Pet Spending Is Dropping, and Veterinarians May Need to Rethink Their Business

While the number of pets continues to increase, the average American pet-owning household is spending less. AVMA data show that annual pet expenditures declined from $1,727 in 2025 to $1,478 in 2026, a decrease of $249 per household. Veterinary services accounted for approximately one-third of total pet spending in both years, making veterinary care a substantial component of household pet budgets. Food and medications represented the next largest spending categories.

The decline in overall expenditures does not automatically mean that pet owners are becoming less committed to their animals. Economic pressures, changing purchasing habits and differences in household needs may all influence how families allocate their money. However, the trend suggests that veterinary practices should pay close attention to how clients perceive the cost and value of care. Pet ownership also spans a wide range of household incomes. Among dog-owning households, the largest income group, representing 19.7%, reported annual household earnings between $50,000 and $74,999. Among cat-owning households, 18.4% fell into that same income range. Both figures are below the reported U.S. median household income of $87,460.

These findings reinforce the importance of discussing treatment options and financial considerations without making assumptions about individual clients. Transparent estimates, prioritized recommendations and clear explanations of medical value may help clients make informed decisions while maintaining trust in their veterinary teams.

Preventive Care Is Still the Biggest Reason Pets Visit the Veterinarian

Despite growing concerns about affordability, routine veterinary care remains an important part of pet ownership. According to the AVMA survey, 82.4% of dog owners and 82.3% of cat owners identified preventive or routine care as the reason for their pet’s most recent veterinary visit. Most respondents reported taking their pets to the veterinarian once or twice annually, suggesting that routine wellness appointments remain an important opportunity for practices to build client relationships and identify health concerns before they become more serious.

These visits may be particularly valuable as the pet population ages. Among dogs, animals 10 years and older represented the largest reported age category at 14.9%, followed by two-year-old dogs at 14.1%. For cats, two-year-olds represented the largest group at 16.2%, followed by cats 10 years and older at 15.3%.

The substantial proportion of senior pets creates opportunities for veterinarians to focus on age-appropriate screening, nutritional counseling, mobility assessments, dental health, weight management and chronic disease monitoring. Practices that communicate the benefits of preventive care throughout an animal’s life may be better positioned to maintain relationships with clients beyond the puppy and kitten stages.

For cat owners in particular, preventive care presents an opportunity to address conditions that may progress silently, including chronic kidney disease, hypertension, dental disease and hyperthyroidism. Improving client education about these risks could help practices encourage appropriate veterinary visits even when cats appear healthy at home.

Veterinary Practices Still Lead Medication Sales, but Convenience Is Becoming Critical

One of the most interesting findings for veterinary practice owners involves where clients purchase medications. Despite growing competition from online retailers, pet stores and large retail chains, veterinary practices remain the most commonly reported source of pet medications.,In 2026, 46.4% of dog owners and 42.7% of cat owners reported obtaining their pets’ medications from veterinary practices. However, the findings also indicate that convenience and access frequently matter more than price when consumers decide where to buy medications and pet food.

That distinction has important implications for veterinary businesses. Practices may not need to compete exclusively on price if they can offer clients the convenience they expect from online retailers while preserving the professional advice and personal relationships that differentiate veterinary care.Online pharmacies, home delivery, automated refill reminders and simplified prescription ordering are potential ways to reduce friction for clients. Instead of requiring pet owners to make additional trips or navigate complicated refill processes, practices can integrate medication purchasing more directly into the veterinary care experience.

These strategies may also help practices maintain relationships with clients who increasingly expect digital services. A pet owner who receives a recommendation during an appointment may be more likely to follow through when the prescribed medication or diet can be ordered easily and delivered to their home.

There’s No Such Thing as the Average Pet Owner Anymore

The AVMA findings also challenge the idea that veterinary practices can design their services around a single type of pet-owning household. According to the sourcebook, pet-owning households frequently include multiple adults, children and more than one animal, creating complicated schedules and different priorities when it comes to veterinary care.

The average pet-owning household in the 2026 dataset owns its home, includes children younger than 17 and has more than one pet. However, those averages conceal significant variation in family structure, income and access to veterinary services.For veterinary teams, understanding the full household rather than focusing exclusively on the pet in the examination room may lead to more practical recommendations. Families managing several pets may benefit from coordinated appointments and reminders, while clients balancing work and caregiving responsibilities may place greater value on extended clinic hours, online scheduling or home delivery.

Practices that study the demographics of their own communities may discover opportunities that national statistics alone cannot reveal. Neighborhood income levels, household sizes, housing patterns and local pet ownership trends can influence which services are most relevant to the clients a practice hopes to reach.

What the Data Mean for Veterinary Practice Owners

The 2026 AVMA findings suggest that veterinary practices face an interesting combination of opportunities and pressures. More Americans are sharing their homes with pets, the cat population is expanding rapidly, and preventive medicine remains a common reason for veterinary visits. At the same time, households are reporting lower overall pet expenditures and increasingly considering convenience when purchasing products and services. For practices hoping to respond, the opportunity may lie in making veterinary care easier to access rather than simply trying to increase the number of appointments. Cat-friendly scheduling, convenient preventive care programs, digital communication, online pharmacies and age-specific wellness recommendations could help practices better match services to client needs.

The data also underscore the value of recognizing that different pet owners approach care differently. Lower spending does not necessarily indicate lower medical needs, and pet owners who shop online are not necessarily less interested in professional veterinary guidance. They may simply want care and purchasing experiences that fit more naturally into their daily lives.

Veterinary practices that combine medical expertise with accessible services may be well positioned to serve both a growing pet population and consumers who are becoming more selective about how they spend their money.

The Next Generation of Veterinary Clients May Be More Feline—and More Selective

The dog may remain America’s most numerous companion animal, but the narrowing gap between canine and feline populations is one of several shifts that veterinary leaders should be watching. Cats are growing faster, households are becoming more diverse, and pet owners are weighing convenience and affordability alongside medical recommendations. None of these trends diminish the importance of the veterinarian-client-patient relationship. Instead, they highlight how that relationship may need to evolve as expectations change.The biggest lesson from the 2026 AVMA data is not simply that cats are catching up with dogs. It’s that understanding today’s pet owner requires looking beyond species and examining the economic, demographic and practical realities influencing healthcare decisions.

For veterinary practices, recognizing those changes could be the difference between continuing to deliver care the way it has always been done and creating an experience that meets the needs of the next generation of pet owners.

Source: American Veterinary Medical Association, 2026 Pet Ownership and Demographics Sourcebook, and AVMA News reporting by Malinda Larkin, October 7, 2026. View the 2026 AVMA Pet Ownership and Demographics Sourcebook. Historical context from AVMA’s 2025 pet ownership analysis.