Every figure on this page links to the organization that produced it, and each was re-checked against that source before publishing. How veterinary practices use video and market themselves, and the evidence behind it: our own read of U.S. veterinary practice homepages; how many veterinarians, technicians and practices there are and what they earn; how fast chains are buying practices; whether pet owners are still visiting the vet; how owners look for pet health information and what pet health videos on YouTube and TikTok contain; the telehealth, advertising, testimonial and review rules; and where six popular veterinary marketing numbers came from.
24.1% of 353 U.S. veterinary practice homepages we read on November 1, 2026 showed a video player; 18.4% played a muted background clip and only 2.8% embedded a YouTube player (our measurement). (Mark Studios)See details
85.8% of those homepages linked to Facebook, 70.0% to a pet portal, app or online pharmacy and 52.7% to a careers page. (Mark Studios)See details
The four largest U.S. veterinary firms took 22.4% of the industry's receipts in 2022, up from 13.3% in 2017, and the 750 multi-location firms took 43.3% (our calculation). (U.S. Census Bureau; our calculation)See details
Firms with 25 or more locations ran 6,541 U.S. veterinary establishments in 2022, against 2,451 in 2017. (U.S. Census Bureau)See details
BLS counted about 91,100 veterinarian jobs and 131,400 technician jobs in 2025; in veterinary practices alone, BLS May 2025 industry data shows about 1.54 technicians per veterinarian (our calculation). (BLS; our calculation)See details
IDEXX reported U.S. same-store clinical visits down about 2% in 2025, the fourth yearly fall, roughly 6.6% below 2021 (our calculation). (IDEXX 10-K; our calculation)See details
Only 28.2% of U.S. pet owners were extremely satisfied with the cost of their last vet visit in 2024 (AVMA), and 52% of dog and cat owners skipped or declined needed care in the year to early 2025 (Gallup). (AVMA; Gallup)See details
92% of the most-engaged TikTok videos on pet tick prevention came from non-veterinary influencers; on YouTube, vets made 53% of canine cancer videos studied. (Veterinary Record; Veterinary and Comparative Oncology)See details
As of September 2025, eight states and the District of Columbia let a vet start a client relationship by video; Florida allows it only by live video and caps such prescriptions at 14 days for most drugs. (AVMA; Florida Statutes)See details
The '88% of mobile users search for pet care online' figure vet marketers repeat matches a 2014 Google survey of general consumers with no pet category, and the '$41 billion on vet care' figure includes products. (Google; APPA)See details
How many veterinary practice websites show video?
About one in four. On November 1, 2026 we opened the homepages of 400 U.S. veterinary practices drawn at random from OpenStreetMap, the open map database, and 24.1% of the 353 we could read showed a video player (our measurement). The frame was every U.S. veterinary practice mapped in OpenStreetMap with a website, 3,011 distinct practice websites. Of the 400 sampled, 15 asked crawlers to stay away in robots.txt and were not visited, 4 showed a bot wall, 19 failed to load and 9 were no longer veterinary sites. With the same method on the same day, veterinary homepages showed video less often than chiropractic or dental ones (24.1% against 31.2% and 35.0%, our comparison).
Most of that video is decoration rather than client education. 18.4% of homepages played a muted background video that starts on its own, which is 76.5% of the pages with any video (our calculation), and 19.5% carried a video file hosted on the practice's own site. Only 3.7% embedded a video from YouTube, Vimeo or a similar host: 2.8% a YouTube player and 0.8% a Vimeo player. Of the pages with video, 80.0% used only self-hosted files.
On the homepage (353 readable U.S. veterinary practice sites, Nov 1, 2026)
Third-party scheduling tool (Vetstoria, PetDesk and others)
30.9%
Careers or jobs link
52.7%
Emergency, urgent or 24-hour care mentioned
42.2%
New-client offer (special, price or free first exam)
10.8%
Names a corporate group or chain
5.9%
Practices point clients to Facebook far more than to video: homepages linked to Facebook 30.3 times as often as they embedded a YouTube player (our calculation). Practice websites are built around the pet portal and the careers page as much as the appointment button. Vetstoria was the most common third-party scheduler, on 52 homepages. Only 21 homepages named a corporate owner; most consolidator-owned hospitals do not say so on the homepage, so that share is a floor, and too few to compare with independent practices. A hand check of 30 random sites agreed with the automatic video classification on all of them (100.0%); misses in the booking, portal, emergency and group rules were fixed before counting.
OpenStreetMap is volunteer-mapped, so this is a random sample of U.S. practices that someone mapped with a website, not of all practices. One chain website, such as VCA's or Banfield's, stands for many mapped hospitals and counts once. The per-site results are in homepages.csv and the summary in crawl-summary.json.
How many veterinarians and veterinary technicians are there?
About 91,000 veterinarians and twice as many support staff. The Bureau of Labor Statistics counted about 91,100 veterinarian jobs in 2025, self-employed included (BLS), and projects 99,600 by 2035 (BLS), growth of 9 percent (BLS) with about 3,100 openings a year (BLS). 83% of those jobs were in the veterinary services industry (BLS) and 7% were self-employed (BLS). The American Veterinary Medical Association counts more broadly, every licensed veterinarian including those outside clinical work: of its 133,475 at the end of 2025, 40,595 were men (AVMA), and it had no employment information for 28,343 of them (AVMA).
BLS's wage survey (OEWS), which leaves out the self-employed, gives this picture for May 2025:
Inside veterinary practices alone (NAICS 541940), OEWS counted, in May 2025, 75,160 veterinarians (BLS), 116,050 technologists and technicians (BLS) and 113,130 assistants (BLS) among 471,540 jobs of every kind (BLS), so a practice employs about 1.54 technicians per veterinarian (our calculation). Veterinarians there earned a median $129,990 (BLS). In May 2025 Florida had 5,360 wage and salary veterinarians, with a median wage of $131,660 (BLS); Florida technicians earned a median $46,380 (BLS).
