Stats from the Veterinary Industry Tracker powered by Vetsource and AVMA
July 13-19, 2025
At the 2025 VetPartners Mid-Year Conference [1] in Washington, D.C., AVMA economists Katelyn McCullock and Christopher Doherty, DVM, CBV, MBA, presented a cautious economic outlook for the veterinary profession. Despite economists forecasting a recession for the past three years, one has yet to materialize — though warning signs persist.
According to McCullock and Dr. Doherty, the U.S. consumer price index rose 2.7% in May 2025, while veterinary service prices jumped 5.7%. Veterinary visits declined 3% year-over-year, although revenue remained stable, growing at 2.2% — suggesting rising prices are offsetting the decline in visits. Meanwhile, the profession continues to feel pressure from broader economic indicators, such as an inverted yield curve (occurs when short-term interest rates are higher than long-term interest rates on government bonds) and declining home prices.
Pet ownership remains strong, with 89.7 million dogs and 73.8 million cats in the U.S., and nearly 70% of pet owners visited a veterinarian in 2024. However, veterinary incomes have stagnated when adjusted for inflation, and work hours are returning to pre-pandemic norms.
New graduate data is encouraging: 60.4% of 2024 veterinary graduates entered full-time practice, and the debt-to-income ratio held steady at 1.4. Profession-wide, satisfaction remains relatively high, with over 70% of veterinarians reporting satisfaction with their jobs, lifestyle, and compensation.
While pet population growth provides long-term optimism, the session’s key message was clear: Economic headwinds are building, and veterinary leaders should prepare for continued uncertainty.
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| +1.7% Revenue YoY (Last Week) |
-2.1% Visits YoY (Last Week) |
Year-over-year veterinary industry revenue and visits dropped last week compared to the week prior. Revenue was 1.7%, a decline from the previous week’s 2.3%, while visits fell from -1.7% to -2.1%.
 -6.2%Heartworm YoY |
-4.8% Flea/Tick YoY |
 +2.6%Services YoY |
-1.2% Products YoY |
Last week, parasiticide purchases continued to fall. Year-over-year heartworm was -6.2%, and flea/tick was -4.8%, changes from -4.9% and -4.4% respectively the week prior. Year-over-year service revenue was 2.6%, a slight drop from the previous week’s 3.1%, and product revenue fell from -0.4% to -1.2%.
| +2.0% Revenue YoY (Last 12 Months) |
-3.1% Visits YoY (Last 12 Months) |
The rolling 14-day trendline showed a steady climb in revenue and visits since early July.
| 6,170 Practices |
2.2M Revenue per Practice (Last 12 Months) |
10.2K Visits per Practice (Last 12 Months) |
Maine again saw the highest year-over-year revenue growth last week at 6.2%, while Maryland was a distant second at 5.0%. Oregon and Iowa experienced the smallest declines in year-over-year visits at -0.1% and -0.6% respectively.
*Numbers are subject to change based on data availability and PIMS adjustments.
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