Vet visits are down, but rising prices are masking the damage: full analysis

The veterinary market’s current contradiction is getting harder to ignore: visits keep falling, but revenue is still inching up because prices are doing the work. Recent reporting tied to a Vetsource white paper shows U.S. veterinary visits declined 2.3% in 2024, with active patients down 1.9%, even as practices continued to face above-average inflation and longer gaps between appointments. The result is a profession that still sees demand for necessary care, but not at any price. (dvm360.com)

The backdrop is several years in the making. Pandemic-era demand, staffing shortages, and cost inflation helped normalize higher veterinary pricing, but household budgets have become less forgiving. Vetsource said the average interval between visits reached 85.8 days from July 2023 to 2024, a 48% increase compared with the same period three years earlier. Brakke Consulting, summarizing the same trend, said wellness visits were hit harder while sick visits stayed comparatively stable, reinforcing the idea that pet parents are triaging care rather than exiting veterinary medicine altogether. (dvm360.com)

The pricing side remains central. In the latest BLS data, veterinarian services were up 5.3% year over year in February 2026, compared with 2.4% overall inflation, while the broader “pet services including veterinary” category rose 5.1%. That helps explain why revenue can still grow modestly even when appointment counts soften. One industry summary of a Bank of America report said 2025 veterinary visits fell another 2% to 3%, while revenue still rose about 2%, driven by price increases of 5% to 6%. Even allowing for differences in methodology and timing, the direction is consistent across sources: prices are outrunning volume. (bls.gov)

What’s changing inside the visit mix may matter more than the topline. Vetsource’s findings, as reported by dvm360, showed declines not only in visits, but also in parasiticide purchases at clinics, with some dog pet parents buying protection elsewhere or skipping it entirely. Brakke added that therapeutic diets, pharmaceuticals, and surgeries at clinics also showed pressure, although the broader industry narrative still points to resilience in medically necessary and higher-acuity care. Today’s Veterinary Business reported that non-wellness, or sick, visits rose 1% in 2025, even as overall visits fell 3.1% year over year. (dvm360.com)

Outside survey data shows how widespread the affordability issue has become. Gallup and PetSmart Charities found that 52% of U.S. pet parents skipped or declined veterinary care in a study conducted from November 13, 2024, to January 9, 2025. Among the most commonly declined services were diagnostics and preventive care, and 14% of those who declined care said their pet’s condition worsened or the pet died. In a separate Gallup survey released in February 2026, 94% of veterinarians said clients’ financial considerations often or sometimes prevent recommended treatment. (news.gallup.com)

There’s also a loyalty and communication layer to this. A 2025 Covetrus-Stripe survey of more than 1,000 U.S. pet parents found 24% delayed treatment, 21% opted out of a procedure, and 20% skipped a visit altogether when cost became a concern. The same survey found 86% said pricing transparency is important, 79% valued access to their preferred payment method, and nearly half said spreading out payments matters. That suggests pet parents aren’t only shopping for the lowest price. They’re also looking for predictability, clarity, and ways to manage expense shocks. (covetrus.com)

Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, the risk is that declining wellness volume quietly erodes both preventive medicine and future demand. Fewer routine touchpoints mean fewer opportunities to catch dental disease, obesity, endocrine disease, parasite exposure, and early chronic illness before they become more complex and expensive to treat. Financially, practices that rely mainly on annual fee increases may protect revenue for a time, but they may also accelerate lapsing behavior, retail leakage, and selective acceptance of care. The practices best positioned for this environment are likely the ones that combine disciplined pricing with better reminder systems, clearer estimates, payment options, and a stronger case for preventive value. (dvm360.com)

What to watch: The next key signals will be whether 2026 visit trends stabilize, whether wellness compliance continues to weaken relative to sick care, and whether practices can convert concern about affordability into operational changes rather than just messaging. If veterinary inflation stays above general inflation, the pressure on routine care utilization is unlikely to ease on its own. (bls.gov)