Episode #82 – Dr. Terrence Ferguson

Do you work in the animal health industry or veterinary profession? Have you ever wondered how people began their careers and how they got to where they are today?

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For the past 25 plus years, I have built relationships with the industry’s top leaders and trailblazers. The People of Animal Health Podcast highlights incredible individuals I have connected with throughout my career. You will be able to learn more about their lives, careers, and contributions. With our wide range of expert guests, you’ll be sure to learn something new in every episode. Thanks for tuning in and enjoy the episode.

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the People of Animal Health Podcast. Today on our podcast, I am honored to welcome Dr. Terrence Ferguson, who is a veterinarian, entrepreneur, mentor, and community builder. A native of Talbotten, Georgia, Dr. Ferguson is a graduate of Fort Valley State University and the Tuskegee University College of Veterinary Medicine, where he served as class president and earned the Pfizer Small Animal Veterinary Award. He is the co-founder of Critter Fixer Veterinary Hospital, which now serves more than 20,000 patients annually, and he co-stars on Critter Fixers: Country Vets. Beyond practice and television, Dr. Ferguson is deeply committed to mentorship, youth development, and expanding pathways into veterinary medicine.

Dr. Ferguson, welcome to the People of Animal Health Podcast, and how are you today?

I’m doing great. How are you?

I’m doing well. Thanks for being here. Well, you grew up in Talbotton, Georgia, a small town in the heart of the state. How did that environment shape who you are today as a veterinarian and a leader?

Well, the area that I’m from is a very small town, like small, small. My partner always jokes with me about it. He said, “Tell them how small.” I was like, “It’s two traffic lights and a caution light.” That’s where I’m from. Very small town. My graduating class was about 50 kids. So I had to learn just being in a small environment, really depending on one another because there wasn’t very many of us. And just learning, to lack of a better word, learning the grind that you had to work hard to get what you want, but things were achievable if you did the right things.

Well, at what point and why did you decide to become a veterinarian?

So I wanted to be a veterinarian since I was probably eight years old. Had a dog that was hit by a car. And to make a long story short, at eight years old, I worked on this dog, and after a few days, the dog improved and got better, and it lit a fire in me to want to help animals. Now that I look back on it, at that point, I thought I had done something miraculous. I had brought this dog back, but really probably had a little road rash, but that was enough to inspire me to want to become a veterinarian, and that lit the fire. At eight or eight years, nine years old, that fire was lit in me to want to help animals and become a veterinarian.

Wow. I love hearing that story. Well, Dr. Ferguson, at Tuskegee, you weren’t just a student. You were class president for three years and you earned the Pfizer Small Animal Veterinary Award. What lessons from that time still guide you today?

During that time, like I said, I was class president, so I learned to work with others and lead others, and actually start at that time just to be an example, make sure that I was doing the right thing when people were looking and doing the right thing when people were not looking. So I learned those skills and those things still helped me today.

Well, you and Dr. Vernard Hodges, who was on the podcast last time, you both launched Critter Fixer Veterinary Hospital in 1999, and within months you were already expanding. What gave you the confidence to move so quickly?

Well, I don’t know if the word confidence was really a word that we used back then. I think it was more of we knew that we need to do more necessity. The first clinic is in a small town, and we knew at that point it was not going to be large enough for both of us as veterinarians to be to sustain both of us. So we felt like while we are in the developmental stage, the beginning stage, the growing stage, let’s just do two hospitals at the same time. So we just took a leap of faith. And we jumped out there and started our second hospital, about four or five months after opening the first one.

Wow, that’s impressive. Well, now Critter Fixers sees more than 20,000 patients a year. What systems or mindsets were critical to scaling without losing the quality of veterinary care?

Well, the good thing about it is that beginning process, it took a while. Dr. Hodger and I both ran the two hospitals that sold veterinarians in each one for probably about 15 years. But what that allowed us to do is really develop the culture that we wanted in those clinics. And once we started to scale, the culture was there and we knew what type of people we wanted to be in those clinics. And having that culture also helped us to recruit those kind of people because people, like-minded, wanted to work at Critter Fixers, and that’s kind of helped us. Had we tried the scale sooner, probably wouldn’t have worked as well because we were just not prepared infrastructure-wise.

