Switching AI receptionist on Shepherd: a migration guide

By the Tilly editorial team · Updated October 7, 2026

If your clinic uses Shepherd and needs to switch AI receptionist, the safest order is simple: export your settings, choose a new provider, test it on its own number, then move your call forwarding before your cutoff date. Done in that order, your clients keep reaching you the whole time. This guide covers what to export, what to ask any provider, a two-week plan and the test calls to run first.

The short answer: export, choose, test, then switch

1. Export everything your current assistant knows about your clinic, while you still have access.
2. Choose a new provider using the same questions for each one.
3. Test the new assistant on its own number while your real calls stay where they are.
4. Switch your call forwarding only when every test passes, and well before your cutoff date.

Give yourself at least two weeks. Most of that time is your team checking and testing, not waiting on anyone.

What's changing

Shepherd's help centre states that the Scritch AI receptionist integration no longer accepts new clinics and ends for existing clinics on 15 December 2026 (Shepherd help centre, checked 2026-10-07).

The rest of this guide applies to any Shepherd clinic changing provider, for whatever reason.

What to export from your current assistant

Your current assistant holds months of decisions your team made: how calls are routed, what callers are told, and when the clinic is open. Collect it before the service ends, while you can still log in.

• Call scripts and greetings. The greeting, the wording for common requests, and any after-hours message.
• Transfer rules. Who gets which calls, the numbers they ring, and what happens when nobody answers.
• Hours and closures. Opening hours, lunch breaks, and holiday closures already set for December and January.
• Approved answers. The answers it gives about parking, payments, new clients, services and other routine questions. Many systems can export these as a spreadsheet or document.
• Emergency partner details. The partner hospital's name, number and address exactly as callers hear them, and your on-call arrangements.
• Call logs. A recent export of calls and outcomes. It shows your busy hours and the requests callers make most, which helps you test the new provider.

Then ask your current provider about your data. What happens to call recordings, transcripts and client details when the service ends? Can you download them first? When will they be deleted? Get the answers in writing.

Questions to ask any new provider

Ask each provider the same questions, so you can compare the answers fairly.

• Does it book directly into Shepherd? Ask whether it checks live availability and writes the appointment into your schedule, or only takes a request for your team.
• How does it handle emergencies? Ask how it recognises a possible emergency, what it does next, and how fast. A safe answer stops booking, gives no medical advice and gets the caller to a person or your emergency partner straight away. Your veterinarians should approve what it may say.
• How does it handle sensitive calls? Ask about calls on euthanasia, the loss of a pet and complaints. These callers need a person, not a booking flow.
• Can callers always reach a person? Ask what happens when a caller asks for one, and what happens if the system fails.
• How does it bill? Ask for the full terms: monthly price, included use, extra charges, setup fees and minimum terms. Ask whether Shepherd's own API fee is covered.
• How fast is support? Ask who helps you during the switch, and how quickly they reply once you're live.
• How do you cancel? Ask about notice periods and what happens to your data when you leave.

For a fuller list, see our checklist of what to check before choosing an AI receptionist.

A two-week switch plan, day by day

This plan assumes you have chosen a provider. Adjust the days to your clinic, but keep the order.

• Day 1. Sign up with the new provider. Send your exports. Name one person at the clinic who owns the switch.
• Day 2. Connect the new provider to Shepherd. In Shepherd's settings, turn on the integration and copy the API key into the new system. Check Shepherd's own documentation for the current steps.
• Days 3–4. Review what the provider imported: hours, closures, transfer numbers, answers and appointment types. Correct anything that's wrong.
• Day 5. Have your veterinarians review the emergency and sensitive-call wording.
• Days 6–8. Run the test calls below to the new provider's own number. Note every problem.
• Days 9–10. Fix what the tests found, then test again.
• Day 11. Agree the switch time with the provider. Choose a quiet time, such as an early weekday afternoon, never a Monday morning.
• Day 12. Switch your call forwarding. Make a live test call straight away.
• Days 13–14. Read every conversation from the first days. Keep the old provider available until you're confident, if your contract allows.

Switching your call forwarding without missing a call

Call forwarding is the setting that sends your clinic's calls to the AI. Your phone number doesn't change. You only change where the calls are sent.

• Find out where forwarding is set. It may be in your phone carrier's portal, your VoIP system or a setting on your desk phones. Your current provider's setup notes may say.
• Write down the current setting before you change it, so you can switch back quickly if you need to.
• Change one thing at a time. Point the existing forwarding at the new provider's number. Don't change your answer modes or hours on the same day.
• Test at once. Call your clinic number from a mobile phone that isn't on your system, and check the new assistant answers with your clinic's greeting.
• Check every route. If you forward differently for overflow, after hours and lunch, test each one.
• Keep your fallback. Make sure calls still ring through to your clinic if the new provider is unreachable.

See the glossary entry on call forwarding for the common setups.

Test calls to run before you switch

Run these calls to the new provider's own number before you move any forwarding. Use a phone that isn't on your clinic system and play realistic callers.

1. Booking. Book a routine appointment for an existing client. Check it appears in Shepherd with the right client, pet, vet and appointment type.
2. Refill request. Ask for a repeat prescription. Check a request reaches your team with the details filled in, and that no advice is given.
3. Possible emergency. Describe a situation your veterinarians define as urgent. Check the assistant stops booking at once, gives no advice, and puts you through to your team, or gives your emergency partner's details when you're closed.
4. Sensitive call. Ask about euthanasia, or say a pet has died. Check the wording is gentle, nothing is booked, and a person or a priority callback is offered.
5. Asking for a person. Say "I want to speak to a person." Check you're offered a transfer or a callback straight away.

Repeat the emergency and person tests after hours. If any test fails, don't switch until it passes.

How Tilly handles the move

If you choose Tilly, we do the heavy lifting, and your calls stay with your current assistant until Tilly is ready.

• Your settings carried over. Send us your website, your current assistant's FAQ and call-script exports (CSV, PDF or Word), and our short switch template with your transfer numbers, opening hours, holiday closures, after-hours policy and emergency partner. We import your settings and knowledge within one business day, as drafts for you to confirm. Nothing is used until someone at your clinic confirms it.
• Medical content is left out. If your old scripts contain advice, medicine names, doses or triage questions, we don't import them. Your triage comes only from Tilly's approved script.
• Tested first. Your calls keep going to your current assistant while your team runs Tilly's test calls to Tilly's own number. Only when every test passes do you point your existing call forwarding at Tilly.
• Same number. You keep your clinic number. Nothing for clients to learn.
• Live within one business day. Once Shepherd is connected, we aim to have you live within one business day, as long as your team has confirmed the drafts and run the test calls.
• No card until you go live, and no setup fee. Billing starts only once your calls are reaching Tilly.
• Shepherd's API fee credited. On Pro, Plus and Group, Tilly credits back Shepherd's monthly API fee for every location connected to Shepherd. See how Tilly bills.

Read more about Tilly with Shepherd and switching, and how setup works.