
  • Practices that want to know who called without getting through.

Your own number: €99 setup, €39 a month — on top of the AnimalChat plan from €29 a month, the first 14 days free. Pricing

Not (yet) worth it

  • Practices with a permanently staffed reception that manages every call — then we replace nothing, we only get in the way.
  • Practices whose main problem is booking appointments. The assistant cannot do that today.
  • Practices with a single line and one phone that do not want to go without transfers.

Get in touch anyway — these are exactly the cases we want to see before we decide the next step.

05 · Commitments

What we explicitly do not promise

We do not promise that nobody waits any more. Anyone who wants to speak to a person waits until someone is free — as before.

We do not promise that every emergency is correctly recognised. We promise to decide in favour of the emergency in case of doubt, and to name the way to the emergency service when we reach nobody.

We do not promise medical advice. That remains your job, and we do not want to take it from you.

We do not promise a conversation. The assistant listens, confirms and passes on — it does not discuss and answers no follow-up questions. Anyone expecting more because we hinted at more would rightly be disappointed.

We promise that no call is left lying with us: what reaches us lands in your record, with its wording. That is the commitment we want to be measured by.

Hear your own greeting

Enter your practice name, we record it and send it to you.

Free, no account needed. We reply by email.

Request greeting