Your Older Clients Love Their Pets More Than Ever. They Just Can't Always Afford Them.

Your older clients love their pets more than ever. They just can't always afford them.

New research from the University of Michigan confirms what you already see in the exam room: pets are doing real work for aging adults, and the financial pressure is getting worse.

The bond between older adults and their pets is not a soft story. It is a public health variable, and a new poll out of the University of Michigan just put numbers to it that every veterinarian should know.

The National Poll on Healthy Aging surveyed nearly 2,700 adults between the ages of 50 and 95 in September 2025, replicating a similar poll from 2018. The headline finding is not surprising to anyone who has spent time in a veterinary practice: older adults overwhelmingly report that their pets improve their lives. What is more interesting — and more urgent — is what has changed in seven years, and what it means for the clients sitting across from you.

The benefits are real and they are growing

The percentage of adults aged 50 to 80 who say having a pet gives them a sense of purpose climbed from 73% in 2018 to 83% in 2025. Seventy percent of current pet owners over 50 say their pet connects them with others — a finding that lands differently at a moment when loneliness among older adults has become a recognized public health crisis. Sixty-three percent say their pet helps reduce stress. Forty-four percent say it helps them stay physically active.

These are not trivial numbers. Isolation in older adults is associated with cognitive decline, cardiovascular disease, and increased mortality. A dog that gets someone out of the house twice a day and gives them something to talk about with the neighbors is doing clinical work, even if it never shows up on a chart.

Eighty-seven percent of Michigan pet owners over 50 said their pet gives them a sense of purpose. Seventy-two percent said it helps them enjoy life. Sixty-six percent said it helps them feel loved.

That last one deserves a moment. Sixty-six percent of older adults with pets said their animal helps them feel loved. In a demographic that disproportionately experiences grief, loss, and social contraction, that is not a minor data point.

The cost problem is getting serious

Here is where the story gets harder. The percentage of pet owners aged 50 to 80 who say having a pet strains their budget rose from 18% in 2018 to 31% in 2025. That is not a rounding error. That is a 13-point jump in seven years, and it tracks with what veterinary practices across the country are navigating daily: clients who love their animals, want to do right by them, and are making genuinely painful decisions about what care they can afford.

The clients most likely to report budget strain were women, people rating their own health as fair or poor, individuals with activity-limiting disabilities, and households earning under $60,000 annually. In other words, the older adults who may stand to benefit most from pet ownership are also the ones most likely to be squeezed by the cost of it.

Thirty-three percent of adults over 50 who do not have pets cited cost as a primary reason — up from 21% in 2018. That is a third of pet-free older adults being priced out of something that the research consistently shows improves health outcomes.

What this means in your practice

The poll's research team made a specific recommendation directed at healthcare providers, and it applies directly to veterinary medicine: ask about pets, and document it.

Knowing that a client has a dog they walk every day is clinically relevant when you are discussing mobility, cardiovascular health, or mental wellbeing. Knowing that a client's pet is their primary source of daily social interaction matters when that client is facing a serious diagnosis. And knowing that a client is financially strained by pet ownership costs matters when you are developing a treatment plan and trying to understand why someone keeps postponing a recommended procedure.

The poll also specifically flagged pet loss as a form of grief that healthcare providers need to take seriously. Veterinarians know this intuitively. You have held the room while someone said goodbye to an animal who was, functionally, their closest companion and primary reason to get up in the morning. The research is just now catching up to what you already understood.

The practical applications go beyond the exam room conversation. Veterinary practices that serve aging populations are increasingly navigating the intersection of pet welfare and client financial reality. Payment plans, wellness packages, prioritized care conversations, and transparent cost discussions are not just good business practice — they are how you keep an older client and their animal in the system instead of watching them quietly disappear because they can no longer afford the visit.

The bigger picture

Pet ownership rates among adults 50 and older have held essentially steady — 57% today versus 55% in 2018. People in this demographic are not abandoning pets. They are holding on to them even as the financial pressure increases, because the value exchange is that meaningful.

That is the client in your waiting room with the 14-year-old cat and the fixed income and the appointment they almost cancelled. They came anyway. The least the profession can do is meet them there.

Source: University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging, September 2025