Veterinary Innovation Podcast

This week, Shawn Wilkie and Dr. Ivan Zak catch up with Neshmeen Faatimah, the founder and CEO of Nuzzle Technologies, Inc., to discuss how AI-powered simulations are transforming veterinary communication training.  
After losing her cat during a complex care journey marked by communication breakdowns, Neshmeen set out to solve one of veterinary medicine's most overlooked challenges: teaching vets how to navigate difficult conversations with clients. Nuzzle's platform allows veterinarians to practice realistic case scenarios with AI-simulated pet owners, helping teams improve trust-building, treatment discussions, cost conversations, and clinical decision-making in a low-stakes environment. 
This episode is a fascinating look at the intersection of AI, behavioral science, education, and the future of veterinary mentorship.
Learn more about Nuzzle Technologies.
Neshmeen recommends "Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In" by Roger Fisher, William L. Ury, and Bruce Patton, a foundational text on negotiation and alignment that helps reframe vet-client interactions.

This week, Shawn Wilkie and Dr. Ivan Zak welcome Guilherme Coelho, Co-founder and CEO of Maven Pet, to discuss how AI-powered pet wearables are helping owners better understand their pets' health between vet visits. They discuss how Maven combines sensor data, app-based inputs, and artificial intelligence to build a "digital paw print" for each pet and detect early signs of illness before they become critical.
Guilherme explains why the modern pet owner is moving beyond simple GPS tracking in favor of deep health insights that provide peace of mind, especially for pets with chronic conditions. Learn how Maven is changing the conversation in the vet office by empowering owners with continuous data that supports more accurate diagnoses and effective treatment monitoring.
Learn more about Maven Pet.
Guilherme recommends the Youtube - Head of Growth (Anthropic): Anthropic is automating its own growth for insights into rapid AI scaling.

This week, Shawn Wilkie and Dr. Ivan Zak welcome Dr. Lisa Beagan, founder of Your Vet Direction, to discuss how AI-supported triage can bring more structure, consistency, and safety to veterinary intake.
The conversation explores one of the most overlooked risks in practice operations: asking front-desk teams to make triage decisions without the clinical tools or training to do so confidently. Dr. Beagan shares how her platform, Your Vet Direction, helps guide CSRs through the right questions, prioritize urgency, and support better decision-making while keeping humans firmly in the loop.
The episode offers a practical look at how structured AI can reduce variability, improve efficiency, and help veterinary practices modernize one of their most critical workflows.
Learn more about Your Vet Direction.
Dr. Beagan recommends "The Coming Wave: Technology, Power, and the Twenty-first Century's Greatest Dilemma" by Mustafa Suleyman for its insights on AI guardrails.

International pet travel is one of those topics that sends both pet owners and veterinary teams into a quiet panic. This week, Shawn Wilkie and Dr. Ivan Zak sit down with Marisa Hoskins, the founder of Paws Abroad Inc., to discuss the growing need for better infrastructure around global pet travel. Drawing on her experience moving internationally with her rescue dogs—a journey that also inspired her book The Adventures of Harley and Kalinda: Harley and Kalinda Go to Thailand—Marisa shares how she's turning a frustrating, high-stakes process into a more structured, manageable workflow for both pet owners and veterinary teams.
The conversation explores why international pet travel creates so much administrative strain for clinics, where the biggest compliance breakdowns happen, and how technology can help reduce errors, improve communication, and make travel planning less overwhelming.
If your practice has ever struggled with travel certificates, shifting regulations, or clients who need guidance on moving pets across borders, this episode offers a practical look at a problem many clinics know all too well.
Learn more about Paws Abroad Inc.
Get free early access to the Pawsabroad Vet Portal.
Marisa recommends "The Forever Dog: Surprising New Science to Help Your Canine Companion Live Younger, Healthier, and Longer" by Rodney Habib and Dr. Karen Becker for its insights into proactive pet health and nutrition.

This week, Shawn Wilkie and Dr. Ivan Zak chat with Dr. Ragen T.S. McGowan from Petivity powered by Purina about how the brand's Smart Litter Box Monitor provides a voice for cats. They discuss how AI-powered tracking of weight and elimination patterns can alert owners to changes that might indicate early signs of illness, such as FIC or urinary blockage, before they become clinical emergencies.
Dr. McGowan shares insights into Purina's massive research initiative, involving 300,000 data points to create an objective "window" into feline health. This episode is a must-listen for veterinary professionals looking to bridge the communication gap with cat owners and utilize longitudinal home data to improve clinical outcomes and patient welfare.

Dr. McGowan recommends "Affective Neuroscience: The Foundations of Human and Animal Emotions" by Jaak Panksepp and the TED Talk "Could an Orca Give a Ted Talk?" by Karen Bakker.