What is Ava AI?
Ava is an AI assistant built only for veterinary practices and used by more than 985 veterinary hospitals. She connects to Shepherd in real time, so every appointment she books and every refill request she takes goes straight into your schedule. There is no double entry and no separate calendar to manage.
Ava never replaces your front desk. She picks up the calls your team can't get to, gives clients a fast way to book online, and reaches out to clients who are overdue for a visit.
What Ava can do in Shepherd
Because Ava reads from and writes to Shepherd in real time, she can:
Book, confirm, reschedule, and cancel appointments
Take Rx refill requests and route them to your team for approval
Add new clients and patients
Answer common questions about your practice, such as location, hours, and services
Ava Products
Ava Voice
Answers inbound calls 24/7, books appointments into Shepherd, takes refill requests, and answers practice questions. Most practices start with overflow and after-hours coverage, and Ava can serve as your primary line if you prefer. Multi-location groups can route overflow across clinics to balance capacity. Ava Voice works with VoIP phone systems; your phone provider makes a couple of small configuration changes during setup.
Ava Scheduler
AI online booking behind your "Book Now" button. Clients see live Shepherd availability and book in a few clicks, day or night.
Ava Outbound
Calls lapsed and overdue clients from your clinic's own phone number and books them into open slots in Shepherd. No phone system changes are needed.
Reporting
Every Ava plan includes a dashboard showing each client interaction, where appointments came from, and trends over time, with transcripts and call audio for Ava Voice. Groups get roll-up reporting across locations with drill-down to each clinic.
Activating the Ava AI integration
Step 1: Book a demo
Schedule a demo with the Ava AI team to see Ava in action and plan your setup:
Want to hear Ava first? Visit try-ava.com.
Step 2: Turn on the integration in Shepherd
During your setup call, the Ava AI team will walk you through this step:
In Shepherd, open the Admin menu.
Click Integrations and select VetPawer (Ava AI).
Toggle the integration on.
Step 3: Send your clinic ID to Ava AI
In Shepherd, open the Admin menu and go to Clinic Settings.
Copy your clinic ID.
Send it to your Ava AI onboarding contact.
That's it. The Ava AI team handles the rest of the setup and will confirm when Ava is live.
Common Questions
Will Ava replace my front desk staff?
No. Ava handles the calls and requests your team can't get to, so staff can focus on the clients in front of them.
Where do Ava's bookings show up?
Directly on your Shepherd schedule, in real time, just like an appointment your team booked.
Do I need to change my phone system?
Ava Voice needs a VoIP phone system with a couple of small settings changes from your provider. Ava Outbound and Ava Scheduler need no phone changes.
Is there a long-term contract?
No. All Ava products are month-to-month.
Questions?
Ava AI Support:
1.877.399.1354
Shepherd Technical Support:
Live chat with customer care directly on the Shepherd application
1.888.655.8772