PRACTICE SOFTWARE
Instinct veterinary software
Pricing, features, and how Instinct EMR connects to your clinic's website for online booking, texting, reminders and payments.
Practice software compared / Instinct EMR
Instinct EMR is cloud-based practice software from Instinct Science, built around a digital treatment sheet that records charges as care happens. It started with emergency, specialty and teaching hospitals, and Instinct EMR for Primary Care is the version for general practice.
On the pet owner side, two-way texting (Client Chat), appointment and vaccine reminders and Instinct Payments, including text-to-pay links, are built in. The Pet Owner Portal, launched in 2026, lets clients see records and confirm appointments. Clients can’t book online from your website yet: Instinct calls the portal a first step toward online booking, and its integrations page names no booking partner. Online intake forms come through partners such as Otto.
What to ask Instinct
- Instinct doesn’t post a price. Its 2021 launch post describes a monthly fee set as a percentage of invoice collections, so ask what percentage would apply to you, and what the minimum is.
- Contracts renew 12 months at a time and fees can rise at renewal, so ask about the renewal terms.
- If you want clients booking from your website, ask when online booking is coming, or which booking tools connect through Instinct’s Partner API.
- Ask what data Instinct migrates from your current system and how long the switch takes.
Instinct EMR pricing
Instinct EMR doesn't post a subscription price on its website. It is priced percentage of invoice collections (2021 launch post). source
Included in the subscription
- All-in-one monthly fee covering unlimited use (2021 launch post)
Published add-on prices
- Instinct Payments card processing: flat-rate; rate not published
- AI Document Summary and Assistant: only in some Instinct EMR plans; price not published
- Standards of Care (embedded clinical reference): price not published
- ScribbleVet AI scribe (separate Instinct product): price not published
Sources: sourcesourcesourcesourcesourcesourcesourcesource
When you ask for a quote, ask for the monthly cost per location or per user, setup and data conversion fees, and the price of the client communication add-ons below.
Instinct EMR features
Cloud PIMS built around a digital treatment sheet that captures charges as care is done, with anesthesia mode, status boards, charting, estimates, scheduling, Plumb's drug guidance and safety alerts, Stockroom inventory, analytics, Instinct Payments, Client Chat, reminders, the Pet Owner Portal, referring-vet access, prescriptions and a diagnostics dashboard. AI summaries come on some plans, ScribbleVet adds an AI scribe, and Teaching Mode and group settings serve teaching hospitals and multi-location groups.
- Digital treatment sheets
- Anesthesia Mode
- Automated charge capture
- Real-time status board
- Charting with templated SOAP notes
- Estimates that convert to treatment plans or invoices
- Appointment scheduling
- Plumb's drug guidance, dose calculators and safety alerts
- Inventory management (Instinct Stockroom)
- Analytics dashboards and reporting
- Instinct Payments
- Client Chat two-way texting
- Appointment, vaccine and service reminders
- Pet Owner Portal
- Referring-vet access to patient updates
- Prescriptions and label printing
- Diagnostics dashboard for lab and imaging results
- Task list
- Rapid patient registration
- Consent forms with e-signature
- Digital vaccine certificate
- Automations
- AI Assistant and Document Summary (some plans)
- ScribbleVet AI scribe connection
- Teaching Mode and Student Workflow
- Group-wide settings for multi-location groups
- Cloud access from any device
From Instinct EMR's own pages: source sourcesourcesourcesourcesourcesourcesourcesourcesourcesourcesourcesourcesourcesourcesourcesourcesourcesourcesourcesourcesourcesourcesourcesourcesourcesource
Labs and diagnostics
Lab orders go out from Instinct and results come back into the patient chart and the Diagnostics Dashboard: IDEXX in-house and reference, Antech in-house analyzers, Zoetis point-of-care and reference, Heska, Bionote, Moichor, Midwest Veterinary Lab, Micro Vet Diagnostics, Vetek and Parasight, plus HL7 connectivity through LifePoint Informatics (built on the Partner API) and the Orchard Harvest lab system. Imaging through IDEXX Web PACS, Asteris, Vet Rocket and SignalPET (AI reads and radiologists).source
Moving your data
Instinct's team migrates the practice's patient records, client information and history from the old system and validates the data with the practice before go-live. A Q1 2026 update carries a transferring patient's vaccine and health-service history in. No migration price is published; the 2021 launch post says one-time fees are low or sometimes none.source
Support and training
Live chat support inside the app around the clock, staffed by people with veterinary backgrounds, with phone callbacks and an emergency phone line. Each new hospital gets an implementation and adoption specialist, a role-based training plan, on-site or virtual go-live support, and the Careville self-paced training hub, then moves to a Customer Success team.source
Instinct EMR online booking and website integration
What pet owners can do from your website or phone, and whether Instinct EMR does it itself or through a partner.
