Vet visits are falling as pet care costs keep rising: full analysis

Veterinary medicine is facing an uncomfortable reality: fewer patients are coming through the door, but the bill for care keeps rising. The latest industry data suggests that this isn’t a one-quarter fluctuation. It’s an extended shift in pet parent behavior, with routine and wellness care under the most pressure, even as emergency care, diagnostics, and other higher-value services remain comparatively resilient. (myvetcandy.com)

The backdrop has been building for several years. Vetsource’s January 2026 white paper, covering nearly 6,500 U.S. veterinary practices, reported annual visit declines of 3.5% in 2022, 1.4% in 2023, 2.6% in 2024, and 3.1% in 2025. Wellness visits fell even faster in 2025, down 3.8%. Today’s Veterinary Business separately reported that practices implemented an overall price increase of 6.57% from 2024 to 2025, lower than the prior two years but still significant in a consumer environment where households are watching discretionary spending closely. (myvetcandy.com)

The broader economic context helps explain why this matters. Cornell researchers writing in Frontiers in Veterinary Science in October 2025 used ARIMA forecasting and concluded the veterinary economy entered a recessionary phase in late 2024, with negative real growth expected to persist through mid-2026 before a possible recovery later in the year. Meanwhile, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said overall CPI rose 2.4% year over year in February 2026, well below the veterinary-related price growth levels cited in industry reporting over the past year. In other words, veterinary services have been getting more expensive faster than general inflation, while client demand has softened. (frontiersin.org)

What’s notable is where spending is holding up. Reporting in the Los Angeles Times and industry coverage tied to IDEXX results suggest pet parents are more likely to defer routine care than urgent or high-stakes treatment. IDEXX has told investors that lower U.S. visit volumes remain a headwind, but diagnostic frequency and intensity per visit continue to rise. That aligns with the picture painted in the source material: fewer total visits, but stronger resilience in diagnostics, emergency medicine, surgery, and other services that feel less optional when a pet is sick. (latimes.com)

There’s also a growing disconnect between what veterinarians believe they’re offering and what pet parents say they experience. Gallup found that 52% of U.S. pet parents skipped or declined needed care in the prior year, with diagnostics and preventive services among the most commonly declined categories. In a follow-up survey of veterinarians released in January 2026, 94% said clients’ finances at least sometimes limit recommended care, and 81% said they often or always recommend an alternative treatment plan when cost is a barrier. But pet parent responses suggest those options aren’t always landing clearly: 73% of those who declined care due to cost said they were not offered a more affordable option. (news.gallup.com)

Cost, though, is only part of the access problem. Communication and scheduling friction can turn hesitation into lost care. Digitail, citing the 2025 iVET360 Veterinary Marketing Benchmark Report and related industry data, argued that as clients become more price-sensitive and easier to distract, vague next steps, weak follow-up, and inconvenient booking processes carry more risk than they did a few years ago. Nearly three-quarters of potential new clients still call before deciding whether to book, yet 24% to 28% of calls reportedly go unanswered, especially during lunch, after hours, and peak morning periods. Even when calls are answered, only about 36% convert to appointments, underscoring how much depends on the quality and timing of the interaction. (digitail.com)

That matters because every unfilled slot now carries more weight. The same reporting notes that many no-shows are not acts of true disengagement but simple forgetfulness or scheduling conflicts that clients never bother to resolve because rescheduling feels inconvenient. Practices using systematic multi-channel reminders — such as SMS, email, and app or push notifications — have been reported to reduce missed appointments by about 30%. In a market where preventive visits are already slipping, that kind of operational improvement may be one of the few levers practices can pull without asking clients to spend more. (digitail.com)

Why it matters: For practices, the risk is that revenue can look steadier than the underlying demand picture really is. If top-line growth is being sustained mostly through price, a clinic may appear healthy while quietly losing preventive touchpoints, future case discovery, and long-term client loyalty. That has clinical consequences, too. Missed wellness visits mean fewer vaccines, fewer screenings, fewer dental conversations, and fewer opportunities to catch chronic disease early. It also puts more pressure on teams to manage tougher, more emotionally charged conversations later, when pets present sicker and treatment costs are higher. And if clients are also encountering unanswered phones, unclear follow-up, or clunky rescheduling, practices may be losing care opportunities that have less to do with medical value than with communication design. (myvetcandy.com)

For veterinary leaders, the strategic question is no longer whether cost sensitivity is real. It’s how to respond without eroding medical standards or burning out staff. The reporting and commentary around these trends point in a similar direction: reduce friction, improve communication, make preventive care easier to schedule and understand, and build more flexible paths to treatment acceptance. That could mean clearer estimates, phased care plans, wellness plan design, payment options, tighter follow-up systems, better phone coverage, automated reminders, or better use of team workflows and technology. Practices that depend only on annual fee increases may protect revenue in the short term, but they risk accelerating the very attrition they’re trying to offset. (todaysveterinarybusiness.com)

What to watch: The next signals to watch are whether visit trends stabilize in 2026, whether preventive care rebounds, and whether practices that invest in access and client communication outperform those relying mainly on pricing. If the Cornell forecast is right, the sector could remain under pressure through mid-2026 before conditions improve, making the next few quarters especially important for practice strategy. It will also be worth watching whether clinics that strengthen phone handling, digital booking, and multi-channel reminder systems can materially reduce no-shows and recover some of the routine-care volume now being lost before the exam even starts. (frontiersin.org)