Pay has risen fast since 2019, from a low base for support staff. In May 2019, BLS counted 74,540 wage and salary veterinarians (BLS, archived page) at a median $95,460 (BLS), 110,650 technicians (BLS) at $35,320 (BLS) and 97,030 assistants (BLS) at $28,590 (BLS). Veterinarian jobs grew 12.6% by 2025, and the technician median wage rose 34.1% (our calculations, not adjusted for inflation). BLS warns that OEWS is not designed for comparisons over time, so treat these as rough. BLS projects 9 percent growth for technicians to 2035 (BLS) and 9 percent for assistants (BLS), from about 131,400 and 132,100 jobs in 2025 (BLS; BLS), with 13,400 and 23,200 openings a year (BLS; BLS). 89% of technician jobs are in veterinary practices (BLS).
How many veterinary practices are there, and who owns them?
About 34,000 to 36,000 practices with staff, and a fast-growing share belongs to chains. In the 2022 Economic Census the four largest veterinary firms took 22.4% of the industry's receipts (U.S. Census Bureau), up from 13.3% in 2017 (U.S. Census Bureau): a rise of 9.1 percentage points in five years (our calculation). The 50 largest took 37.3% (U.S. Census Bureau), against 22.4% in 2017 (U.S. Census Bureau); the 20 largest 33.2% (U.S. Census Bureau).
Chain locations grew even faster. Firms with 25 or more locations ran 6,541 U.S. veterinary establishments in 2022 (U.S. Census Bureau), against 2,451 in 2017 (U.S. Census Bureau), which makes them 19.2% of all employer veterinary establishments (our calculation). Most firms still have one location: 25,630 of 26,380 in 2022 (U.S. Census Bureau). But the 750 firms with more than one ran 8,496 establishments (U.S. Census Bureau), up from 4,180 in 2017 (U.S. Census Bureau), and took 43.3% of the industry's receipts (our calculation).
How many U.S. veterinary practices? (each source counts differently)
Practices are small. Of the 34,296 employer establishments in 2023, 9,498 had fewer than five employees (U.S. Census Bureau), 7,771 had five to nine (U.S. Census Bureau) and 10,228 had 10 to 19, the most common size (U.S. Census Bureau). They employed 475,106 people (U.S. Census Bureau) on a payroll of $25.2 billion (U.S. Census Bureau). From 2019 to 2025 the number of private establishments grew 13.5%, from 31,975 (BLS) to 36,276, employment from 402,662 (BLS) to 472,869 (BLS), and average pay from $41,849 (BLS) to $60,165 (BLS). In 2015 there were 30,230 (BLS). County Business Patterns had 32,125 employer establishments in 2019 (U.S. Census Bureau). Sole operators grew faster still: nonemployer veterinary businesses rose 35.3% from 22,036 in 2019 (U.S. Census Bureau). Florida had 2,854 private veterinary establishments in 2025 (BLS), up from 2,492 in 2019 (BLS), paying an average $59,376 (BLS); Census counted 2,585 employer establishments (U.S. Census Bureau) and 2,594 nonemployer businesses there (U.S. Census Bureau).
Fewer veterinarians own their practice. The AVMA reported that the share of private-practice veterinarians who were owners fell from 43% in 2007 to 33% in 2019 (AVMA), while women rose from 29% to 41% of owners (AVMA). The share of practices with ten or more employees rose from 41% in 2009 to 44% in 2017 (AVMA). In 2018 Brakke Consulting estimated about 3,500 company-owned clinics, about 10% of general practices and 40 to 50% of referral practices (AVMA, reporting Brakke). Inspire Veterinary Partners, itself a small consolidator, wrote that about 13 national and 30 regional groups owned around 6,000 of the nearly 30,000 U.S. hospitals in early 2022 (Inspire Veterinary Partners 10-K), that Mars and NVA together own about 4,000 (Inspire Veterinary Partners 10-K), and that less than 30% of hospitals had been consolidated. None of these consolidation estimates comes from a government count.
The largest groups, by their own counts
Company website counts below were read on November 1, 2026; filing counts carry the filing date.
Mars Veterinary Health says it has 3,000 clinics worldwide (Mars Veterinary Health) with 12,000+ veterinarians (Mars Veterinary Health); its BluePearl page says 2,500 clinics in over 20 countries (BluePearl). The two Mars pages disagree, and neither gives a U.S. figure.
Banfield, also Mars, says it has more than 1,000 hospitals in the U.S. and Puerto Rico (Banfield) and more than 3,600 veterinarians (Banfield).
VCA, which Mars bought in 2017, ran 795 animal hospitals in the U.S. and Canada at the end of 2016 (VCA Inc. 10-K).
NVA says it has 1,000 general practice hospitals (NVA), and its specialty arm Ethos over 140 specialty and emergency hospitals (Ethos Veterinary Health).
Petco had about 300 full-service veterinary hospitals and ran about 1,600 Vetco clinics a week in January 2026 (Petco 10-K), up from 197 hospitals in January 2022, when it said it planned about 900 (Petco 10-K); 288 in February 2024 (Petco 10-K). It has reached a third of that plan (our calculation). Vetco clinics numbered about 1,000 a week in 2021 (Petco 10-K).
Chewy opened its first eight Chewy Vet Care clinics in 2024 (Chewy 10-K) and had 18 by fiscal 2025 (Chewy 10-K).
Chewy says about 20,000 practices, "an estimated 50%" of U.S. vet clinics, used its practice platform in February 2026 (Chewy 10-K); it gave the same 50% for 15,000 practices two years earlier (Chewy 10-K), so the clinic total it assumes moved from about 30,000 to about 40,000 (our calculation). Treat the 50% as a rough figure; the 2025 count was 17,000 (Chewy 10-K).
PetIQ ran over 2,600 community clinic locations in 39 states in 2023 (PetIQ 10-K), down from 3,400 in 2019 (PetIQ 10-K), staffed in 2019 by about 1,700 contract veterinarians (PetIQ 10-K).
Regulators have noticed. In consent orders from 2017 and 2022, the FTC made Mars sell 12 specialty and emergency clinics to buy VCA in 2017 (FTC), required JAB, NVA's owner, to sell six clinics to buy SAGE Veterinary Partners (FTC), which had 16 (FTC), and five to buy Ethos (FTC), which operated in nine states (FTC). It noted it had already ordered divestitures in JAB's $5 billion purchase of NVA (FTC), and called the Ethos deal part of a growing trend of consolidation (FTC); its competition director warned of private equity roll up strategies (FTC). In November 2024 Senators Warren and Blumenthal wrote that Mars owned nearly half of all corporate-owned clinics (Office of Sen. Warren), a figure their letter sources to a news report, and that it ran about 3,000 clinics worldwide (Office of Sen. Warren). As of its fiscal 2025 10-K, several states still require practices to be wholly or majority owned by veterinarians, as Petco notes (Petco 10-K), and Zoetis reports a trend toward the concentration of veterinarians in large clinics and hospitals (Zoetis 10-K).