- Online booking
- Not offered source
Pet owners cannot book from the clinic's website yet. The Pet Owner Portal (2026) lets clients see and confirm upcoming appointments, and Instinct calls it a first step toward online booking and appointment requests. The Partner API's scheduling endpoints let a third-party booking tool check availability, hold a slot and create the appointment, but Instinct's integrations page names no online-booking partner. sourcesource
- Two-way texting
- Built in source
Client Chat is built into Instinct EMR: one shared inbox for two-way texting with pet owners, with every message logged in the patient's chart. Staff can send photos and receive photos or videos from clients. Instinct's terms say messaging runs on third-party platforms such as Twilio. PetDesk and Oliver integrations also offer texting synced to Instinct. sourcesourcesource
- Reminders
- Built in source
Built in: practices schedule up to three appointment reminders per visit by email or SMS from editable templates, and clients confirm with a one-tap link. Vaccine and service reminders are automated, and due reminders also show in the Pet Owner Portal. AllyDVM, PetDesk and Oliver integrations also send reminders. sourcesourcesourcesourcesource
- Online payments
- Built in source
Instinct Payments is embedded in Instinct EMR: card and contactless payments on PAX A920 terminals settle the invoice automatically, clients can pay remotely by text or link-to-pay, and stored cards can be pre-authorized for future visits. A practice applies through a boarding application; processing is flat-rate and Instinct handles chargeback disputes. Gravity Payments is the third-party alternative, taking Clover point-of-sale payments in Instinct's Account Ledger plus text/link-to-pay. sourcesourcesourcesource
- Online forms
- Partner source
No native online intake or new-client forms that pet owners fill in from the clinic's website were found. Instinct's charting has customizable consent and release forms that the owner signs electronically (typed name, checkbox, time stamp, staff witness) when the document is presented in the clinic. Digital forms for clients come through Otto and Oliver. source
- Pet owner app or portal
- Built in source
The Pet Owner Portal (launched March 2026, US and Canada) is a mobile-friendly web portal, not an app: clients log in with a magic link sent to their email and see records, upcoming and past appointments, active prescriptions and reminders, and confirm appointments. The practice switches it on, chooses what is shared, and can give it a branded custom subdomain. PetDesk's pet parent app also syncs with Instinct. sourcesourcesource
Client-communication, payment and reputation partners on Instinct's integrations page: AllyDVM, Oliver, Otto, PetDesk, FetchIt (caller ID), ReviewTree (surveys/reviews), Gravity Payments (Clover) and myBalto (charitable funding). No website or online-booking partner such as Vetstoria is listed. source
Client communication companies that name Instinct EMR on their own pages: AllyDVMsource , Ottosource .
API: Instinct Partner API (REST) with public docs at docs.instinctvet.com, open to technology partners and customers. Credentials are requested from Instinct; one set of credentials covers one Instinct database. source
See how Instinct EMR compares with 13 other systems in the website and booking integration matrix.
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