Stronger pet-parent bonds are shaping veterinary tech adoption

CURRENT FULL VERSION: A new HABRI and Chewy Health survey is putting numbers behind something many veterinary professionals already sense in exam rooms every day: the stronger the bond between pet parent and pet, the more likely that client is to seek care, spend on care, and adopt technology that makes care easier to access and manage. The findings were spotlighted in dvm360's January 6, 2026, Vet Blast podcast episode, “The bond factor: Why stronger connections are driving technology adoption in veterinary care,” and stem from The Pet Health Challenges Study, a nationally representative survey of 2,005 U.S. dog and cat pet parents conducted February 6-13, 2025. (dvm360.com)

The backdrop is a veterinary market still trying to balance access, affordability, and client expectations. According to the HABRI-Chewy research, 74% of pet parents said at least one aspect of pet care was “very” or “extremely” challenging, with pressure points clustering around veterinary care, affordability, behavior, housing, travel, and the emotional toll of leaving pets alone. At the same time, HABRI said its 14-question bond index reached an average score of 60 out of 70, the highest average it has recorded. In the dvm360 discussion, Lindsey Braun of HABRI said that while strong bonds were expected, what stood out was how much bond strength shaped behavior, including vet visits, spending, and interest in tech-enabled support. (prnewswire.com)

The study's key message for practices is that convenience tools may land best when they solve relationship problems, not just workflow problems. Pet parents were most willing to adopt technologies focused on affording care, finding care, and managing care, at 45%, 44%, and 43%, respectively. Satisfaction with veterinary care was highest when practices offered multiple communication options, especially in-person visits and phone calls, then added a third layer such as email, texting, apps, or telehealth. The study also found that 82% of pet parents reported challenges understanding their pet's health, suggesting that digital tools tied to education and follow-up may be as important as transactional tools like scheduling. That framing also fits the kinds of technology models gaining attention across the profession, from teletriage and telementorship services designed to help practices guide owners and support general practitioners, to anesthesia teleconsulting platforms that let board-certified specialists remotely follow cases from induction through recovery, to virtual assistant services that take on front-desk and administrative tasks. In each case, the pitch is less about replacing the clinic than extending its reach. (prnewswire.com)

There are also notable demographic signals. Younger pet parents, especially Gen Z, reported the highest levels of care-related stress and used an average of 3.6 pet health tools, according to the HABRI-Chewy announcement. Multi-pet households and lower-income households reported sharper affordability strain, while pet parents with the strongest bonds were far more likely to say “money is no object” when it comes to pet spending. That doesn't mean cost stops mattering less; if anything, it suggests highly engaged clients may still need better pathways to act on their intent, whether through payment options, insurance education, reminder systems, or clearer care plans. (prnewswire.com)

Industry context supports the idea that veterinary technology adoption remains uneven. AVMA's 2025 Economic State of the Veterinary Profession report found that 76.5% of represented practices had practice management software in place in 2024, but only 59.9% used client communication software integrated with PIMS, 33.4% offered online appointment scheduling, and 29.2% used telehealth. Among practice owners who felt they were falling behind on technology, the most common reasons were lack of time and cost. That gap helps explain why the HABRI-Chewy findings may resonate: they offer a client-centered rationale for adopting communication tools, not just an operational one. It also helps explain why so many current veterinary technology conversations are centered on practical, access-oriented use cases. On recent Vet Blast episodes, clinicians and operators described teletriage and telementorship as ways to help general practitioners manage more cases with confidence, especially when specialty access is tight; anesthesia teleconsulting as a way to put a remote anesthesiologist virtually in the room using a phone, tablet, or camera and a Wi-Fi connection; and virtual assistants as a way to shift many routine administrative tasks off overloaded in-hospital teams. In a separate Veterinary Innovation Podcast conversation, Digitail cofounder Sebastian Gabor argued that AI capabilities are changing so quickly that even practices and developers skeptical a few months ago may need to keep re-testing what is now possible, particularly as infrastructure investment makes tools cheaper and more capable. (ebusiness.avma.org)

Expert commentary from the podcast leaned in that direction. Braun said understanding a client's bond can help teams deliver “more effective and responsive care,” including which technology solutions may fit best. Tiffany Tupler, DVM, CBCC-KA, tied the findings to a familiar challenge in practice: veterinary teams are strong at diagnosing and treating disease, but there is often a gap in what pet parents understand about basic care and behavior. In that framing, technology is less a replacement for clinical expertise than a support for education, continuity, and confidence. The same theme surfaced in other recent interviews: telemedicine and remote support tools were described as ways to close expertise and access gaps, while AI and workflow tools were framed as aids for modern client experience and team efficiency rather than substitutes for veterinary judgment. (dvm360.com)

One adjacent example comes from the therapeutics side. On the Veterinary Innovation Podcast, Akston CEO Todd Zion described the company's pivot toward companion animal health around the idea that human-grade innovation can be adapted to reduce friction for pet owners, including long-acting insulin concepts aimed at moving dogs and cats with diabetes away from twice-daily dosing. That is a different category than communication software or telehealth, but it points to the same broader market logic: products that make care easier to deliver and easier for owners to sustain may find a receptive audience when the bond is strong and the burden of care is high.

Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, this research adds a useful filter for evaluating digital tools. The question may be less “Should we add more technology?” and more “Which tools actually deepen trust, reduce confusion, and help pet parents follow through?” Messaging, app-based updates, telehealth touchpoints, and affordability tools may be most valuable when they reinforce the veterinary-client-patient relationship and make the practice feel more reachable between visits. That could be especially relevant for clinics trying to retain younger pet parents, improve adherence, or support clients managing chronic disease, behavior concerns, or multi-pet households. It may also help practices think more broadly about innovation categories that reduce care burden, from remote specialty support and virtual staffing help to longer-acting therapies that could make treatment plans easier for owners to maintain. (prnewswire.com)

What to watch: HABRI and Chewy Health have already packaged the findings into a professional guide, “The Bond Factor,” and the next phase will likely be how practices and vendors translate that into implementation. Watch for more emphasis on integrated communication, affordability navigation, and targeted tech offerings for younger pet parents, alongside continued debate over how fast clinics can adopt new tools given staffing, cost, and workflow constraints. Also watch for continued growth in remote-support models such as teletriage, telementorship, anesthesia teleconsulting, virtual assistants, and AI-enabled practice software, all of which are increasingly being positioned as ways to extend the clinic's reach without diluting the client relationship. (prnewswire.com)