{"id":77804,"date":"2025-06-01T00:00:19","date_gmt":"2025-06-01T04:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/todaysveterinarybusiness.com\/?p=77804"},"modified":"2025-11-14T14:36:59","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T19:36:59","slug":"petsmart-charities-politics-and-policy-0625","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/navc.sitepreview.app\/todaysveterinarybusiness.com\/petsmart-charities-politics-and-policy-0625\/","title":{"rendered":"What Pet Owners Want From Their Veterinary Care Providers"},"content":{"rendered":"

PetSmart Charities expanded its educational arsenal with the recently released State of Pet Care Study<\/em>, conducted in collaboration with Gallup [bit.ly\/3Y4Puvr<\/a>]. The 2,307-person sampling poll is a comprehensive examination of American pet owner behavior and attitudes toward veterinary care. Put differently: PetSmart Charities has provided the profession with a roadmap for opportunities to expand pet care in America and lower its costs when necessary. Every pet owner, veterinarian, veterinary technician, veterinary assistant, veterinary college dean and faculty member, and pet industry leader must study the survey and consider the implications. Let\u2019s get started.<\/p>\n

The Human-Animal Bond<\/h3>\n

Ninety-seven percent of people consider their pets to be family members. I could stop here and just explore the implications of that simple statistic. Would baby-boomer or Generation X families come close to that number back in the day? The short answer is no. My educated guess is that far fewer than 50% of those families (probably closer to 20%) would have considered their pets as family.<\/p>\n

If pets are central to a family (not possessions of, but full-fledged members), what won\u2019t people do to take care of their cats and dogs? Their level of commitment means people will devote whatever resources they can to make their pets comfortable, happy and engaged. Unfortunately, it\u2019s a struggle for younger pet owners as they return to in-office work and have a young dog to manage at home.<\/p>\n

How will the next generation of pet owners (the children of millennials and Gen Zers) behave when 70% grew up in households where dogs and cats were treated like family members?<\/p>\n

Doesn\u2019t all this comfort younger veterinarians and veterinary technicians looking down the road at career runways?<\/p>\n

Straight Talk From the Experts<\/h3>\n

According to the study, 81% of pet owners view their veterinarian as a primary source of information on pet health care<\/a>. Doesn\u2019t that open the door for veterinary practices to develop everyone on their staff to help people conveniently learn about their pets and all the steps to keep a dog or cat healthy? Pet owners don\u2019t want only pet care from veterinary practices; they also want information and advice they can trust and use at home.<\/p>\n

Think about how far we\u2019ve come from families with baby-boomer children who visited the veterinarian for one of three reasons: vaccines, post-accident care, or to put down a pet.<\/p>\n

Leveraging the information source and expertise assigned to veterinary offices offers huge commercial opportunities of real value to pet owners.<\/p>\n

The Affordability Factor<\/h3>\n

PetSmart Charities also found that 65% of people will spend up to $1,000 to save a pet\u2019s life (and half will spend more). It makes financial sense for veterinary practices to understand and plan for the $1,000 threshold for emergency or last-stage care. A major theme of the survey is the desire of pet owners to be provided financial alternatives and cost projections they can trust when evaluating how to handle a pet\u2019s needed medical care.<\/p>\n

That section of the State of Pet Care Study<\/em> leads to the heart of the report and these findings:<\/p>\n