The owner matters for video: a single-location practice decides its own website and social accounts, while a hospital in a group works within the group's brand.
Are pet owners still going to the vet?
Fewer visits, at higher prices. IDEXX, which sells diagnostics and software to most U.S. practices, reported that same-store clinical visits fell 2.3% in 2022 (IDEXX 10-K), 0.5% in 2023 (IDEXX 10-K), about 2% in 2024 (IDEXX 10-K) and about 2% in 2025 (IDEXX 10-K), which it blames on practice capacity and the economy. Compounded, that is roughly 6.6% fewer visits in 2025 than in 2021 (our calculation). The decline followed a pandemic surge: visits grew 13% in the second quarter of 2021 (IDEXX 10-K) and 2.9% a year from 2019 to 2022 (IDEXX 10-K). Practice revenue kept growing on price: about 6% in 2023 (IDEXX 10-K), 3% in 2024 (IDEXX 10-K) and about 2% in 2025, when diagnostics revenue per practice grew about 6% (IDEXX 10-K). IDEXX also warns that owners pay out of pocket and can defer visits when money is short (IDEXX 10-K).
Owners keep a vet but do not always use one. In the AVMA's 2024 owner survey, 86.8% of dog owners had a regular veterinarian but 74.2% had visited in the past year (AVMA); for cat owners it was 77.1% and 57.3% (AVMA). 56.5% of dog owners who went made two visits a year (AVMA), and around 80% of visits were for checkups or preventive care (AVMA). The average visit cost $147 in 2024 against $190 in 2023 (AVMA); a dog visit averaged $214 (AVMA). Household veterinary spending fell 4% from 2023 (AVMA), to $580 a year for dog households and $433 for cat households (AVMA), and 22.8% of dog owners with no veterinary spending said the pet did not need a checkup (AVMA). Less than 15% of dog owners, but over a quarter of cat owners, spent nothing on the vet in a typical year (AVMA). Owners were happy with the people but not the bill: only 28.2% were extremely satisfied with the cost of their last visit (AVMA). In the AVMA's 2017-2018 sourcebook, dog households had averaged 2.4 visits a year (AVMA) and spent $410 (AVMA).
Cost is the main barrier. In the 2018 Access to Veterinary Care Coalition survey of 5,652 U.S. households, 27.9% had met a barrier to veterinary care in the past two years (AVCC, archived report); cost was the reason for 80.0% of those who could not get preventive care (AVCC) and 73.8% of those who could not get sick care (AVCC). In a PetSmart Charities-Gallup survey of 2,498 owners (November 2024 to January 2025), 73% of those who turned down care over cost had not been offered a cheaper option (Gallup), and one in three owners earning $90,000 or more who skipped care said they could not afford it (Gallup). Sixty-four percent said they could pay at least twice as much for lifesaving care with a one-year interest-free plan (Gallup). Gallup's fall 2025 survey of 933 veterinarians found 94% say clients' finances often or sometimes stop them providing recommended care (Gallup), Eighty-one percent recommend an alternative plan when a client declines (Gallup), and 64% start by offering several options (Gallup).
Insurance covers few pets. NAPHIA, the insurers' association, counts 4.27% of U.S. dogs and cats insured in 2025 (NAPHIA), premiums of about $5.7 billion (NAPHIA), an average accident-and-illness premium of $836 a year for a dog (NAPHIA), and cats at 25.1% of insured pets (NAPHIA). Trupanion builds awareness of its insurance mainly through the veterinary community, with field staff it calls Territory Partners who visit clinics (Trupanion 10-K).
What clients say they want is often communication. A JAVMA study of 318,693 U.S. client satisfaction surveys from 2018 to 2022 (JAVMA) found the loyalty score fell from 9.47 to 4.88 when clients did not report a personal interaction such as being addressed by name (JAVMA). In an online survey, 53.8% of owners said they would pay extra for more frequent updates while their pet was in hospital (Frontiers in Veterinary Science; one author works for a vendor that sells to practices). A 2025 survey of U.S. care-seekers found 54.7% distrusted their veterinarian (Frontiers in Veterinary Science), and 66.7% thought technicians could give care equivalent to a veterinarian's (Frontiers in Veterinary Science). VCA told investors that owners choose a vet on location and hours, personal recommendations, fees and quality of care (VCA Inc. 10-K), a company view, not a survey.
How do pet owners look for pet health information online?
Most look online, but they still trust the vet more, and few use social media for it. In the PetSmart Charities-Gallup study fielded from November 2024 to January 2025, 44% of U.S. dog and cat owners said they consult online resources for their pet's health (Gallup). In a 2022 survey of 2,117 dog and cat owners in Austria, Denmark and the UK, 31.7% never looked online before a consultation (Frontiers in Veterinary Science); among those who did, 35.0% used veterinary practice websites (Frontiers in Veterinary Science) and only 18.5% social media (Frontiers in Veterinary Science), with 26% of UK owners against 12% in Denmark (Frontiers in Veterinary Science). Practice websites ranked among the most-used sources in the same 2022 study, at 35.0% (Frontiers in Veterinary Science). Just 12% had ever disagreed with their vet because of something they read online (Frontiers in Veterinary Science).
Other studies, mostly outside the U.S., find the same pattern:
UK owners named the internet (78.6%) ahead of their vet as their most-used source in a 2018 study (Veterinary Record), yet 49.6% said their vet had never recommended a website (Veterinary Record).
In Australia in 2018, 81.1% of 228 owners recruited on social media used websites for pet health information (Australian Veterinary Journal), and about one half said online information had affected whether they took the pet to the vet (Australian Veterinary Journal).
In Rio de Janeiro, 74.7% of 166 owners searched online for animal health information in a 2026 study (Frontiers in Digital Health).
