31 Veterinary Industry Statistics You Should Know (2026)
Veterinary practices manage demand for animal healthcare alongside staffing and appointment capacity. APPA reported 95 million U.S. pet-owning households in 2025; that household count does not by itself measure veterinary visits or prove unprecedented scheduling demand. The market growth figures below include forecasts, which differ from observed growth. These 31 statistics cover the veterinary market, practice operations and scheduling with dates and scope identified.
Collection updated: October 2026
31 Veterinary Industry Statistics You Should Know (2026) reveal key trends in scheduling and appointment management. This collection contains 31 data points. Check each source's population, reporting period and methodology before applying a figure to your business; forecasts and vendor case studies are not general industry results.
Table of Contents
Market Size & Growth
Grand View Research estimate of the US veterinary services market in 2026; not a measured year-end total.
Forecast compound annual growth rate of the US veterinary services market, 2026-33; not observed annual growth.
Grand View Research estimate of the global animal health market in 2026, covering biologics, pharmaceuticals and diagnostics.
US veterinary establishments in 2022, from Census Bureau data reproduced in AVMA's 2025 report; not a current clinic count.
AVMA 2025 Economic State of the Profession, printed page 37 (US Census Bureau data)
Estimated veterinarians active in US private or public practice at year-end 2023, including government, academic and commercial employment. AVMA population estimate, not all license holders or a current headcount.
Mean 2023 gross revenue for companion-animal-exclusive practices in AVMA's 2024 practice-owner survey. Practice-level revenue across represented businesses, not a single-veterinarian practice average or per-veterinarian productivity.
Pet Ownership & Spending
Share of US households owning a pet in APPA's 2023-24 survey; historical, not a 2026 estimate.
US households owning at least one pet in 2025, reported in APPA's 2026 State of the Industry Report.
APPA forecast of total US pet industry spending in 2026; not an actual year-end total.
US veterinary care and product sales in 2025, according to APPA's actual-sales category table.
Annual veterinary-care spending by dog-only households in AVMA's 2022 sourcebook, reflecting 2020 data from an early-2021 online survey. Includes services and medication; per household, not per dog or a current APPA estimate.
Annual veterinary-care spending by cat-only households in AVMA's 2022 sourcebook, reflecting 2020 data from an early-2021 online survey. Includes services and medication; per household, not per cat or a current APPA estimate.
Share of respondents saying they would go into debt for a pet emergency in ConsumerAffairs' 2022 reader survey (434 responses); not a representative estimate of all pet owners.
ConsumerAffairs, SurveyMonkey reader survey, October-November 2022
Appointment & Scheduling Trends
Practice respondents reporting increased client no-shows since the pandemic began in VHMA's November 2020 survey (about 50%). Historical practice-level reports, not the percentage of appointments missed.
Pet owners who considered the ability to book appointments at any time on any device important in PetDesk's 2025 survey of 1,000 North American owners. Importance of convenient booking, not a preference for online booking over phone calls; vendor-sponsored survey.
PetDesk 2025 Pet Parent Research Report, publisher summary (April 2025)
Share of appointments booked through Vetstoria globally in 2021 that were booked outside practice hours; platform data, not all veterinary appointments.
Dog-owner and cat-owner responses, respectively, indicating the pet last saw a veterinarian within one year in AVMA's 2022 sourcebook. Early-2021 online survey reflecting 2020 data (2,011 total respondents); species subgroup sizes are not disclosed here. Visit recency, not mean annual household visits.
Average monthly direct bookings per clinic reported by Otto increased from 28 in January to 50 in August 2025. Vendor-platform data with clinic sample size and cohort comparability undisclosed; this measures online bookings, not total appointment growth or a causal effect. The publisher's stated 64% increase does not match these endpoints, so no percentage is reproduced.
Otto 2025 Client Engagement Report, October 2025 publisher release
Reported reduction in phone calls at Albert North Veterinary Clinic in Regina, Canada, after adopting PetDesk's app, texting and loyalty tools. Single-clinic vendor case study; measurement method and comparison dates are not disclosed, and this is not a typical result or a SchedulingKit outcome.
Technology Adoption
Represented practices with practice management software in AVMA's 2024 practice-owner survey; not a census of all US practices.
AVMA 2025 Economic State of the Profession, 2024 practice-owner survey
Represented practices using online appointment scheduling in AVMA's 2024 practice-owner survey.
AVMA 2025 Economic State of the Profession, 2024 practice-owner survey
Represented practices using client communication software integrated with PIMS in AVMA's 2024 owner survey. Includes reminders and personalized text/email; not reminder-only adoption or proof of any SchedulingKit integration.
Represented practices using telehealth in AVMA's 2024 survey, defined as any virtual consultation or communication with clients; broader than clinical telemedicine.
AVMA 2025 Economic State of the Profession, 2024 practice-owner survey
Pet owners who considered communication with their veterinary clinic via text or online chat important in PetDesk's 2025 survey of 1,000 North American owners. Importance rating, not preference over telephone communication or an email-use measure.
PetDesk 2025 Pet Parent Research Report, publisher summary (April 2025)
Veterinarians reporting AI use in daily work in BVA's Voice of the Veterinary Profession survey, released May 2025. UK survey respondents, not US practices; covers all AI applications rather than client communication alone. The public release does not disclose this question's sample size.
Workforce & Practice Operations
Median annual wage for US veterinarians in May 2025; excludes self-employed earnings.
US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook (2025 data)
US veterinarian employment growth projection, 2025-35.
Veterinarians reporting substantial recruitment difficulty among 183 respondents who answered the hiring question at two European specialty congresses in 2022. Royal Canin surveyed 222 veterinarians across 33 countries, mostly working in Europe; this is not a representative US practice estimate.
Owner time spent managing operations across practice types in AVMA's 2024 practice-owner survey. Self-reported owner time allocation, not measured daily scheduling and phone-call hours for all veterinary staff.
Average weekday opening duration in AVMA's 2024 practice-owner survey. Opening hours, not expansion of hours or veterinarian appointment availability; survey practices do not represent a full US census.
Reported increase in recovered clients at Dr. Woods' single-veterinarian Los Angeles hospital after switching to PetDesk reminders and a client app. Vendor case study of one clinic, not the share of practices reporting better retention; comparison dates and recovery calculation are not disclosed.
What the Data Tells Us
Grand View Research estimates the US veterinary services market at $40.3 billion in 2026 and forecasts 7.9% CAGR for 2026-33. APPA reported 66% household pet ownership in its historical 2023-24 survey.
APPA reports $41.0 billion in US veterinary care and product sales in 2025. AVMA's historical 2020 survey reports annual veterinary spending of $367 for dog-only households and $253 for cat-only households, including medications; these are not per-pet averages.
PetDesk's 2025 survey of 1,000 North American pet owners found that 78% considered booking at any time on any device important. Platform booking trends and single-clinic case studies do not establish typical increases in total appointments.
In AVMA's 2024 practice-owner survey, 76.5% of represented practices used practice management software and 33.4% used online appointment scheduling.
BLS projects 9% US veterinarian employment growth for 2025-35. A separate 2022 Royal Canin congress survey found substantial hiring difficulty among 53% of 183 respondents answering the recruitment question, mostly from European workplaces.
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