Updated 2026-10-18 · 3 min read
Out of hours, two kinds of messages reach a veterinary clinic: calendar ones —an appointment, a vaccine, a change— and ones that may be urgent. The first can be sorted there and then by an assistant that knows the calendar. The second need a clear answer and an alert to the team, never an assessment.
Night-time appointments, sorted at night
Lots of people plan their week while the clinic is closed. If nobody answers until the morning, some of them book elsewhere. With ClaudIA, those messages are handled with the real calendar: it suggests times over the next few days, books the appointment under the pet's name and reminds them the day before. In the morning the calendar is up to date.
What may be urgent
Here the rule is simple and has no exceptions: the assistant doesn't decide whether something is serious. It does what the clinic has left in writing. If the clinic works 24 hours, it tells the owner to call its emergency number now. If not, it gives the phone number and address the clinic has set —that of a hospital it works with, for example— and leaves the alert noted for the team, with the message word for word.
And for what nobody doubts —being hit by a car, not breathing properly—, it says in one sentence to call or go in now.
| Situation | What ClaudIA does |
|---|---|
| Asks for an appointment at eleven at night | Gives a time in the calendar and books it |
| Describes something that may be urgent and the clinic works 24 hours | Tells them to call the emergency number now and alerts the team |
| Describes something that may be urgent and the clinic is closed | Gives the emergency phone number and address the clinic set and leaves the alert |
| Asks what to give the animal | Says that's for the vet and alerts the team |
What needs to be ready
Three things, once: your opening hours and closures in the calendar, your emergency number and whether you work 24 hours, and the text you want to give out of hours. With that, ClaudIA does the same at three in the afternoon as at three in the morning.
This article is about how a clinic is organised, not about animal health. Schedules, treatments and any decision about an animal belong to the vet who sees it.
Questions clinics ask
Does ClaudIA book appointments while the clinic is closed? Yes. It answers messages at any hour and books appointments for the next few days with the real free times in your calendar.
What does it say about an emergency in the early hours? Whatever the clinic has left in writing: its emergency number if it works 24 hours, or the phone number and address of the service it works with. And it leaves the alert noted for the team.
Does it judge whether something can wait until tomorrow? No. That decision belongs to the vet. ClaudIA takes the reason as given and takes it to the team.