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10 Covetrus | ph: 855.724.3461 | fx: 888.329.3861 | northamerica.covetrus.com Reduce your taxable income … Section 179 tax deduction If you think boarding services might be a good fit for your business, isn't it time to explore the cost vs. benefit of doing so? Since you already have an advantage for capturing a portion of the boarding market, here are some other considerations to help get you get started: Offer medically sound boarding options with personalized attention. Established trust is a significant advantage for veterinarians entering the boarding business. Clients need peace of mind before they can leave their beloved pets, making a veterinarian-based option extremely attractive. If an urgent situation arises, the veterinarian has a complete medical record of the pet's health and can make informed decisions in the owner's absence. Combining boarding and clinic services also creates opportunities to increase practice revenue as you connect with more animals outside of health-related visits, including dental procedures, vaccinations, grooming, and other related services. Use your client base as a springboard to greater market share. Another advantage is your built-in referral network—your client base. Clients provide an immediate logical source to fill your kennels, and their word-of-mouth recommendations are powerful. While social media and marketing can help, word-of-mouth is still especially influential in growing a loyal client base. Veterinarians have advantage capturing boarding market According to a national pet owner's survey conducted by the American Pet Products Association (APPA), 67 percent of US households include at least one pet. 1 That's 84.9 million homes! With so many pets—the majority canine and feline—it's not surprising that consumers are spending $4.7 billion on boarding each year. 1 Boarding Design a boarding space that aligns with your business goals. Once you decide boarding is a natural fit for your clinic, think about the number of kennels you want to support. A medium-sized boarding operation, typically 20-30 kennels, will need two staff members to care for the animals, and one staff member to manage the front desk. To minimize costs, your clinic-side staff may have the flexibility to share some of these responsibilities. Space is another important factor for discussion: 40 to 50 square feet per kennel is typical for planning purposes. That size includes a 4-foot by 6-foot run and aisle space, while also allowing for a common food preparation area. Even though luxury suites may require more space, consider including them in the design—they are often the first kennels to be reserved. Kennels can be configured in many ways to fit an established footprint.