Dr. Thom Jenkins knows the secret to the universe
It’s not every vet who travels the world looking for adventure, but Dr. Thom Jenkins has definitely been around. Originally from Britain, he has traveled the world in search of better pet care. He has spent time in Thailand working with tigers, made his first journey to China in the hopes of finding financial success there, and now lives in the USA.
Dr. Thom first decided to move to China, his motivation came from a book. He read, “The Growth Map,” by Jim O’Neil and decided if their economy was growing, so was the number of pets. He selected China because it was the first place he found a support group willing to help him transition.
He went to China not speaking a single word of Mandarin, but with a fresh veterinary license, and a desire to help. He met his wife in China, as well as his two pets, who now travel the world with him.
His wife originally didn’t like pets, but he figured it was just because she had never had a pet. “Who ever said familiarity breeds contempt got it wrong,” he said, referring to pets.
He wasn’t wrong, his wife soon added a cat to the dog, showing that she had quickly warmed up to the idea of pets.
Dr. Thom now lives in the USA and has devoted himself to helping vets and pet owners through his app, PETSAPP. This app provides a digital platform to help smooth connections between vets and customers.
Through PETSAPP, customers can pay, chat directly with their veterinarian or other members of the staff and has the option for video calls. It paves the way for telemedicine for the pet, and helps both pet owners and veterinarians use the internet as a tool.
Dr. Thom believes that our own assumptions are one of the biggest problems in the veterinary community today. Veterinarians and staff often come to work every day with an assumption of what veterinary medicine is like.
Customers however, don’t often see it that way. They come into the office maybe once or twice a year. The veterinary space will never be familiar to them. They rely on the vet and staff to understand what a ‘normal’ experience is.
Dr. Thom thinks the best way to exceed expectations is to first set them. Without knowing what a standard for a vet clinic is, there’s no way to have expectations that can be exceeded.
As for the future, he has high hopes for it. He believes that curiosity is one of the most admirable aspects of humanity, and that the ability to look at things from other perspectives (including animals ones) helps improve the experience of being human.
He hopes to continue to be himself for the next 5 years and ask that you don’t spoil it for him with expectations of what that might be. There’s a whole world out there to explore and he plans to be in the thick of it, enjoying life and being curious.