Veterinary visits decline as clients face rising costs, data reveals

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Veterinary patient visits are decreasing and the gap between appointments is increasing, a newly released white paper found.¹ According to data from the paper, which was available to attendees of the 2025 WVC Annual Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, clients may be struggling more to cover the costs of care for their pets than before the COVID-19 pandemic.²

The paper, titled Behavior shift: Implications of today’s pet owner trends on veterinary medicine in 2025 by Vetsource—a pet health company specializing in pet pharmacy services and veterinary analytics—gathered data from 6574 practices in the US to investigate current trends among pet owners. The practices analyzed consisted primarily of general companion animal clinics, with 65% being independently owned and 35% being corporate owned.²

Results from the data showed that veterinary visits had decreased 2.3% in 2024 compared to 2023. The total number of active patients were also down by 1.9% from the previous year. Meanwhile, the time between visits increased to 85.8 days from July 2023 to 2024, marking a 48% increase between visits compared to the same period 3 years ago.¹

These trends, however, align with economic pressures clients are facing following an 8% increase in veterinary service inflation in the last 12 months—1.6 times higher than the national inflation rate.² “These economic concerns and other challenges translate into pet owners increasing time between visits to their veterinary practice,” wrote the authors of the white paper.²

There has also been a decrease in parasiticide purchase at veterinary practices. According to the paper, dog owners are purchasing parasiticides outside of their veterinarian or choosing to skip protection entirely.² Additional findings include an observed decrease in client spending on therapeutic diets, pharmaceuticals, and surgeries at veterinary clinics.

Vet2Pet

“Veterinary practices that excel in addressing these challenges will be the ones that focus on client relationships and offer solutions that go beyond the [4] walls of the practice,” wrote Vetsource in a news release.¹ The company’s Vet2Pet app is a client communication app that offers app chat and 2-way texting, push notifications, and email messaging. It also features automated tools, including health service reminders, and online appointment requests. According to a study conducted by Vetsource, practices generate on average, 600 appointment requests annually through the app.

Other tools offered by the company include their Data Services solution, which offers veterinary reports and dashboards; the Practice Overview Report, which monitors patient activity, tracks lapsing patients, and analyzes return visits; and their Retriever tool, which sends automated emails to lapsing clients.¹

References

1. Vetsource solutions help veterinary practices turn challenges into opportunities. News release. Vetsource. February 27, 2025. Accessed March 6, 2025. https://prnmedia.prnewswire.com/news-releases/vetsource-solutions-help-veterinary-practices-turn-challenges-into-opportunities-302386346.html
2. Gilmartin S, Yost B, Zirkle K. Behavior shift: Implications of today’s pet owner trends on veterinary medicine in 2025. Vetsource. Accessed March 6, 2025. https://assets.vetsource.com/m/3e5197539521d838/original/DataServicesWhitePaper.pdf?&target=_blank