In a U.S. national survey of 4,830 owners published in January 2025, 62.9% of dog owners were classed as trusting their veterinarian (JAVMA), and the vet was the main source of vaccine information for 85.4% of high-trust dog owners (JAVMA).
In a 2022 study, visitors to one vet-written pet health site in Portuguese said cost kept 17.7% of them from a vet (Topics in Companion Animal Medicine).
Veterinarians are wary of it. In a 2022 study, 48.8% of small animal vets in Austria, Denmark and the UK estimated that 40 to 79% of their clients look things up online (Animals), and 70-80% said clients occasionally question their advice because of it (Animals). 68% of Australian vets surveyed by 2018 thought most clients misunderstand what they read online (Australian Veterinary Journal), and 56% reported a negative effect on the relationship (Australian Veterinary Journal). In early 2017, 40% of UK vets said the internet harms companion animal health (Frontiers in Veterinary Science). In a study published in October 2026, 68% of 201 participants preferred ChatGPT's answers to owners' questions over a veterinarian's (Frontiers in Veterinary Science).
Online pet care information is getting better dated but stays hard to read. Only 10% of dog-care pages found on Google in 2014 carried a date, against 45% in 2021 (Veterinary Record). Owner-facing English-language pages on cruciate ligament surgery, collected in June 2025, read at a mean grade level of 10.7 (JAVMA), well above the sixth-grade target for health material. On 128 North American clinic pages about preventive care (a study published in 2024), just 6.4% of the text described benefits to the pet (JAVMA), though 58.0% of clients preferred benefit-focused wording (JAVMA). In a study published in 2026, of 177 randomly sampled U.S. small animal clinics, 88.7% had a website (Frontiers in Veterinary Science), and under 2% listed any prices.
What do pet health videos on YouTube and TikTok contain?
Veterinarians make about half of the useful ones, and influencers dominate the rest. A 2024 study of 99 YouTube videos on canine cancer found a median DISCERN quality score of 3 out of 5 (Veterinary and Comparative Oncology); 53% were made by veterinarians, whose videos scored higher on quality and understandability (Veterinary and Comparative Oncology), and 61% carried little or no misinformation (Veterinary and Comparative Oncology). Misinformation showed no statistical significance against views, likes or length (Veterinary and Comparative Oncology): accurate videos did not get more views. In a study published in May 2026, of the 50 most-engaged English-language TikTok videos on tick prevention for dogs and cats, 92% were made by non-veterinary influencers (Veterinary Record), over one-third contained paid promotion (Veterinary Record), and topical repellents were the most promoted products, at 33% (Veterinary Record). In 11,878 public posts about canine cancer, mostly from the U.S. (published September 2026), 66% were negative in sentiment (Veterinary and Comparative Oncology). We found no peer-reviewed study of YouTube videos on pet dental care, first aid or CPR.
When video is made for clients, trials report gains. In an eight-week randomised trial in Portugal (published 2023) of owners of dogs with atopic dermatitis, 93.75% of those shown an education video met the education goal, against 46.15% given verbal instructions (Veterinary Dermatology), though the trial was small. A Dutch intensive care unit's live video stream of hospitalised pets, from 2010 to 2013, left 72.4% of owners less anxious (Journal of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care). After an evidence-based social media campaign on feline osteoarthritis (published October 2026), the share of cat owners who knew it cannot be cured rose from 49.1% to 83% (Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery). At a New York oncology service, Fifty-eight percent of owners preferred discharge instructions with graphics over plain text (JAVMA), and Ninety-six percent filled in the survey on a smartphone (JAVMA). IDEXX sells practices online client-communication software such as Vello (IDEXX 10-K), and its sales and marketing expense was $643.5 million in 2025 (IDEXX 10-K).
Do veterinary practices use social media, and what does it cost them?
Most practices in the countries studied have a Facebook page, and online abuse comes with it. In a study published in 2022, about 90% of small animal practices in Denmark and the UK had a Facebook page, against 40% in Austria (Veterinary Record Open). In Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2023, 54.9% of 244 practices were on social media while 10.2% had a website (Frontiers in Veterinary Science). As early as 2010, 71% of early-career veterinarians in Ontario had a Facebook profile (JAVMA) and 21% of those profiles were public enough to expose clients (JAVMA).
Online abuse is common. 1 in 2 UK clinical vets experienced it in 2021 (British Veterinary Association), most often as unfair reviews, reported by 90% of those abused (BVA); those abused were three times as likely to expect to leave the profession, 29% against 9% (BVA), and women (45%) were hit more than men (BVA). In the AVMA's December 2014 survey, about one in five U.S. veterinarians had been a victim of cyberbullying or worked with someone who had (AVMA, archived), seven of 10 attacks came from former clients or staff, mostly on Facebook or Yelp (AVMA), and about half began within 72 hours of the incident (AVMA). In a 2026 VIN survey, 98.9% of veterinarians had faced client verbal abuse (American Journal of Veterinary Research) and 34.5% had considered leaving because of it (American Journal of Veterinary Research).
Can a veterinarian see a new patient by video?
In a minority of states, and only for a limited time. The AVMA reported in September 2025 that eight states and the District of Columbia let a veterinarian establish the veterinarian-client-patient relationship (VCPR) virtually, while 23 require an in-person exam (AVMA), and Forty states mirror the federal FDA wording that the vet must have seen the animal (AVMA). AVMA policy is that telemedicine should only be conducted within an existing veterinarian-client-patient relationship (AVMA).
State veterinary telehealth law
What it allows
Source
Florida, chapter 2024-260 (HB 849), in force 7/1/2024
New relationship only by live synchronous, audiovisual communication; telehealth-only prescriptions capped at 14 days (one month for flea and tick products); no controlled substances without an exam within the past year; the vet must name at least one physical veterinary clinic nearby
California AB 1399, CHAPTER 475, approved October 08, 2023
Prescriptions after a video-only VCPR for up to six months, against one year after an in-person exam; antimicrobials capped at 14 days; $25,000 per occurrence for dispensing on the internet without a good-faith exam
Few owners have tried it. In a survey published in 2024, 97.3% of 1,254 U.S. cat caregivers had never had a video telemedicine appointment, though 85.7% were interested (Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery), and 51.3% expected to pay a little less than for a clinic visit (Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery). In the PetSmart Charities-Gallup study of November 2024 to January 2025, only 8% of owners had ever had a telehealth visit (Gallup). In Europe, 12% of dog owners and 6% of cat owners had used veterinary telemedicine in 2022 (Veterinary Record). Practices that offered telehealth rose from 12% before the pandemic to 38% in spring 2020 in a survey of 93 U.S. vets (JAVMA). Where owners have used it, they like it: 85.7% of UK cat owners with experience in 2020 wanted practices to keep remote consultations (Veterinary Record), and in a U.S. and Canadian study published in 2025, 87.3% of cat caregivers in a randomised video-visit group initially preferred video to a clinic visit (Frontiers in Veterinary Science). Chewy launched its Connect with a Vet service in 2020 (Chewy 10-K) and says its pharmacy, veterinary and telehealth services face extensive regulation (Chewy 10-K); Elanco lists telemedicine among sales channels outside the clinic (Elanco 10-K).
