TCPA for vet clinics: texting and calling clients the right way

By the Tilly editorial team · Updated October 7, 2026

This is general information, not legal advice.

Jurisdiction: United States (federal rules, with examples from Florida and Oklahoma). Current as of October 7, 2026. Rules change, so check the linked sources and talk to your own lawyer before you change how your clinic contacts clients.

Yes, your clinic can text and call clients about their pets' appointments, as long as you have the right consent and follow a few simple rules. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) is the federal law behind those rules. It treats a text message like a phone call. Reminders and other service messages need the client's consent. Marketing messages sent by automated systems, and marketing calls with an artificial or prerecorded voice, need the client's consent in writing. You also need to respect calling hours, honor opt-outs quickly, and keep a record of who agreed to what. This guide walks through each part in plain words, for practice managers rather than lawyers.

The short answer

If you only remember four things, make them these:

1. Get consent before you text or make automated calls, and keep it separate for each channel (text, WhatsApp, phone call) and each kind of message (appointment messages, reminders, marketing).
2. Get written consent for anything that sells, such as a promotion, a new-service announcement or a "we miss you" message to lapsed clients.
3. Send at sensible hours in the client's own time zone. Federal rules set a window for sales calls, and some states set a tighter one.
4. Stop when the client says stop, however they say it, and make sure nothing already queued goes out afterward.

The rest of this article explains why, and what good records look like. For the wider picture, including call recording and AI disclosure, see our compliance guide for vet clinic phones and texts.

Informational vs marketing messages

The TCPA sorts messages by what they're for. The same text can need different consent depending on its content, so it helps to sort your clinic's messages before you worry about anything else.

Informational (service) messages

These relate to a service the client already has or asked for. At a vet clinic, that usually means:

• appointment confirmations and reminders
• a reschedule or cancellation notice
• a message that a prescription refill or a record request is ready to collect
• a reply to a question the client sent you
• a vaccine or wellness recall that tells the client a visit is due, with no offer or promotion attached

Under the FCC's rules in 47 CFR 64.1200, automated texts and calls to a mobile number need the client's "prior express consent". The FCC has long said that a person who gives a business their number for a related purpose has generally agreed to be contacted at that number about that purpose. That's why a client who gives you their mobile number at check-in can usually expect a reminder about their pet's appointment. "Usually" matters here: the safest course is to ask clearly and write it down.

Marketing (telemarketing) messages

A message that encourages the client to buy something is marketing, even if it's friendly and even if they're a long-time client. Examples:

• a discount on dental cleanings this month
• an announcement of a new service, such as grooming or boarding
• a win-back message to clients you haven't seen in a while
• an invitation to an event that promotes paid services

For marketing texts sent by automated systems, and marketing calls that use an artificial or prerecorded voice, the rules require prior express written consent. That's a signed agreement (an electronic signature counts) that names the phone number and makes clear the client agrees to receive marketing messages. Buying something from you is never a condition of giving it.

The gray zone

Some messages mix the two. A recall that says "Bella is due for her annual vaccines, book online" is a service message. Add "and get a free nail trim with any booking this month" and it has become marketing. When a message could be read either way, treat it as marketing, or remove the offer. Our reminder text templates keep service messages purely about the appointment for exactly this reason.

Consent: what to collect and how to record it

Consent only helps you if you can show it later. A good consent record answers five questions: who agreed, to what, on which channel, when, and how.

Ask for each channel and each purpose

A client may be happy to get appointment texts but not marketing texts. Another may want reminder calls but no WhatsApp messages. Treat each combination as its own permission:

• Channel: text message, WhatsApp, phone call (and email, which falls under different rules)
• Purpose: appointment messages, reminders and recalls, marketing

Agreement to marketing doesn't mean agreement to reminders, or the other way round. Keeping them separate makes it simple to honor an opt-out from one without losing the other.