That makes sense. Well, how has starring in Critter Fixers: Country Vets changed how people view veterinary medicine, especially in rural communities?

Well, what I hope is that they can see what the veterinarian does. So even though we are in a rural area, the medicine is still the same. We practice quality medicine. And I think a lot of times people think that we are just here giving shots to dogs and giving a rabies shot, and that’s it. But there are complex procedures we do. There are a lot of devices or instrumentations that we use. There are a lot of things that we use for diagnostics. And I think it allowed people to see what goes on behind the exam doors. What are we actually doing when we’re running chemistry? Are you doing maybe a CT scan or you’re doing ultrasounds or endoscopy? All those things parallel with human medicine. I think they had an opportunity to see it and really put it in perspective.

Well, mentorship through athletics is a huge part of your life. What parallels do you see between coaching young athletes and mentoring future veterinarians?

For me, they do parallel. And what I’m trying to do in both instances is train those individuals to win, to be successful, give them the skills that’s needed, train them on them football turns, we do a lot of repetitions in order for them to be able to learn the different skills so they can be successful. Ultimately, whether it’s an athlete or it’s a veterinarian, I want to give them the skills needed, them to obtain those skills, learn those skills, better to practice those skills so they can be successful.

Yeah, repetition is key. It takes practice.

Absolutely.

Well, your college tour program exposes student athletes to campuses nationwide. Why is physical exposure to opportunity so important for young people?

That exposure is very important. Like I said, the area that we’re in now, it’s not a large area. And the county that we are in is one of the poorest… The city in the county is one of the poorest cities here actually in the state of Georgia. So my objective was for these kids to be able to see these universities put their hands on things to know that they’re attainable. Sometime when you’re in certain areas, certain demographics, you see things out there, you don’t know those things are obtainable and you don’t want it to be where someone’s just dangling a carrot in front of you, but you could never get that carrot.

So what I did is I formed this group and we did college tours where we visited universities during the springtime, larger colleges and smaller and talked to admissions, let them know what the admission requirements were, let them walk the campus and see themselves being there. So when that opportunity came, when they were seniors, they can say that, “I’ve been there and I’ve seen that and that is something that I can do.” So we definitely wanted them to see it to know that it was something that was obtainable, something they can do. We talk about representation matters, but in that case, a physical structure representation can also matter too, because it looks more attainable when I can see it and I can walk and I can touch it as opposed to I only see it on television and it doesn’t seem obtainable.

Yeah, that makes so much sense. Well, the [inaudible 00:09:06] at a Time Foundation, which you started with your son, TJ, blends fitness, family, and service. What has that experience meant to you as a father?

First, I’m glad you asked from my father’s point of view, it meant a whole lot because it was started actually by my son. And he started it when he started his college, his first year and participating in athletics, he started this foundation then. He didn’t wait until he became successful or he had X amount to do. He knew that at that point there was something he can give. No one can do everything, but we can all do something. And that’s the attitude he took starting this foundation in order to help kids and help families and help those that needed assistance. So I was very proud as a father that he wanted to do these things. And partnering with him made me feel great as well, and we’ve affected a lot of families in a positive way.

Oh, that’s so impactful. Well, the Vet For A Day Initiative has grown into a national program partnering with universities, zoos, and aquariums. What excites you most about where it’s headed next?

Yeah, so this Vet Four Day program was actually started here at our local hospitals, and it was something that we just wanted to expose kids in underserved areas to veterinary medicine and let them come inside and see what it looks like to be a veterinarian, see surgery. We do some endoscopy, show them how to restrain animals, just the whole gamut of what veterinarians do. And this program kind of exploded. It got to the point we partnered with other companies and the kids get free bags and backpacks and stethoscopes and all these different things they can take back with them. And it just kind of exploded. And now we do it all across the country. And the thing that excites me most now is we’re getting to the point where some of these kids are getting ready to either enter college or apply to veterinary schools. So that makes me very excited to know that we’ve had a hands-on and made a difference in some of these kids’ lives.

Oh, that’s so empowering. Between restoring muscle cars, ranching, real estate, TV, and family, how do you stay grounded and what still motivates you after more than 25 years in practice?