What rules apply to veterinary ads, testimonials and reviews?
The same truth-in-advertising rules as any business, plus professional ethics and state practice acts. The main ones for a practice's video and reviews:
AVMA ethics. The AVMA's Principles of Veterinary Medical Ethics say Testimonials or endorsements are advertising and should be limited to verifiable claims (AVMA), and a veterinarian endorsing a product should publicly disclose any payment or ownership (AVMA). Medical records are confidential and released only by law or with client consent (AVMA).
FTC reviews rule. The Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials took effect on October 21, 2024 (FTC). Section 465.4 bans rewards conditioned on a positive or negative review (eCFR), 465.5 requires disclosure when staff or managers write reviews of their own business (eCFR), and 465.7 bans review suppression such as threats to get a review removed (eCFR). A knowing violation can cost up to $53,088 each (eCFR); the FTC kept that amount unchanged for 2026 (Federal Register).
FTC Endorsement Guides. The revised guides took effect on July 26, 2023 (Federal Register). Under 255.2, an owner's testimonial about results still needs substantiation (eCFR); under 255.3, an endorser presented as an expert, such as a veterinarian, must really have the expertise and use it (eCFR); and 255.5 requires disclosure of any material connection, including free products (eCFR).
Florida. The practice act makes advertising in a fraudulent, false, deceptive, or misleading manner grounds for discipline (Florida Statutes s. 474.214), with fines of up to $5,000 per count (Florida Statutes). Section 474.2165 makes what a client tells the veterinarian confidential (Florida Statutes), so a client's story in a video needs written authorization of the client or another legal basis (Florida Statutes).
Privacy. HIPAA does not apply to animals, so record privacy is set state by state (JAVMA). California bars disclosure without consent under Business and Professions Code sections 4831 and 4857 (JAVMA), while JAVMA found no apparent limit in Massachusetts' 256 CMR 5.01 (JAVMA).
Pet drug promotion online. FDA warned six firms in January 2025 over unapproved pet seizure drugs (FDA) sold through websites, social media and Amazon shops (FDA), and in December 2023 sent nine warning letters on unapproved antimicrobials, one to Chewy (FDA). Recipients get 15 days to respond (FDA). The newest letter on FDA's list of illegally marketed animal drugs is dated 08/04/2026 (FDA). FDA tells owners that a site selling prescription pet drugs without a valid prescription from a licensed veterinarian is breaking the law (FDA). Google Ads lets U.S. online pharmacies and telemedicine providers advertise only with LegitScript certification or NABP accreditation (Google).
Prescription portability. FTC staff put U.S. retail sales of dog and cat medications at $7.6 billion in 2013 (FTC staff report), citing a market research firm. Its 2012 workshop drew over 700 comments (FTC), over 580 of them from veterinarians and hospitals (FTC). In all 50 states veterinarians may dispense to patients under a valid VCPR (FTC). The Fairness to Pet Owners Act, first introduced as H.R. 1406 in 2011 (FTC), would require vets to give owners a written prescription at no extra cost (Office of Rep. Bilirakis); it has not become law.
In Florida, the regulator sees few cases. The Department of Business and Professional Regulation had 13,392 active veterinarian licences in fiscal 2023-24 (Florida DBPR), completed 1,758 inspections of veterinary establishments (Florida DBPR), and received 611 complaints (Florida DBPR), of which 20 found probable cause. The American Association of Veterinary State Boards counts about 30 jurisdictions with a veterinary technician on the licensing board (AVMA).
How hard is it to hire for a veterinary practice?
Hard enough that recruiting is a standing cost. AAHA found in 2022 that an associate veterinarian vacancy took more than 15 months to fill on average, and a credentialed technician vacancy almost 13 (AAHA). In AAHA's 2023 retention survey of 14,856 people (AAHA), 30% planned to leave their current role (AAHA). Listed companies name the shortage as a risk in their 10-Ks: Petco says shortages have at times made veterinarians hard to recruit (Petco 10-K), PetIQ that shortages may force higher wages (PetIQ 10-K), Inspire Veterinary Partners that shortages may force it to raise pay (Inspire 10-K), and Zoetis warns of shortages in veterinary healthcare workers (Zoetis 10-K). The wording dates back at least to VCA's fiscal 2003 10-K, when U.S. schools graduated about 2,100 veterinarians a year (VCA Inc. 10-K).
Supply is growing. Enrolment at U.S. veterinary colleges passed 16,000 in 2025 (AAVMC); the 2026 application cycle drew 13,174 applicants (AAVMC) who sent 80,028 applications (AAVMC). The AVMA counted 18,049 board-certified specialists at the end of 2024 (AVMA), including 1,016 in emergency and critical care (AVMA), 2,510 surgeons (AVMA), 3,866 in internal medicine (AVMA) and 256 veterinary dentists (AVMA). It had 108,016 members (AVMA). In 2019, before it stopped publishing the breakdown as text, it counted 74,554 private practice positions (AVMA), 49,600 of them companion-animal only (AVMA), and 17,067 in public and corporate jobs (AVMA).
