Instinct podcast spotlights veterinary urgent care success

Instinct Science is spotlighting the veterinary urgent care model through a new Pick the Brain podcast episode featuring Corynn Cackler, DVM, founder of STATVet Animal Urgent Care in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Published April 9, 2026, the episode focuses on where urgent care fits in the continuum between general practice and emergency medicine, and on Cackler’s account of building a practice around that gap in care. Instinct says the conversation covers the model’s success in veterinary medicine, the need to educate primary care teams on triage, and practical considerations for starting an urgent care clinic. STATVet’s own site describes Cackler as an emergency and ICU veterinarian, and local reporting has said she opened STATVet in Tulsa in May 2022 as the city’s first pet urgent care clinic. (instinct.vet)

Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, the discussion lands at a time when urgent care is becoming a more defined practice model, not just an extension of ER or same-day GP. AAHA recently described urgent care as a way to serve patients who can’t wait for a scheduled appointment but aren’t experiencing a life-threatening emergency, while industry data suggests sick and urgent visits are making up a larger share of caseload as routine visits soften. That makes triage, referral pathways, staffing design, and communication with pet parents increasingly important for practices deciding whether to add urgent slots, partner with a standalone urgent care clinic, or protect GP capacity by redirecting noncritical same-day cases. (aaha.org)

What to watch: Watch for more practices to formalize urgent care workflows, especially as hospitals look for ways to capture medically necessary visits without overloading ER teams or displacing preventive care. (aaha.org)