Labterna
Book a call

An AI assistant that answers your animal hospital’s phone after hours.

Merel asks the questions from your triage protocol, tuned to your hospital, and puts emergencies straight through to your on-call team. Everyone else gets advice and a next step.

Book a call

Listen · a real test call

Dog ate dark chocolate

23:40, after hours

Duration 0:30

Merel

De Linde Animal Hospital, you're speaking with Merel, the AI assistant. This call is recorded. How can I help you?

Orange after 1 question · put through

Recorded over the phone, with a test clinic and a test caller.

Example of an animal hospital’s inbox after an evening: the calls Merel took, with colour, outcome and triage path. Open: the dog that ate dark chocolate, one question, orange, put through to the on-call team.

The inbox of De Linde Animal Hospital, after an evening

Calls

  • Yesterday

  • Sat 17 Oct

Orange

Dog

Yesterday 23:40 · 31 s

MedicalOutcome: Put through

The caller reports that the dog ate a whole bar of dark chocolate, about half an hour ago. The assistant put the caller straight through to a colleague.

Triage by the protocol

Complaint
Poison or ate something wrong
Questions
1 question asked
Rule
Questionnaire: less than 6 to 8 hours ago = urgent
Loading the recording

Conversation

  1. Merel0:00

    De Linde Animal Hospital, you're speaking with Merel, the AI assistant. This call is recorded. How can I help you?

  2. Caller0:10

    Good evening, my dog has eaten a whole bar of dark chocolate.

  3. Merel0:16

    Was it less than eight hours ago?

  4. Caller0:21

    Yes, about half an hour ago.

  5. Merel0:25

    I'm putting you through to a colleague right away, please stay on the line.

  6. 0:25

    Merel put the caller through to a colleague · answered

What Merel does.

Merel knows your hospital: opening hours, emergency rules, numbers and your protocol.

  • Clinic information

    Opening hours, address, prices and practical questions.

  • Triage

    Spots emergencies and puts them straight through, by your protocol.

  • Appointments

    Takes requests, by your rules.

  • Medication

    Repeat prescriptions and orders.

  • Admitted animals

    Questions about an animal in your care.

  • Aftercare

    Questions after a treatment or surgery.

  • Transfers

    A person for anyone who wants one.

  • And whatever else your hospital needs

    We set up every kind of call together.

“Only 25% of after-hours calls are real emergencies. For the rest, a vet nurse spends the whole evening on the phone, or a vet gets woken up in the night.”

Summarised from conversations with animal hospitals in the Netherlands, October 2026

Triage

Every question comes from a fixed protocol.

  • Merel asks at most five questions, one at a time, word for word from the protocol.
  • A red flag puts the caller through at once, even mid-sentence.
  • We tune the protocol to your hospital.

Based on the Veterinary Triage List: developed with researchers from Utrecht University and the University of Bern, derived from the UK’s Manchester Triage System and tested on 485 dogs and cats (Ruys et al., 2012).

Diagram of the protocol for poison or eating something wrong. First the emergency signs, then four questions. The chocolate call: question 1, is it rat poison, medicine, antifreeze, xylitol or a battery, the caller answered himself: no, chocolate. Question 2, was it less than eight hours ago: yes. Outcome orange, put through.

The path of the chocolate call: the caller had already answered question 1 by saying “chocolate”, so Merel only asked question 2. Orange, put through.

One scale. Five colours. Every caller.

Each colour has a target time, from red (immediately) to blue (within 4 hours). The same language for the phone, the front desk and the vet, and the same colours in the inbox.

Red

immediately

Orange

within 15 min

Yellow

within 30 to 60 min

Green

within 2 hours

Blue

within 4 hours

Listen to Merel

This is how it sounds, and how it lands in the inbox.

Every call comes in with a summary, a colour and the outcome, including the calls that weren’t put through.

Not urgent: advice, not put through.

Blue

Dog

Sat 17 Oct 14:10 · 35 s

MedicalOutcome: Handled

The caller found a tick on the dog’s neck. The assistant gave home advice: keep an eye on the spot over the next few days, and have it checked if it becomes clearly red or swollen, or if the dog becomes unwell.

Triage by the protocol

Rule
Topic without questions: Tick
Loading the recording

Conversation

  1. Merel0:00

    De Linde Animal Hospital, you're speaking with Merel, the AI assistant. This call is recorded. How can I help you?

  2. Caller0:10

    Good afternoon, I found a tick on my dog, on his neck.

  3. Merel0:14

    A tick is not an emergency. Keep an eye on the spot over the next few days, and have it checked if the skin becomes clearly red or swollen, or if your dog becomes unwell. Is there anything else I can help you with?

  4. Caller0:29

    No thank you. Goodbye.

  5. Merel0:32

    Have a nice day, goodbye.

  6. 0:35

    Merel ended the call after the goodbye

Recorded test call over the phone, with a test clinic and a test caller. This is how it then appears in the inbox.

What always applies.

  • She says she is an AI assistant and that the call is recorded.
  • A red flag: she puts the caller through at once.
  • Anyone who says “emergency” or “staff” always gets a person.
  • No medication, doses or diagnoses.
  • Every call can be played back, including the calls that weren’t put through.
  • Dutch, English, German and French.

The pilot.

  1. Half an hour with your vet nursesWe tune Merel to your hospital. You get a test number that isn’t connected to anything yet.
  2. One evening liveYou choose the evening, and you can switch her off at any moment.
  3. After hours, at weekends and on public holidaysIf it works, Merel answers at the times you choose.

Merel is in beta. The first calls fine-tune her, and something can still go wrong along the way. Your feedback is the deal: until it works, it’s free of charge.

  • Your number stays the same.
  • You can switch it off at any time.

Team

Who we are.

Over the past weeks we talked with vet practices and animal hospitals, and we build what we heard there.

Frequently asked questions.

Another question? Email fabio@labterna.com.

When does Merel answer?

Only when you choose: after hours, at weekends and on public holidays. During the day your team answers as always.

Does the caller know they’re talking to an AI assistant?

Yes. Merel says so at the start, and that the call is recorded. Anyone who says “staff” is put through.

What happens in an emergency?

If Merel hears a red flag, or the protocol comes out as an emergency, she puts the caller straight through to your on-call team. Together we set what happens for each colour.

Does Merel give medical advice?

For a mild complaint she gives short advice for home, with when the owner should call. Never medication, doses or a diagnosis; in an emergency or when in doubt, she puts the caller through.

Where is the data stored?

Call data (summaries, transcripts, tasks) is stored in the EU, in Frankfurt. Our voice provider keeps recordings for 90 days. Data is never sold and never used to train AI models. We sign a data processing agreement with every hospital (in Dutch for now). All the details are in the privacy policy (in Dutch).

Does our phone number stay the same?

Yes. Your phone system only forwards certain calls. You don’t need new phones.

Does it work with our phone system?

With any phone system that can forward calls, such as 3CX.

And animals you don’t treat?

Then Merel names the clinic that does treat that animal, and offers to put the caller through to a colleague.

Does it work if we share the on-call service with other practices?

Yes. Everyone who calls your on-call number gets the same triage, including the clients of the practices you share it with.

Does it work for practices too?

Yes, also for practices with their own evening or weekend service.

Which languages does Merel speak?

Dutch, English, German and French.

What does it cost?

It’s free during the pilot, and there’s no commitment.

See how it would work at your hospital?

Twenty minutes, online.

Book a call