Technicians are underpaid relative to what the profession thinks they should earn. NAVTA's 2022 survey of 1,886 technicians (January to March 2022) (NAVTA) found pay 25% above 2016 (NAVTA), an average of $26.50 an hour (NAVTA), One-third holding a second job (NAVTA) and average student debt of $29,700 among those with loans (NAVTA). AAHA respondents said technicians should earn $57,063 a year (AAHA), against the BLS median of $47,380. AAHA says about 15% of practices hold its accreditation (AAHA) and claims practices that fully use technicians see 36% more revenue (AAHA), without citing a study. Merck Animal Health's 2023 wellbeing study of 4,636 veterinarians (Merck Animal Health, which sells to practices) found 38% of clinics offered an employee assistance program (Merck Animal Health) and only 36% of teams discussed mental health openly (Merck Animal Health).
What the popular veterinary marketing numbers really say
Veterinary marketing agencies, software vendors and news stories repeat a small set of numbers. We traced each to the organization that produced it. Pages that repeat a claim are linked only as dated evidence of how it spread, never as a source for the number.
"86% (or 68%, or 62%) of pet owners find their vet online"
No pet-owner survey behind it has been published. An SEO agency tells practices that 86% of pet owners search Google before choosing a vet (W3Era); a statistics page says 68% (Marketing LTB); a veterinary marketing agency wrote in June 2026 that 62% say search decided their choice (Rise Marketing). None gives a sample or a date. The 62% and an "88% of mobile users" figure appear in a July 2025 post by LifeLearn, which sells websites to practices: it said 62% of pet owners were influenced by search (LifeLearn) and that its 88% figure came from examining "patterns similar to Google and Ipsos' past studies" (LifeLearn), with no sample, dates or questions. The matching original is Google's May 2014 study with Ipsos and Purchased of general U.S. consumers in nine categories, none of them pets: 4 in 5 used search engines to find local information (Google), 88% of smartphone searchers ran local searches (Google), and 50% of smartphone local searchers visited a store within a day (Google). Those figures describe shoppers in general in 2014, not pet owners choosing a vet.
Use instead: the PetSmart Charities-Gallup finding that 44% of U.S. dog and cat owners consult online resources about their pet's health. The closest survey of choosing a practice comes from a vendor and covers other countries: in Vetstoria's 2026 survey of 2,000 pet owners in the UK and Australia, 73% often or always check reviews before choosing a practice (Vetstoria, which sells online booking to practices) and 29% had decided against a clinic because of its website (Vetstoria).
"Americans spend $41 billion a year on vet care"
It is an industry estimate that includes products, and the government's figures are higher. A statistics site says $41.0 billion "was spent just on veterinary care" in 2025 (World Animal Foundation); another says Americans spent $41.0 billion on care and products from veterinary services (Capital One Shopping), as does a third ($41.0 billion, Capital One Shopping research page). The number is the American Pet Products Association's "Vet Care & Product Sales" line, $41.0 Billion in 2025 (APPA), one of four lines in its pet industry total. APPA's own note says it rests on a Packaged Facts estimate built from industry relationships and Simmons consumer research (APPA). APPA, the pet-products trade association, changed its method in 2020: its June 2019 page put 2018 "Vet Care" at $18.11 billion (APPA, archived), repeated in the trade press as $18.11 billion spent on veterinary care (Veterinary Practice News), and its June 2020 page restated the series and put 2019 at $29.3 billion (APPA, archived). The series before and after cannot be compared.
Use instead: a figure that says what it counts. Households told the BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey they spent $49,690 million on veterinary services in 2025 (BLS), though that survey moves a lot from year to year: $26,288 million in 2022 (BLS). Employer veterinary practices took in $62.8 billion in the 2022 Economic Census (U.S. Census Bureau), against $41.7 billion in 2017 (U.S. Census Bureau), and $73.2 billion in 2024 in the Annual Integrated Economic Survey (U.S. Census Bureau), up from $46.9 billion in 2019 (U.S. Census Bureau). Practice receipts include every client, insurers and businesses as well as households. APPA's 2025 line was $8.7 billion below the BLS household figure (our calculation). Pet medications are counted separately again: a market research estimate cited by PetIQ put 2022 U.S. retail pet medication sales at $12.1 billion (PetIQ 10-K, citing Packaged Facts), and PetIQ put the veterinary services industry at $36.8 billion in 2022 from the same firm (PetIQ 10-K). APPA's 2019-2020 owner survey had dog owners reporting $426 a year on surgical vet visits (APPA).
"Adding video to reminder emails raises clicks by 300%"
No veterinary measurement exists; the numbers are general email-marketing figures from 2009 and 2013. An email software vendor says video raises email click rates by 300% (Mailmodo), a claim veterinary email guides lean on. The oldest source of the "two to three times" form is Forrester's May 2009 report, which drew it from interviews with marketing executives and counted animated GIFs and clickable screenshots of video as "video" (two to three times, Forrester). GetResponse reported in December 2009 that its customers' emails with video had 96.38% higher click-through (GetResponse), with no control for who sent them, and Adestra found that "video" in a subject line went with 18.5% higher open rates in 2013 (Adestra), a correlation. These match our traces on the video advertising and mortgage pages.
"The U.S. will be short 15,000 veterinarians by 2030"
It is one company's projection for pet care only, and it has been both raised and disputed. A TV station headlined that the U.S. will be short 15,000 veterinarians by 2030 (FOX 17), and public radio repeated nearly 15,000 (Wisconsin Public Radio). The source is Mars Veterinary Health, which owns Banfield, VCA and BluePearl: its 2021-22 study page said nearly 41,000 more companion-animal veterinarians would be needed by 2030, leaving a gap of nearly 15,000 (Mars Veterinary Health). An August 2023 update for Mars by economist James Lloyd gave a range of 14,000 to 24,000 (Mars Veterinary Health, archived), and Mars's current page quotes only the top, 24,000 (Mars Veterinary Health). An AVMA-commissioned analysis by Brakke Consulting found in October 2024 that graduates of existing colleges are likely enough to meet demand to 2035 (AVMA, archived), while a June 2024 paper published by the AAVMC projected a need for 70,092 new veterinarians through 2032 against 52,926 graduates (AAVMC).
Use instead: the range, with who produced each number. The observable facts are hiring delays (more than 15 months for an associate vacancy in AAHA's 2022 survey) and BLS's 3,100 veterinarian openings a year.
