Access to credit is gaining ground as a pet care access tool: full analysis
A new opinion piece in Today’s Veterinary Business makes a straightforward case: when pet parents have access to credit and flexible financing, more pets get timely care. The article by Sarah Mahan argues that financing can remove a key barrier to diagnostics, preventive services, and treatment, allowing practices to focus on medicine while helping more families move forward with care decisions. That message arrives as affordability remains one of the clearest pressure points in companion animal practice. (news.gallup.com)
The broader backdrop is familiar to veterinary teams. Gallup and PetSmart Charities reported that 52% of U.S. pet parents had skipped or declined veterinary care in the prior 12 months, with affordability affecting even higher-income households. Gallup also found a communication gap: among pet parents who turned down care because of cost, 73% said they were not offered a more affordable option. In a second release, Gallup reported that 41% of veterinarians said they often or always provide financing or payment plans, suggesting clinics may believe they are presenting options more consistently than pet parents perceive. (news.gallup.com)
Recent research adds more detail to the financing discussion. A 2024 observational study published in Frontiers in Veterinary Science examined use of a no-credit-check, third-party managed installment option in veterinary clinics and found it helped some families access care after being declined by traditional credit-based products or avoiding hard credit inquiries. The study also noted a possible welfare impact beyond the exam room: 34% of financed accounts were reported as “very likely” to have averted pet surrender. (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
Industry and professional groups have been moving in the same direction, though with a broader framing than credit alone. AAHA has described finances as a common hurdle to care that can also create moral distress for veterinary teams, and it has pointed practices toward a mix of third-party financing, in-house policies, and charitable support. In recent coverage, AAHA highlighted outside options such as CareCredit, Scratchpay, and Cherry, alongside donor funds and spectrum-of-care approaches that let teams match recommendations to both medical need and family budget. (aaha.org)
That nuance matters. Financing can widen access, but it doesn’t solve every affordability problem, and it may not reach families with the least financial flexibility. Research on access to veterinary care has repeatedly shown that financial fragility is a strong predictor of whether pet parents feel they can obtain care, while AVMA data continue to show substantial annual veterinary spending for pet-owning households. In practice, that means credit works best as one tool within a larger financial care model that also includes early cost conversations, preventive planning, insurance education, and lower-cost clinical pathways when appropriate. (ouci.dntb.gov.ua)
For veterinary professionals, the operational question is how to present those options in a way that is clear, ethical, and useful. AAHA’s messaging emphasizes discussing financial preparedness before a crisis, not only at the moment a pet is sick or injured. That approach may help reduce declines at the point of estimate, support adherence to treatment plans, and lessen the strain teams feel when finances, rather than medicine, drive the outcome. (aaha.org)
Why it matters: Opinion pieces like this one reflect a larger shift in veterinary medicine, where access to care is increasingly being treated as a clinical and workforce issue, not just a client-service issue. If practices can normalize conversations about financing, insurance, and spectrum of care, they may preserve more treatment opportunities, improve continuity of care, and reduce some of the moral distress that comes from preventable economic euthanasia or delayed treatment. The key for clinics will be integrating financing into communication workflows without letting it substitute for transparent estimates and medically appropriate options. (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
What to watch: The next phase will likely focus on evidence and implementation, including whether financing tools measurably improve acceptance, outcomes, and retention, and how practices combine them with charitable funds, insurance, and spectrum-of-care protocols. (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)