PetCure says 10,000 pets treated as radiation access expands

PetCure Oncology has reached 10,000 pets treated with radiation therapy since opening in 2015, marking a notable scale milestone for one of the best-known private networks in veterinary radiation oncology. In the company's January 2026 announcement, leaders positioned the achievement as a measure of how far stereotactic radiation has moved from an academic-center service line to a more structured referral option for general practices and specialty hospitals. (petage.com)

That framing fits the history of the category. A decade ago, advanced radiation therapy in veterinary medicine was concentrated at teaching hospitals and a smaller number of specialty centers, with access often determined by geography, equipment, and specialist availability. PetCure's growth strategy has centered on building veterinary-specific stereotactic protocols and embedding radiation services within regional specialty hospitals. Its current locations page says the network has served more than 10,000 pet families and lists centers in Chicago, Clifton, Dallas-Fort Worth, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, San Antonio, and San Jose, while earlier company materials and trade coverage tied the network to eight treatment centers nationwide. (petage.com)

The milestone announcement included several operating details that help explain why this matters commercially and clinically. PetCure said it now treats about 1,000 patients a year, operates eight centers, and supports those referrals with a team that includes 12 board-certified oncologists and eight supervising veterinarians. Mauldin said the goal from the start was to make stereotactic radiation accessible to referring veterinarians beyond major academic programs. The company's model leans heavily on stereotactic radiosurgery and stereotactic radiation therapy, which can allow some patients to complete treatment in one to three fractions instead of the longer conventional courses that historically required repeated anesthetic events and more travel for pet parents. (petage.com)

PetCure has also been signaling that access, not just precision, is the next competitive frontier. In a 2025 trends article, Mauldin highlighted compact, self-contained radiation systems that don't require a dedicated radiation vault, arguing they could expand availability and even allow CT, planning, and treatment under a single anesthetic event for some cases. That idea moved closer to a real deployment in November 2025, when Thrive Pet Healthcare and Empyrean Medical Systems announced a partnership to bring the Sirius advanced radiation platform to PetCure's Seattle site in early 2026. Thrive described that launch as a way to extend "human-grade precision" to more patients in the Pacific Northwest. (petcureoncology.com)

Industry commentary around PetCure has been consistent on one point: access remains the bottleneck. In a PetCure Q&A, Mauldin said the biggest challenge for veterinary cancer patients is still access to specialists and technology. In separate trade coverage, he also pointed to the small number of veterinary radiation oncologists worldwide as a barrier to expansion. That broader constraint is visible in the Veterinary Cancer Society's radiation facilities resource, which exists in part because referral options remain limited and unevenly distributed. (petcureoncology.com)

Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, this milestone is most useful as a marker of referral infrastructure maturing, not simply a company growth story. Radiation therapy has long been one of the hardest oncology services to access because it depends on capital-intensive equipment, shielding requirements, trained staff, and specialist oversight. If more cases can be triaged into shorter stereotactic protocols, that can reduce treatment burden for pet parents, lower the number of anesthetic events for appropriate patients, and make referral conversations easier for primary care teams. At the same time, the milestone doesn't mean access problems are solved. Geography, workforce limitations, case selection, and cost will still shape who actually reaches treatment. (petage.com)

Another practical takeaway is that private-network oncology is becoming more operationally sophisticated. PetCure's announcement emphasized telehealth support, referral coordination, and collaboration with the referring veterinarian, reflecting a broader industry shift toward shared-care oncology models rather than one-time handoffs. For general practitioners, that could mean clearer referral pathways and more confidence discussing advanced options earlier in the diagnostic process, especially for tumors where radiation can offer meaningful local control or palliation. (petage.com)

What to watch: The next question is whether PetCure and Thrive can translate this milestone into broader market access, especially through new technology platforms and additional regional expansion. The Seattle Sirius launch, announced for early 2026, may offer an early signal of whether newer systems can lower infrastructure barriers enough to bring advanced radiation therapy to more veterinary markets. (empyreanmed.com)