20 Aug 2025
As pets age, their needs evolve and so must the way veterinary practices stay in communication with their caregivers. Fortunately, today’s veterinary teams have access to a wealth of tools that make it easier than ever to proactively support senior dogs…
Naomi Jenkins
Job Title
Image: iStock / Nadezhda Fedrunova
Let’s explore how veterinary teams can use tools such as a robust customer relationship management (CRM) system and targeted campaigns to not only improve clinical outcomes, but to also strengthen the emotional bond we have with those of our clients who are either transitioning into or navigating through the senior years of their pet’s life.
I’m Naomi Jenkins, the global growth and community lead at PetsApp. With almost a decade’s experience in veterinary-specific marketing, my key passion is community led growth. But, before I begin to walk you through my recommendations as a marketeer, let me first call out that as a non-veterinary professional I am not attempting to make any specific clinical recommendations, but instead helping to guide you in landscaping and planning the architecture of possible advocacy opportunities you might like to build with your teams.
Senior dogs often experience gradual, hard-to-spot health changes: reduced mobility, cognitive decline, chronic pain and systemic issues like kidney disease. Yet many of these conditions (the AVMA reports as much as 92 per cent) go unnoticed or untreated; not because of neglect, but because clients simply aren’t aware of what to look for. This is where veterinary communication becomes critical.
By using a CRM and integrated campaigns, practices can deliver timely, relevant guidance to pet owners ensuring no pension-aged pup slips through the cracks.
But pet health care needs to not only be proactive it must also be contextualised. And this is why having a veterinary-specific CRM is important. Your clients need to be more than just a contact list.
Having dynamic and specialised tools that not only track the health and well-being of a pet, but also service history, communication preferences and lifestyle of their owner is vital for picking up the needs of both the pets and people in your care.
For example, many elderly dogs have older owners, both of whom may have limited mobility.
Being in the know and sympathetic of such nuances within your community of clients can allow you to tailor more effective ways to increase adherence and better reassure those in need of the intent in which you deliver expertise, through a well expressed understanding of what they and their family friend are experiencing.
The best way to make sure you’re targeting patients with the best services and care for them is via good segmentation.
I’ve detailed a quick and easy checklist to make sure you’re covering everyone’s needs efficiently, in a way that is also manageable for your team:
When used effectively, your CRM system can become the brain behind your client advocacy – making sure the right messages reach the right clients at the right time.
Campaigns allow your clinic to go beyond reminders by delivering valuable educational content and emotional support. Here are a few campaign ideas tailored to senior dogs:
Golden years email series. A multi-part series covering topics like nutrition for senior pets, joint health, preventing cognitive decline and preparing for palliative care.
Case story spotlights for social media. Share real-life examples of how senior pets improved with early diagnostics or pain management, helping owners see the value in acting sooner.
Seasonal check-ins: invitations via reminders. Reminders are one of the most effective tools for optimising your patient advocacy opportunities, especially for pets with long-term health needs. But not all reminders are created equal. Use SMS, email, app push or even postcards based on your client preferences.
Send personalised nudges (include the pet’s name and address your client by their preferred name) before wellness seasons. Note Senior Pet Month is in November, so pet owners will be seeing more content around the theme of best care for older pets at this time and so will be primed for conversations around these topics, making it easier for your team to approach the need for a check-up.
With CRM segmentation, you can tailor each message based on the pet’s age, health status and prior care history, making sure every message carries the right intention. And for a really fluid online to offline pet care experience, why not also create blog posts covering similar topics, using common questions asked by your pet owners as your header tags. It is likely that the questions you are asked in the clinic are the same questions other local pet owners are typing into Google.
Some reminder topics to consider for older dogs include:
These types of well-considered nudges don’t just improve compliance, they build trust by showing that your clinic is actively invested in each pet’s long-term well-being. PetsApp data suggests that with the right content and filtering, an average of 10 nudges per pet, per year can double digit revenue growth.
From the years of campaigns via a long list of clinics worldwide we have data that clearly shows that veterinary teams are more effective in digital communication when the right roles are clearly defined and involved. Specifically, when a veterinary receptionist is looped into the conversation, vets perform significantly better – something that is reflected in the improved “customer effort scores” we see with a higher likelihood that the interaction leads to monetisation. This highlights the importance of giving the right people the right roles and responsibilities, not just for operational efficiency, but to do better by the pets in their care.
At the heart of veterinary medicine is advocacy. Advocacy for both pets and the people who care for them. Senior dogs deserve more than just annual visits, they deserve a practice that is actively guiding their care journey to achieve the best, possible quality of life available to them.
By giving the right team members smart systems and thoughtful tools to deliver tailored campaigns and reminders, veterinary practices can improve outcomes, strengthen relationships and help pets live out their golden years with dignity, comfort and joy.
Naomi Jenkins is the global growth and community lead at PetsApp. Mother of two human offspring, three chickens, one dog and a beehive, Naomi is an experienced marketer within both veterinary and pet care. Previously working on projects for the likes of Purina, VisioCare, VetYogi and VetzPetz; and delivering educational, marketing sessions at Vetstagram, SPVS and BVA Live, you can join Naomi later this year for more marketing insights at VetCPD and the London Vet Show.