Yeah, staying grounded is not a problem because I’m always doing something. But for me, I love the process. Whatever it is, I just really enjoy the process. Whether it’s a process of restoring a muscle car or whether it’s a process of repairing an ACL or joining the dog or the process of trying to determine what is wrong with it, I enjoy the process. And that’s what keeps me going because there’s no two days of life here at Critter Fixers or in my life period. So it’s always a challenge every day and just enjoying that process and trying to come to a result.

What has been the most surprising thing to you up to this point during your career in the veterinary profession?

I think the most surprising thing is the advancement of technology, and it really kind of took off. Probably the last 10 years, I think things have just blown up more than the first 15 years that I was in practice. It’s really just in the last two or three years is going even faster. Now with AI technology and all these other things that we have, they’re changing the way the veterinarian works and it’s really making things a lot more efficient in some ways and allows us to practice better and allow these animals to live a lot longer.

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Besides technology changes, how else have you seen the profession change over the years you’ve been involved?

I think one of the great things is that veterinarians have done a great job of educating clients and educating the public on different things that the pets need and their requirements. And that has allowed or has educated the client now when they come in, they’re a little bit more educated about things. So when we talk about dental care and why it’s important, they have an understanding of that. We talk about different pain modalities and different things like that. Because they’ve been educated more, it really helps us as a veterinarian to be able to treat the patients and take care of them.

Yeah, that makes sense. Well, what does your crystal ball say about the future of the veterinary profession? What’s your outlook?

Well, that crystal ball is changing every day now with the technology thing we have. And I just spoke about AI. It’s going to change. We’ve seen changes now with this with AI and x-rays and how we can take an x-ray. And within a few minutes, AI has looked the x-ray over and give you some indication on possibly what you’re looking at. Now, I don’t think it’ll ever get to the point that the veterinarian has nothing to do, but I do think it’s going to get to the point that we’re going to have a lot of aid. I just think it’ll be to the point that we can almost scan a dog or scan or take all of our diagnostics entered in this AI thing and it’s going to spit out to us a lot of differentials and this is what you possibly need to do.

And I think on one hand, I don’t want the veterinarians to become lazy because we need to make sure that we are veterinarians. We’re trained and we need to do it, but I do think we need to grasp technology and it needs to go hand in hand to be more efficient and better able to serve our patients. So I think in the next few years, I think this AI technology is really going to change the game inside the veterinary hospital, whether it’s diagnostics or whether it’s treatment.

I think you’re absolutely right about that. Well, successful people don’t just become successful. They have to have good habits. What are some of the daily habits that you believe have allowed you to achieve success along the way?

Oh, I think earlier I spoke about enjoying that process. And I don’t know if it’s a habit and it’s not something that I created, but it seems like most things come to me late at night or early in the morning. And it’s not uncommon for me three, four in the morning, it’s the process my entire day that’s coming. I have all these different tasks, and for some reason that time of morning, I wake up and I process everything almost step by step. So when I get ready to do it that next day, it’s not something new to me. I’ve kind of seen and processed it before. Now, it may not always go exactly like I want it to go, but I think that’s one skill that I’ve always done. I’ve always processed things ahead of time early that morning. I think it probably came from college.

That was kind of my study. I studied like that. I always woke up early in the morning and studied when everything else was quiet and my brain was kind of slowed down a little bit. So that’s kind of one of those habits that I have. I don’t know if it’ll work for anyone else. I wouldn’t necessarily just tell someone to wake up at three or four in the morning process thing, but that works for me. And that has helped me, I think, because one, I’m a process-driven person and I like to map things out prior to doing them.

You see it in your mind beforehand?

Yes.

That makes sense. Well, what has been the biggest challenge or adversity that you’ve encountered up to this point during your career?

Adversity, I don’t know if I had a lot of adversity, but challenges that just when we first started with just running a business, because going to veterinary school, we learned how to become veterinarians, but we didn’t necessarily learn how to become businessmen. So there were a lot of trials and error, and you got to think that was before Google. We only had books. We can go to the bookstore, and we did a lot of reading, and we made a lot of mistakes. And I say we, I’m speaking of Dr. Hodges and myself, we made a lot of mistakes, but we learned from those mistakes. And those things helped us now to help develop where we are now as far as the hospitals and the other adventures that we’re doing.

So I think just learning the business and trying to make sure we keep these businesses afloat and hope that they thrive and try to… Just wanted them to blossom. Those things became challenging at times. There were different economical phases that we went through as far as the country, so we had to prosper and push through those, and we did prosper at the end, so we’re blessed to be where we are today.

