ANNAPOLIS, MD – February 21, 2000 – Animal owners everywhere just gained an unprecedented new resource to help them care for all creatures great and small, whether they walk, fly, crawl or swim. VetCentric, the leading provider of online services for the veterinary medical industry, today announced the launch of VetCentric.com, an information portal designed to bring animals, owners and veterinarians closer together through education and services. By utilizing VetCentric.com, owners can gain a deeper understanding of their animal’s healthcare needs, making them more effective partners with their own veterinarians.
“This Web site provides a wonderful variety of information that appeals to the animal owner,” said Dr. Ron Bright, DVM, MS, Diplomate ACVS, president-elect of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons. Dr. Bright is also a surgeon with Veterinary Specialists of Northern Colorado and affiliate faculty at the College of Veterinary Medicine at Colorado State University. “As people become more educated about their animals’ healthcare needs, they will really appreciate the value of VetCentric.com. This site also allows easy access to veterinary products for both veterinarians and their clients. This helps maintain an excellent bond between veterinarians and their clientele.”
Visitors to VetCentric.com will find a wealth of animal healthcare information – covering everything from puppies to ponies, kittens to cockatiels, and hamsters to heifers. Its educational resources include an animal healthcare encyclopedia; a knowledgebase with answers to commonly asked questions; Ask VetCentric, a free service that allows visitors to post specific questions to VetCentric’s veterinary staff; and All Creatures, a daily magazine. These resources not only include information about common household pets but also large animals and exotics.
“VetCentric.com has veterinarians affiliated with the site so it is a credible resource for animal owners. All the content on the site is either written or reviewed by veterinarians,” said Dr. Karen Rosenthal, DVM, MS, ABVP-Avian. Dr. Rosenthal is Director of Special Species Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania’s Veterinary College and a member of VetCentric’s Editorial Board. “So much information is available on the Web and has no basis in fact. VetCentric.com gives animal owners one location to gain more knowledge about common conditions and talk to their veterinarians with a higher level of understanding. The site is not meant to be used as a tool for self-diagnosis but rather to provide information and understanding to the animal owner.”
“Veterinarians understand that animal owners undergo a great deal of stress when their animals are sick or injured. Many times the owner will only understand a small portion of what the veterinarian is telling him or her during the consultation,” added Dr. Rosenthal. “Once the owner gets home and begins to settle down, they can use VetCentric.com as a reference tool to read more information about their animal’s condition and the treatment involved.”
VetCentric.com is the latest component of VetCentric’s online infrastructure designed to support the entire veterinary medical community. The company’s services provide a complete, vertically integrated solution for the delivery of animal healthcare information and products to provide better care, reduce costs, and enhance productivity and services.
Last month, the company launched VetCentric.net, which provides e-business infrastructure to veterinary practices. Using VetCentric’s unique management features, veterinary practices can easily create dynamic, completely customized Web sites. Practices can integrate reference content from VetCentric.com into their own site using VetCentric.net’s robust syndication features, write their own content with cutting edge, Web-based point-and-click tools, or select a combination of the two. VetCentric also allows veterinary practices to add e-commerce functionality to their site with the click of a mouse, as well as to take advantage of VetCentric’s other business-to-business e-commerce services.
About VetCentric
VetCentric is the leading provider of e-commerce infrastructure for the veterinary industry. By uniting the veterinary medical community with animal owners and industry suppliers, VetCentric allows veterinarians to provide better patient care, reduce costs, and streamline service delivery. VetCentric’s consumer portal, at www.vetcentric.com, provides animal owners with original, high-quality content and services – including the magazine All Creatures and the most extensive animal healthcare encyclopedia online. Investors in VetCentric include Asset Management, the Aurora Funds, Staenberg Private Capital, Three Arch Partners, and Vantage Partners. For more information contact VetCentric via phone, fax or e-mail.
VetCentric
2530 Riva Road
Suite 402
Annapolis, MD 21401
Phone: 410-571-6790
Fax: 410-571-6799
E-mail: john@vetcentric.com
www.vetcentric.com
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