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Shepherd vs Instinct Science Comparison (2026)

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Good recommendations?

Shepherd

Instinct Science

Overview

The workflow-first PIMS built and driven by practicing veterinarians, so it feels second nature.

Instinct is the new cloud-based operating system for the modern veterinary hospital: a full electronic medical records and practice management system.

Platforms supported

Web-based
iPhone app
Android app
Windows Phone app

Typical customers

Freelancers
Small businesses
Mid size businesses
Large enterprises

Customer support

Phone
Online
Knowledge base
Video tutorials

view more detailsview details

Platforms supported

Web-based
iPhone app
Android app
Windows Phone app

Typical customers

Freelancers
Small businesses
Mid size businesses
Large enterprises

Customer support

Phone
Online
Knowledge base
Video tutorials

view more detailsview details

Video & Screenshots

Pricing

Starting from

299

Per month

Free trial available
Credit cardless trial
Free account
Subscription based

Starting from

Free

Free trial available
Credit cardless trial
Free account
Subscription based

User reviews

4.7

Value for money

Ease of use

Features

Customer support

90%

would recommend this app

4.9

238

217

Value for money

Ease of use

Features

Customer support

97%

would recommend this app

Pros

“The automated features (tasks like callbacks, forms to send to clients when booking online, discharges, approving estimates and pushing to the treatment and invoice) improves efficiency for the whole team as well as communication with clients.”

Sam F.

Owner, veterinarian

“Scheduling features are constantly being updated for better management, which we really appreciate - I also love that customers have access to their profiles through Pet Portal to request medications, see records, and book appointments!”

Kim G.

Practice Manager

“In our legacy PIMS we had a "line item history we could print for quick access, but in the INVOICE LINE ITEMS tab on Shepherd - you cant print them.”

Brittany A.

Office Manager

Pros

“We had some confusion when first using the system with processing payments but we quickly worked with the support team and they helped us with a SOP to prevent this problem from happening”

Kelsey O.

RVT

“Our medical team is able to customize templates to their preferances and finds the integration with our medical services and referral partners seamless. ”

Michelle W.

CEO

“The anesthesia charting for accurate monitoring, the whiteboard feature for inhospitality patient care, and the ability to put in orders and have them be math-checked to reduce potential incorrect dosing.”

Ares A.

RVT

Cons

“Inventory management, updates chronically cause problems with the functionality of Shepherd, system goes down regularly lately, support can be tricky”

Amber G.

Manager

“We are a walk in practice that seems more than 100 patients per day. When the system goes down for longer than about 10 minutes we really struggle running.”

Kelsey S.

Client Service Manager

“The Patient names show up above the client names when searching for client/patient When the system goes down...”

Kelsey S.

Client Service Manager

Cons

“Also occasionally, the lag time for the "tagged to" symbol to appear on a patient's chart is slow, so multiple coworkers have started to work on the same patient without realizing it.”

Megan M.

ICU and ECC CVT

“The rest of the PIMs is a little more clunky and the medical records sent to other hospitals are cluttered and a bit harder to interpret.”

Jonah W.

Veterinarian

“Toggling back and forth can cause some time delay when toggling between treatments to fill out discharges.”

Amber S.

Vetereinarian