Reaching animal owners and the public
Veterinary communication reaches animal owners through practice publicity, social media, comics and public welfare campaigns.
Practice reputation and client relationships
In 2022 veterinary public relations (PR) was a niche service with growing demand and increasing emphasis on digital activity and social media. The veterinary profession had long been valued by the public, but social media enabled individuals with a grudge to inflict serious reputational damage on a practice quickly. Online communication is quicker and easier but can become reactive and confrontational, particularly when veterinary outcomes disappoint and emotions run high. A social media storm can be amplified by mainstream news coverage, cause professional damage and emotional exhaustion, and leave a practice unable to give its side because discussing case specifics publicly would be inappropriate.
Proactive communication builds a bank of good reputation that can soften negative publicity and place it in context. Client loyalty develops primarily through personal interactions with the practice, but well-managed PR can strengthen it by reinforcing the practice's image. In some social media storms, other clients have defended their practice.
PR can attract and retain clients, showcase the team's ethos to prospective employees and help retain staff whose work feels more fulfilling because they are proud of their practice. In 2022 these benefits were particularly welcome amid pandemic-related pressures on wellbeing, staffing and burnout. Larger practices or groups may have a dedicated marketing manager, whereas smaller independent practices often share PR responsibilities across the team.
Local press and digital channels
Among print outlets, good relationships with the local press generally offer veterinary practices the most benefit. Feel-good stories are popular with local readers, and supplying them can establish lasting relationships with journalists. Practices can also invite press contacts to open days and charity fundraisers. Press releases about expanded services or facilities and staff awards can raise a practice's profile, build credibility and establish it as a local source of pet-care advice. Journalists and editors who know a practice may be less inclined to publish negative stories or may seek a balancing comment rather than publish without question.
Social media can extend relationships beyond the practice premises by encouraging clients to share pet pictures and stories, including through photo competitions when time permits. Showing the team's personable side reinforces an approachable, caring image and can discourage negative publicity by giving the business a human face. Answering client questions and posting about preventive treatments, routine check-ups and healthcare plans can improve pet care and support the business. Whoever runs social media should receive training in effective strategy, avoiding difficult situations and responding appropriately when problems arise, so that the time invested earns a return.
In 2022 Facebook was by far the most popular platform among practices, while Instagram and TikTok were becoming more attractive, perhaps because they were less likely to involve toxic debates. Twitter's constant activity and need for community engagement often made it too time-consuming for practices. A practice's website is particularly important for client relations; blogs, emailers and leaflets provide further channels alongside press and social media. The channels important to each practice should form one coherent strategy serving its business goals, with general PR principles adapted to the specialised veterinary context.
Comics for animal welfare and owner experience
By 2024 there was no substantial literature reporting or evaluating comics in veterinary medicine and animal-health communication. One PubMed search found a study using comics with virtual reality to teach young people in Portugal about welfare issues for dogs in rehoming shelters; very few other relevant articles were found, including a graphic article on brachycephalic dogs published in 2022. Animals lend themselves to drawing and have broad cultural appeal, while anthropomorphic animal characters have been used in human graphic medicine to widen demographic reach.
Veterinary patients cannot explain their views or feelings verbally, and anthropomorphism is a persistent challenge. A veterinary writer therefore regards input from veterinary and animal-welfare scientists, the stakeholders best qualified to advocate for animals' needs, as mandatory for veterinary comics. Graphic pathography arguably does not exist in veterinary medicine, since a dog's feelings about diabetes are unlikely ever to be documented with precision, nuance or credibility. The owner's experience of caring for a dog with diabetes could, however, make an excellent comic subject. Narratives about euthanasia, among a veterinarian's most emotionally charged duties, could encourage empathy for bereaved owners and offer therapeutic reading for people who have lost a pet.
Comics could educate about surgical, medical and husbandry interventions across relevant species. A particularly promising application is animal welfare affected by human decisions, since many domestic-animal welfare problems arise, often unknowingly, from caregivers' breeding and husbandry choices. Image and narrative persuasion make comics well suited to communicating welfare-positive science, such as that promoted by Human Behaviour Change for Animals, across cultures and geographical settings.
A comic about Chiari-like malformation and syringomyelia in Cavalier King Charles spaniels contrasts rugby-ball and football icons above dogs' heads, using imagery based on imaging studies. It aims to encourage selection of puppies with rugby-shaped heads and reduce demand for dogs with abnormally spherical skulls. Displaying such a comic prominently as a waiting-room poster is a simple way to engage owners with health and welfare advice.
Campaigns about extreme breeds
In 2024 the UK's RSPCA launched its Born to Suffer campaign to raise awareness of welfare problems in brachycephalic dog breeds. Photographs of bulldogs and pugs receiving oxygen through nasal cannulae aimed to persuade prospective owners to reconsider these breeds and reduce demand for their extreme morphology. The charity's head small-animal veterinarian argued that relentless exposure to flat-faced dogs in social media and marketing had normalised abnormal anatomy. The campaign also sought commitments from policymakers to tougher legislation to reduce these breeds' health problems.