PetCure Oncology says it has now treated 10,000 radiation patients
PetCure Oncology has reached 10,000 radiation therapy patients treated since opening in 2015, marking a notable scale milestone for one of the best-known private networks in veterinary radiation oncology. In a January 7, 2026 post, the company said the figure reflects a decade-long push to make advanced radiation treatment, especially stereotactic protocols, available beyond academic hospitals and major metro referral hubs. (petcureoncology.com)
That framing matches a long-running issue in veterinary oncology: access. PetCure’s own materials say that when the company was founded there were fewer than 70 traditional veterinary radiation therapy facilities in the U.S., and more recent industry references still describe radiation oncology as a scarce specialty service. A 2024 Today's Veterinary Nurse review, citing AVMA data, said there were 139 board-certified veterinary radiation oncologists in the U.S. as of December 2023, with radiation therapy options available in more than 30 states. The Veterinary Cancer Society’s 2024 facilities list also underscores how concentrated this capability remains, even as more specialty centers have added linear accelerators, IMRT, IGRT, and stereotactic options. (petcureoncology.com)
Against that backdrop, PetCure’s growth has been steady. The company reported surpassing 8,000 treated pets in April 2024, when it said it was supporting 11 programs nationwide through Thrive Pet Healthcare. In the new 10,000-patient announcement, PetCure said it now operates eight treatment centers nationwide and supports referrals through a clinical team of 12 board-certified oncologists and eight supervising veterinarians. The company also said it is treating roughly 1,000 patients a year, which it described as placing it among the country’s highest-volume veterinary radiation providers. (petcureoncology.com)
The clinical pitch remains familiar but important: shorter, more targeted treatment courses. PetCure says many of its patients receive stereotactic radiosurgery or stereotactic radiation therapy in one to three sessions, compared with historical protocols of 15 to 20 treatments. In prior company statements, chief medical officer and Thrive national director of radiation oncology Neal Mauldin, DVM, DACVIM, DACVR, said that shorter-course stereotactic treatment can reduce anesthetic events and expand options for tumors in sensitive locations such as the liver, spine, and lungs. In a separate PetCure leadership Q&A, Mauldin also pointed to geography as a major driver, noting that some families live eight to 10 hours from a radiation facility, making condensed protocols more practical. (petcureoncology.com)
Most of the reaction available so far is from within PetCure and Thrive rather than outside analysts, but it still offers clues about where the sector is heading. PetCure has emphasized referral coordination, telehealth, and shared case management with primary veterinarians as part of its access model, and its telehealth materials explicitly invite the primary care veterinarian or specialist to join consultations. The company’s leadership pages also stress dual review of treatment plans by two board-certified radiation oncologists, a point aimed at reassuring referring veterinarians about consistency and oversight across a distributed network. (petcureoncology.com)
Why it matters: For veterinarians, this milestone is a reminder that radiation therapy is becoming more operationally accessible, even if it remains geographically uneven and specialist-limited. In practical terms, that means more patients may be candidates for referral earlier in the disease course, not just when local options are exhausted. It also means GPs and medical oncologists may have more reason to revisit which cases are best served by radiation, particularly as newer platforms and shorter protocols reduce some of the travel, anesthesia, and scheduling burdens that historically discouraged pet parents. Virginia Tech radiation oncologist Beatrix Manning, DVM, told her university in 2025 that in areas without radiation oncology, general practitioners often default to medical oncology referrals even when radiation might be the better fit for some cases, which aligns with the access problem PetCure says it was built to address. (news.vt.edu)
What to watch: The next question is whether scale turns into broader capability. In November 2025, Thrive and Empyrean Medical Systems announced plans to debut the Sirius radiation platform at PetCure’s Seattle site in early 2026, positioning it as a higher-precision, image-guided system for veterinary cancer care. If that rollout proceeds as planned, 2026 could show whether private-network radiation oncology is entering a new phase, with more centers, newer hardware, and potentially more standardized referral pathways across general practice, specialty hospitals, and teleconsult networks. (newswire.com)