"68% of clients leave because they feel the practice doesn't care"
It is a 1960s manufacturing survey, not a veterinary one. A broker-marketing site credits a "Rockefeller Corporation" study with 68% (BrokerMentor); a survey-software vendor credits a 2008 Australian academic with 68% (Customer Thermometer). The veterinary trade press told practices in 2007 that "it has been said" 69 percent leave because of indifference (dvm360). We found no Rockefeller study. The earliest print form we found is a company newsletter of February 1, 1964, which reported a Canadian Manufacturers' Association survey of "many industries" in which, of every 100 lost customers, 68 left because of indifference (Amco News, via DigitalNC); its sample and dates were not given. By 1995 a trade magazine had widened it to 68% who quit over "discourtesy, poor service, or indifference" (lawn care trade article).
Use instead: evidence from veterinary clients. In Vetstoria's 2026 UK and Australian survey, cost was the main reason clients looked to change clinics, at 32% (Vetstoria); the JAVMA client-survey study above links personal interaction to much higher loyalty scores.
"Half of America's 87 million pet owners have given up on vet care"
The half is real but narrower, and the 87 million is not from the study. A finance site headlined that half of America's 87 million pet owners had decided against vet treatment (Moneywise). Gallup's April 2025 report for PetSmart Charities found 52% of U.S. dog and cat owners skipped or declined needed care in the past year: 37% went to the vet but declined at least one recommendation and 15% did not go (Gallup). 71% of them cited cost (Gallup). The study covers dog and cat owners only.
We started from the questions people search for about veterinary video statistics and looked for the organization that actually produced each answer. Every figure on this page sits in an evidence ledger with its source, the exact table or paragraph it came from, the measurement period, the population measured, and the date we checked it. This edition holds 406 figures from 69 publishers.
On November 1, 2026, each sourced figure on this page was re-fetched with the fetch cache cleared and matched against the recorded wording: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (through the BLS data API), Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages open data and the Occupational Outlook Handbook (through Internet Archive copies, because bls.gov refuses automated requests); Census County Business Patterns, Nonemployer Statistics, the 2017 and 2022 Economic Census and the Annual Integrated Economic Survey (through the Census data API); the AVMA, AAHA, NAVTA, AAVMC and Merck Animal Health pages and surveys (AVMA pages through Internet Archive copies); the American Pet Products Association, NAPHIA, the Access to Veterinary Care Coalition and Gallup's studies for PetSmart Charities; the 10-K filings of IDEXX, Zoetis, Elanco, Chewy, Petco, PetIQ, Tractor Supply, Trupanion, Patterson, Inspire Veterinary Partners and VCA on SEC EDGAR; FTC consent orders, the FTC's reviews rule and Endorsement Guides in the eCFR and Federal Register, and FDA warning letters; the Florida, California, Washington, South Carolina and Rhode Island statutes and bills; peer-reviewed studies through PubMed and the journals' own pages; and the pages behind each popular claim. The homepage figures are our own measurement on the same day, described in the first section. We left out a corporate-ownership estimate in a working paper we could not open, an AVMA cyberbullying figure we could not find on any AVMA page, and AVMA's 2025 breakdown of veterinarians by practice type, which it publishes only as an image.
We only cite the producer: government agencies, regulators, company filings and official posts, and the survey owner's own report. We do not cite statistics roundups, Statista-style aggregators, or salary sites without a public method. We did not bypass paywalls or sign-up forms; where a full report was gated, we used only the figures its publisher states publicly.
Figures marked "our calculation" are arithmetic on the cited numbers, and anyone can reproduce them:
3531 Overpass elements -> 3530 with a usable URL -> minus 25 on directory/social hosts {'vetstreet.com': 11, 'facebook.com': 11, 'idexx.com': 1, 'vetsfirstchoice.com': 1, 'vetstoria.com': 1} -> one row per registrable host = 3011
85 / 353 readable homepages with video_player = true in homepages.csv; rule: video player: a <video> element or player iframe/placeholder (YouTube, Vimeo, Wistia, Vidyard, Brightcove, Loom, Facebook video ...) at least 150x80 px, or a labelled click-to-play control or hidden player embed
69 / 353 readable homepages with video_self_hosted = true in homepages.csv; rule: video player that is a native <video> element (file served by the site or its site builder/CDN, incl. background videos)
13 / 353 readable homepages with video_embedded = true in homepages.csv; rule: video player from a third-party host (YouTube, Vimeo, Wistia, Facebook, TikTok ...)
41 / 353 readable homepages with youtube_channel_link = true in homepages.csv; rule: link to a YouTube channel or handle (not a single video; template placeholders excluded)
174 / 353 readable homepages with instagram_link = true in homepages.csv; rule: link to an Instagram profile (template placeholders such as instagram.com/wix excluded)
239 / 353 readable homepages with online_booking_or_request = true in homepages.csv; rule: online booking or appointment request: a link/button labelled book/schedule (online, now, today, [a/your] [word] appointment/visit/consultation/exam), request (an) appointment, appointment request, make an appointment or online scheduling/booking (not "call to schedule", not emergency-appointment info, not mailto/tel), or an appointment URL path (book-online, request-appointment, schedule-appointment ...), or a third-party booking tool
109 / 353 readable homepages with online_booking_tool = true in homepages.csv; rule: third-party online booking/scheduling tool: a link, button or iframe to a scheduling vendor (PetDesk, Vetstoria, Vetstreet, AllyDVM, PetsApp, Vetspire, ezyVet, Shepherd, Digitail, VitusVet, Covetrus Connect, IDEXX/Petly, Otto, Rhapsody, Weave, Calendly, Acuity, Square ...), a widget request to a widget-only vendor (e.g. Vetstoria), or a booking-labelled link to any other third-party host
38 / 353 readable homepages with new_client_offer = true in homepages.csv; rule: new-client offer text anywhere in the page text: new client/patient/pet special, offer, discount, deal, package or promotion; a $ price within a few words of "new client(s)/patient(s)"; a % off or special on the first visit/exam; or a free/complimentary first exam, office visit, wellness exam or consultation
247 / 353 readable homepages with pet_portal_or_app = true in homepages.csv; rule: pet portal, practice app or online pharmacy/store: page text naming an online pharmacy/store/shop, a pet/client portal, "our app"/"download our app", or PetDesk, Vetstreet, AllyDVM, PetsApp, Vetsource, Vets First Choice/Covetrus, VitusVet, Petly; or a link to those vendors, an app store, or an online pharmacy/store/portal
186 / 353 readable homepages with careers_link = true in homepages.csv; rule: link labelled careers, jobs, join our team, now hiring, employment or work with us, or a link to a /careers, /jobs, /employment or /join-our-team path
149 / 353 readable homepages with emergency_or_24h = true in homepages.csv; rule: emergency or 24-hour care in the page text: 24 hours/24-7/open 24, emergency care/services/hospital/medicine/clinic, emergency & specialty/critical care, urgent care, or after-hours care (mentions such as "for emergencies call ..." count when they use one of those phrases)
21 / 353 readable homepages with corporate_group = true in homepages.csv; rule: corporate group shown: the host is a corporate or venture-backed chain (VCA, Banfield, BluePearl, Thrive, Vetco, Veterinary Emergency Group, MedVet, Bond Vet, Small Door, Modern Animal, Petfolk, LOVET, Urgent Vet, GoodVets, Sploot, CityVet, Chewy Vet Care ...), or the page text names a consolidator (NVA, Mission Pet Health, Southern Veterinary Partners, PetVet Care Centers, Ethos, AmeriVet, Encore, Heart + Paw, VetCor, IVC Evidensia ...), or says it is a member/part of a named veterinary group, family or network
This edition contains no Mark Studios customer data.
