75% of Pet Owners Want Better Parasite Advice. They're Sitting in Your Waiting Room Right Now

Start with the number that should bother you most.

Seventy percent. That is the share of pet owners globally who identify their veterinarian as their primary source of pet health information. Not Dr. Google. Not the pet store employee. Not the influencer with the golden retriever and the sponsored post. You. The veterinarian. The most trusted voice in the room, every single time.

Now hold that number next to this one.

Twenty-seven percent of pet owners say they are only slightly familiar with parasite risks or not familiar at all. Seventy-five percent say they would value clearer advice on parasite prevention. Forty-three percent report their pet has already experienced a parasite infection, with one in five of those cases happening within the last year.

Take a moment with that math. Nearly three quarters of pet owners are actively asking for better guidance on one of the most preventable categories of disease in companion animal medicine. More than a quarter of them barely understand the risk landscape their pets live in every single day. And almost half of them have already watched a pet suffer through a parasite infection that, in most cases, did not have to happen.

These are the clients who trust you more than anyone else they know for pet health information.

The gap between those two realities is the most important thing this survey found. And it belongs to the profession to close.

What the Data Actually Says

The numbers come from a global survey of 6,500 pet owners across nine countries — the UK, the US, France, Germany, Turkey, China, Japan, Mexico, and Brazil, commissioned by Boehringer Ingelheim ahead of World Parasite Awareness Day on March 20. The findings were released this week.

They are not a portrait of pet owners who don't care. They are a portrait of pet owners who have not been given what they need to act consistently and correctly. There is a meaningful difference between those two things, and it matters enormously for how the profession responds.

Pet owners are not skipping parasite prevention because they are indifferent to their animals. They are skipping it — or doing it inconsistently, or doing it wrong — because the information they have received has not been clear enough, specific enough, or repeated often enough to translate into habit. Seventy-five percent of them are telling you directly that they want something better. That is not apathy. That is an open door.

The Stakes Are Not Abstract

More than 1.2 million dogs in the United States alone are estimated to be heartworm-positive right now. In Europe, heartworm has spread to countries where it was not previously endemic. In parts of Latin America, Africa, and Asia, prevalence remains high due to regional climate and vector conditions. Ticks — which can transmit Lyme borreliosis, babesiosis, and ehrlichiosis, among other serious and sometimes life-threatening diseases — are found in more than 47% of dogs surveyed in Italy and up to 67% of owned dogs in parts of Southeast Asia.

These are not edge cases. These are not rare presentations. These are the routine consequences of a global prevention gap playing out in exam rooms, emergency clinics, and specialist referrals every single day.

And beyond the animals: some of these parasites do not stay with the pets. Certain parasitic infections cross species lines. The public health dimension of companion animal parasite prevention is real, it is documented, and it is almost certainly underrepresented in the average wellness appointment.

Parasite risk is also not static. Warmer temperatures and increased international travel are pushing parasites into new geographies faster than prevention habits are keeping pace. The distribution map your training prepared you for is not the distribution map your clients are living in right now. What was a regional concern a decade ago may be sitting in your waiting room this afternoon.

The Appointment Is the Intervention

Here is what the survey makes clear for anyone willing to read it as a clinical communication challenge rather than a marketing document: the veterinary appointment is the single most powerful intervention point available for companion animal parasite prevention. Not awareness campaigns. Not packaging. Not World Parasite Awareness Day, though that matters too.

You. In the room. With the client who trusts you more than anyone else they have ever consulted about their pet's health.

The research is unambiguous that parasite risk varies by location, season, and lifestyle — which means the generic advice that might appear on a pamphlet or a product label is not sufficient for the specific dog or cat sitting on your exam table. Tailored guidance, delivered by a trusted veterinarian, backed by regular monitoring and a specific prevention recommendation that accounts for that animal's actual life, is what converts awareness into action.

Seventy-five percent of pet owners are telling you they want that conversation. They are in your waiting room right now.

The question the survey quietly asks — and that the profession owes itself an honest answer to — is why so many of them are leaving without it.

What Closing the Gap Actually Looks Like

This is not a call to add twenty minutes to every wellness appointment. It is a call to use the trust that already exists more intentionally.

It means making parasite prevention a non-negotiable part of every wellness visit rather than an afterthought after vaccines and bloodwork. It means asking specific questions — where does this dog hike, does this cat go outside, has this animal traveled recently — rather than assuming the standard regional risk profile applies. It means following up. It means treating prevention compliance the same way you would treat any other chronic management protocol: with reminders, with reinforcement, and with the understanding that one conversation is rarely enough to build a lasting habit.

The clients are there. The trust is there. The need is there — 43% of surveyed pet owners have already lived through a parasite infection with their pet. They know something went wrong. They are ready to be told how to make sure it doesn't happen again.

They just need someone to tell them clearly enough that it sticks.

That someone, according to 70% of pet owners worldwide, is you.

Data sourced from a global survey of 6,500 pet owners across nine countries, conducted by Sapio Research in January 2026 and commissioned by Boehringer Ingelheim. World Parasite Awareness Day is observed annually on March 20. For more information visit parasiteawarenessday.com.