Where to collect it

• New-client forms, paper or online, with a clear checkbox for each kind of message and the number it applies to. For marketing, the form should include a signature and a plain statement of what the client is agreeing to.
• At the front desk or on the phone, using wording you've agreed in advance, noted in the client record straight away.
• By text, by sending a consent request and recording the client's keyword reply (for example, replying YES to join marketing messages).

Avoid pre-ticked boxes and consent buried in general terms. If a client wouldn't recognize that they agreed, the consent won't help you.

What to keep

For each consent, keep the client's name, the phone number, the channel, the purpose, the date and time, how it was given (form, call, text reply), and the exact wording they saw or heard. Keep opt-outs the same way.

A common gap is a single "OK to contact" flag in the practice software (PIMS). It's better than nothing, but it doesn't say which channel or which purpose. Treat a flag like that as covering appointment messages only, and ask again before sending reminders on new channels or anything that markets.

When numbers change hands

Mobile numbers get reassigned. If a client's number is disconnected and given to someone else, the old consent doesn't carry over. The FCC runs a Reassigned Numbers Database that callers can check to see whether a number has been permanently disconnected since consent was given. Updating contact details at every visit also helps.

Quiet hours and state rules

The federal window

The FCC rules say telephone solicitations to a residential subscriber may not be made before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m., local time at the called party's location (47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1)). Strictly, that rule covers sales calls and texts. Applying the same window to every message is simpler and kinder. Nobody wants an appointment reminder at 6 a.m.

"Local time" means the client's time zone, not yours. Clinics near a time-zone line, or with clients who have moved, should check the area of the address on file rather than assume.

The same section of the rules also covers Do Not Call lists. Marketing calls and texts are checked against the National Do Not Call Registry, and every business that markets by phone must keep its own internal do-not-call list and honor it.

State "mini-TCPA" laws

Several states have their own telephone solicitation laws, and some are stricter than the federal rules. Two examples:

• Florida. The Florida Telephone Solicitation Act (Fla. Stat. 501.059) defines a "telephonic sales call" to include text messages and voicemails. It requires prior express written consent for sales calls made with an automated system for selecting and dialing numbers or with a recorded message. A separate Florida section, 501.616, bars commercial telephone solicitation calls before 8 a.m. or after 8 p.m. in the called person's time zone, and more than three such calls to a person in 24 hours on the same subject.
• Oklahoma. The Oklahoma Telephone Solicitation Act of 2022 follows a similar model. It requires prior express written consent for telephonic sales calls made with an automated system or a recorded message, limits those calls to 8 a.m.–8 p.m. in the called person's time zone, and bars more than three calls in 24 hours on the same subject.

These laws are aimed at sales calls, not appointment reminders. Even so, many clinics apply the strictest window to everything they send, because it's one rule the team can remember. Other states have their own calling hours, holiday rules or state do-not-call lists, and they change. If you have clients in several states, check each state's current rules or use a system that does.

Opt-outs: words to honor

What counts as "stop"

A client can withdraw consent at any time, and they don't have to use your preferred method. Under FCC rules adopted in 2024, a client may revoke consent by any reasonable means. Replies such as STOP, QUIT, END, REVOKE, OPT OUT, CANCEL or UNSUBSCRIBE to one of your texts count as a valid request, and so do plain words like "please stop texting me" or "don't call me again." The rules also set a deadline for honoring a request, and allow a single short reply to confirm it. The FCC postponed one part of that rule, about how far a single opt-out reaches across different kinds of messages, so check the current text on eCFR before you rely on any date.

The practical answer doesn't depend on the dates: honor every opt-out as fast as you can, on the channel the client used, and don't argue.