What’s one thing you’ve learned about the business side that you would share with our audience today?

One, it’s very simple. It may sound simple, but staying on top of things. Understand the metrics that you need to look at and look at those things on a daily basis. There are certain metrics and things that I have in my head, and I know what it takes for whatever business I’m in today. I know what it takes today in order for us to be profitable today. And those things go through my head. And at the end of the day, I want to look at those metrics. I always tell people the biggest two metrics in veterinary medicine, no matter what they are, is the amount of people that come in the door and your average client’s transaction, those are the things that determine your gross.

So you can play with either one. You can either increase your average client transaction if you don’t want to see as many patients or you can see a whole lot of patients and have a less average client transaction or somewhere in between. But those are your two metrics and those are the two things that you have to figure out. One is when you open, you have to figure out which clinic you want to be. Do you want to be the high volume clinic at a low cost or do you want to be on the other end of the spectrum or do you want to be somewhere in the middle? And the other thing that you have to determine, or sometime the area and things will determine it for you, but at least you know what your two metrics are that you can work with and you can try to control.

That’s key. Metrics are so important. You have to be able to measure where you’re at. Well, what advice would you give the younger version of yourself?

My younger version of myself? To be honest, I thought about that and I don’t know if I would give myself any advice. And this is why I say that. I don’t know if that would throw something else off because if I was so strong in one area, then I may not have ventured into another area. And speaking of Madison, if I had been known something about it, it may throw things off kilter. I think the world is kind of balanced. So I think if I had told myself something, then let’s say if I said, “You’re going to be successful one day, just do what you’re doing.” I may have become relaxed, not as dug in as deep.

Because I always tell people, my first couple years of veterinary school, I was scared to death because I really wasn’t even sure that I belonged, but that fear drove me to want to be there, to know that I want to be there. So I don’t know if I would change anything. I think I would still be that same kid who, even though he’s achieved, not sure if I should have been achieving or why am I achieving, and it kept me working hard. So I wouldn’t want to relax. So I don’t know if I would tell myself anything.

Yeah. Fear is a motivator. Fear is a driver. Yeah, that makes sense. Well, what message or principle do you wish you could teach everyone who’s listening to our podcast today?

So I kind of live by always helping the next person, giving back. Earlier I said I want everybody to win. And I think with that, I think everyone has an S on their chest, but they have to determine if that S is going to be selfishness or is the S going to be sacrifice. So I chose to sacrifice my time for others, my mentorship for others so that we can all win and we can all be a better professional veterinary medicine and we can just be a better world. So you have to choose what that S on your chest mean. Is it going to be selfishness or is it going to be sacrifice?

I love that. Well, Dr. Ferguson, some of our guests say they’ve had a keybook that they read that helped them along the way. Is there a keybook in your life that’s impacted you the most?

Keybook. I don’t know if I had a keybook, but I think I gained everything from people, people that have mentored me. And some maybe didn’t mentor me, but I found something in a lot of people that helped shape who I am. And I think just that example, I’m a big person on examples. And so when I see things and I was growing up, those things kind of helped shape who I was. So it wasn’t necessarily that one book. Now there are books that have helped in giving me things, but for me, my learning and my thing came from people setting examples for me or seeing examples and trying to strive to be like that person or take that from that person to try to shape who I am.

Well, Dr. Ferguson, you’ve got the mic. What is one thing that you want to share with our listeners of the People of Animal Health Podcast before you drop the mic today?

Let’s see. Just be who you are. One, don’t be afraid to be who you are. Dr. Hodge and I, we entered this profession years ago and we thought that we had to be one way and look a certain way in order to be successful, but we learned that you just have to be yourself and be authentic and love people, and that way people can genuinely see who you are and you’re going to be received. So be who you are, be the best version of yourself that you can. Don’t ever stop learning. If I had stopped learning 10 years ago, I would not know anything about what’s going on now because things change very fast, and always reach back and lend that hand to that next person.

Such good advice. Well, Dr. Ferguson, thank you for being here with me today as my guest on the People of Animal Health Podcast. It was a pleasure to speak with you. I enjoyed our conversation.

Thank you very much. I enjoyed being here.