Limitations
Our homepage sample comes from a volunteer map. OpenStreetMap covers practices someone mapped with a website, so the shares describe that sample, not every U.S. practice; one chain website counts once however many hospitals it serves.
Nobody measures what video does for a veterinary practice. We found no study linking practice video to new clients or bookings; the email and conversion figures marketers use come from other industries.
Consolidation counts are estimates. The Census concentration shares are the only government measure, and they stop at 2022; the counts of consolidator-owned hospitals come from companies with a stake in the market.
Several surveys come from organizations with an interest. APPA represents the pet-products industry, NAPHIA pet insurers, Merck Animal Health and Vetstoria sell to practices, and Mars owns hospitals; each is named beside its figure.
Many studies of owners online are from outside the U.S. Surveys from the UK, Austria, Denmark, Australia and Brazil are labelled with their country.
Vet spending estimates measure different things. APPA's line includes products, BLS counts household spending only, and Census counts all practice receipts, so they should not be compared as one series.
How to cite this page
For a single figure, cite the original publisher named next to it, and link here if the verification trail is useful to your readers. Each figure has its own anchor, so you can link straight to it, for example https://www.markstudios.com/research/veterinary-video-statistics#WRK-060. To cite the page as a whole:
Mark Studios. "Veterinary Video Statistics." Last verified Nov 1, 2026. https://www.markstudios.com/research/veterinary-video-statistics
APA
Mark Studios. (2026, November 1). Veterinary video statistics. https://www.markstudios.com/research/veterinary-video-statistics
MLA
“Veterinary Video Statistics.” Mark Studios, 1 Nov. 2026, www.markstudios.com/research/veterinary-video-statistics.
Chicago
Mark Studios. “Veterinary Video Statistics.” Last modified November 1, 2026. https://www.markstudios.com/research/veterinary-video-statistics.
BibTeX
@misc{markstudios_veterinary_video_statistics_2026,
author = {{Mark Studios}},
title = {{Veterinary Video Statistics}},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
url = {https://www.markstudios.com/research/veterinary-video-statistics},
note = {Last verified 2026-11-01}
}
Our calculations and the evidence table are free to reuse with attribution and a link to this page. Each underlying figure remains the claim of its original publisher, and some publishers ask for a link when their figures are reused.
Lawn care trade magazine (article by the owner of Andrews and Associates), via Michigan State University Turfgrass Information Center, Marketing article, April 1995 (archived PDF) (1995-04). Accessed 2026-11-01.
We re-verify every figure quarterly and when a major source publishes a new edition. The next scheduled review is February 2027. Corrections go to contact@markstudios.com.
Nov 1, 2026: First published with 406 figures from 69 publishers, each checked against its original source.
Nov 1, 2026: The staffing takeaway now says the 1.54 technicians per veterinarian comes from BLS industry data for veterinary practices (116,050 to 75,160), not from the all-employer job totals beside it (131,400 to 91,100, about 1.44).
Frequently asked questions
How many veterinary websites have video?
In our November 1, 2026 read of 353 U.S. veterinary practice homepages drawn at random from OpenStreetMap, 24.1% showed a video player. Most were muted background loops: 18.4% of homepages played one, and only 2.8% embedded a YouTube player.
How many veterinarians are there in the U.S.?
BLS counted about 91,100 veterinarian jobs in 2025, including the self-employed, and projects 9 percent growth to 2035. Wage and salary veterinarians held 83,900 jobs in May 2025, at a median annual wage of $130,100.
How many veterinary practices are owned by corporations?
No government source counts them directly. The Census Bureau's 2022 Economic Census shows firms with 25 or more locations running 6,541 veterinary establishments and the four largest firms taking 22.4% of receipts. Company estimates put consolidator-owned hospitals at around 6,000 in early 2022.
Are vet visits going down?
Yes, by IDEXX's count. It reported U.S. same-store clinical visits down 2.3% in 2022, 0.5% in 2023 and about 2% in both 2024 and 2025, while practice revenue kept rising on higher prices.
Can a veterinarian prescribe after a video visit?
In some states. AVMA counted eight states and the District of Columbia that allow a virtual start to the relationship in September 2025. Florida allows it only by live audio-video and limits telehealth-only prescriptions to 14 days for most drugs; California allows six months.
Can a vet clinic use client testimonials in video?
Yes, if they are truthful and the client agrees. The AVMA treats testimonials as advertising, Florida makes client information confidential without written authorization, and the FTC's reviews rule allows penalties of up to $53,088 per violation for fake or bought reviews.
Do pet owners look for vets online?
Many look for pet health information online: 44% of U.S. dog and cat owners consult online resources, Gallup found. The 86% and 88% figures marketing sites quote have no published pet-owner survey behind them.
Does video increase veterinary bookings?
No published study measures it. The email figures marketers quote, such as two to three times more clicks or 18.5% more opens, come from general email marketing in 2009 and 2013. In one small trial, 93.75% of dog owners shown an education video met the education goal, against 46.15% given verbal instructions.