Make opt-outs work in practice

• Say how to opt out. End the first text in a thread with "Reply STOP to opt out." Clients find it reassuring, and it keeps you consistent.
• Accept the client's language. A Spanish-speaking client may reply "ALTO" or "no más mensajes". Treat it the same way.
• Cancel what's queued. If a reminder campaign is scheduled for tomorrow, an opt-out today must remove that client from it.
• Record it. Keep the date, the channel, the words used and which messages it covers. If the scope is unclear, stop everything on that channel and ask once whether they still want appointment messages.
• Phone calls count too. "Take me off your list" said on a call is an opt-out. Add the number to your internal do-not-call list.
• Don't re-add by accident. A data import from your practice software shouldn't quietly switch messages back on.

AI and prerecorded voice calls

Many clinics now use automated reminder calls, and some use AI voices that sound natural and can hold a conversation. In February 2024 the FCC issued a declaratory ruling (FCC 24-17) confirming that AI-generated voices are "artificial" voices under the TCPA. In practice that means:

• An AI reminder call needs the same consent as a prerecorded one. Prior express consent for service calls to a mobile number, and prior express written consent for marketing calls.
• Identify who's calling. The rules require artificial or prerecorded voice messages to state the business's name at the start and give a phone number during or after the message.
• Offer an automated opt-out on marketing calls. Prerecorded or artificial-voice marketing calls must give the person an automated way to opt out during the call, such as pressing a key or saying "stop", and a number to call to opt out if the call goes to voicemail.
• Be open that it's automated. A call that says what it is from the first sentence avoids confusion and builds trust. State rules on automated and AI calls keep developing, so plain disclosure is the safe habit.

Keep voicemails short, give the clinic's name and number, and leave out pet or appointment details unless you're sure who will hear the message.

A checklist for your clinic

Use this list to review how your clinic texts and calls clients today:

1. List every message you send (confirmations, reminders, recalls, no-show follow-ups, promotions) and label each one informational or marketing.
2. Check your consent records. For each message type, can you show consent for that channel and purpose, with a date and the wording used?
3. Fix your forms. Separate checkboxes for each channel and purpose, nothing pre-ticked, and a signature and plain statement for marketing.
4. Retire the "OK to contact" catch-all. Use it for appointment messages only, and ask again for the rest.
5. Set a sending window in the client's local time zone, no wider than 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., and tighter where your state requires it.
6. Test your opt-outs. Reply STOP to one of your own messages and confirm nothing else arrives, including scheduled reminders.
7. Check Do Not Call before any marketing call or text, and keep your internal list up to date.
8. Review automated and AI calls for consent, identification at the start, a callback number and, for marketing, an automated opt-out.
9. Keep records of consents and opt-outs for as long as your lawyer advises.
10. Re-check twice a year, and whenever the FCC or your state changes the rules.

How Tilly handles consent

Tilly sends reminders, recalls and waitlist offers by text, WhatsApp or an AI call. The rules above are built into how it decides who gets a message:

• Consent first. Tilly only contacts clients who've agreed to that channel and that kind of message, and keeps the evidence of each consent. Marketing consent doesn't count as reminder consent, and reminder consent doesn't count as consent for other messages.
• Written consent for marketing. Marketing texts and calls go only to clients whose written consent is on record, for example through a signed intake form or a keyword reply to a consent request.
• Practice-software flags read cautiously. Consent you already hold in your PIMS is used only where it's recorded as a clear opt-in for that channel and kind of message; a general "OK to contact" flag counts for appointment messages only.
• Stop means stop. Clients can opt out by replying STOP (or the equivalent in their language), and it takes effect immediately, including for messages already scheduled.
• Local rules built in. Messages go out only within allowed hours in the client's time zone, with frequency limits by state. Numbers are checked against the Do Not Call registry before marketing contact.
• Calls that say what they are. Reminder calls start by saying they're from an automated AI assistant calling for your clinic, and voicemails give your clinic's name, a callback number and how to opt out.

You can read more about how we protect client data on our security page. Tilly doesn't replace your own legal advice: your clinic decides what it sends, and your lawyer can confirm how the rules apply in your state.