The Veterinary Medical DataBases (VMDB) has been collecting data from participating institutions for 40 years. We have recently started a program to collect clinical case data from not only veterinary schools but from veterinary practitioners as well. In so doing, we are using commonly accepted means of data representation and transmission. Thus, we use the Standard Nomenclature of Medicine (SNOMED) as a standard vocabulary language and Health Level 7 (HL 7) as a standard transmission protocol. We report on the planning and implementation of these standards and the problems encountered in their implementation.