Vet Visits Keep Falling. Pet Care Costs Keep Rising. Here’s What the Data Actually Shows.

Two things are true at the same time in veterinary medicine right now, and they pull in opposite directions. Visits to veterinary practices have been declining for four consecutive years. And the cost of veterinary care has been rising faster than inflation throughout that same period.

Understanding how both can be true simultaneously and what it actually means for practices and patients — requires looking at each data point separately rather than treating them as a single story.

The visit decline: what the data shows

The downward trend in veterinary visits is real, well-documented, and has continued longer than most industry analysts expected. Annual visit declines of 3.5 percent in 2022, 1.4 percent in 2023, and 2.6 percent in 2024 were followed by a 3.1 percent drop in 2025, according to Vetsource’s January 2026 white paper, which analyzed transactional data from nearly 6,500 U.S. veterinary practices. Wellness visits declined even more steeply, falling 3.8 percent in 2025 — meaning the discretionary, preventive end of the care spectrum is bearing most of the reduction.

The AVMA’s 2025 market assessment, presented at VMX in January 2026 by Brakke Consulting senior consultant John Volk, confirmed the trajectory: visits down roughly 3 percent in 2025, continuing what is now a sustained four-year trend. The interval between appointments has expanded significantly — one industry analysis cited a roughly 48 percent increase in time between visits compared to pre-pandemic patterns.

Research published in Frontiers in Veterinary Science in October 2025 by Cornell University economists applied ARIMA time-series modeling to BLS veterinary services data and concluded that the veterinary economy entered a recessionary phase in late 2024, with negative growth expected to persist through mid-2026 before a potential recovery later in the year.

The price data: what is confirmed and what needs context

The claim that pet service costs are rising at more than twice the rate of overall inflation is directionally supported. The February 2026 BLS CPI release confirmed the overall consumer price index increased 2.4 percent over the prior 12 months. Veterinary-specific price data from mid-2025 showed service prices running well above that rate — one industry analysis cited a 5.7 percent increase in May 2025. A specific figure of 5.1 percent for pet services overall appears in financial analysis of the sector; readers should note that the current BLS detailed category breakdown was not accessible at time of publication and the figure should be verified against the March 2026 BLS release when available.

What is unambiguous is the directional relationship: veterinary prices have been rising faster than general inflation consistently since the latter half of 2022, and the gap between what practices charge and what clients are willing or able to pay has been widening. Brakke Consulting’s Volk described it plainly at VMX: “Basic economics says when prices go up faster than everything else, people start making different decisions.”

The split behavior: where spending is holding and where it isn’t

The more nuanced part of the current environment is where the spending reduction is happening versus where it is not. The Vetsource data makes this reasonably clear: wellness visits and preventive care are bearing the brunt of the pullback. Emergency and critical care, higher-value diagnostics, and specialist referrals are holding up better. Pet owners are deferring the optional, not abandoning the essential.

This pattern is consistent with what companies including IDEXX Laboratories, Zoetis, and Elanco Animal Health have reported — that revenue from higher-value diagnostics and therapeutics has partially offset softer foot traffic at the practice level. About two-thirds of respondents to the Brakke survey reported revenue increases in 2025 even as visits fell, because price increases and a tilt toward higher-acuity cases kept revenue growing modestly despite lower volume.

The concern buried in that figure is the one Volk flagged: profitability improved for only 32 percent of respondents in 2025, the lowest level in several years. Revenue growth and profitability growth are not the same thing, and the gap between them has been widening.

What this means for practices

The combination of declining visit frequency and rising prices is a structural tension that price increases alone cannot resolve indefinitely. Clients who cannot absorb further cost increases will reduce visit frequency further, which will reduce revenue, which will create pressure to raise prices again. Several industry economists have described this dynamic explicitly in their 2026 outlook materials.

The practices most exposed are those that have been relying primarily on price increases to sustain revenue rather than rebuilding client volume and frequency. The practices best positioned are those that have invested in workflows that reduce friction for clients, improved communication systems that keep pets on a regular care cadence, and pricing structures that allow clients to access preventive care without the kind of bill shock that drives avoidance behavior.

Cornell’s econometric forecast suggests a potential recovery toward the end of 2026. Brakke’s Volk is more cautious, noting he does not personally see the factors that would drive a meaningful near-term turnaround. “The days of easy growth driven by rising demand are behind us for now,” he said at VMX.

That is not a reason for pessimism about the profession’s long-term fundamentals. It is a reason to be honest about the current environment and make operational decisions accordingly.

Data sources and notes

Visit decline figures: Vetsource white paper, January 2026 (6,500 U.S. practices); AVMA/Brakke Consulting market assessment, VMX January 2026.

Veterinary business cycle recession analysis: Neill and Salois, Frontiers in Veterinary Science, October 2025 (Cornell University/Applied Economics Consulting).

Overall CPI: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, February 2026 release (2.4% 12-month increase confirmed). Pet services CPI sub-category figure (5.1%) cited in original financial analysis — readers should verify against the BLS March 2026 detailed tables, to be released April 10, 2026.

Profitability and revenue data: Brakke Consulting annual industry survey, approximately 350 respondents, late 2025.