Stats from the Veterinary Industry Tracker powered by Vetsource and AVMA
March 17–23, 2024
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, year-over-year pet food inflation for February 2024 was 2.6%—a 2.2% drop from January’s 4.8%. But, pet food prices are still 22.5% higher than they were in February 2021.
Have higher pet food prices forced some pet owners to switch foods? Multiple recent surveys have revealed that most pet owners have chosen to continue feeding their pets the same food, despite higher prices.
- An August 2023 Beneo survey of 2,500 pet owners in the U.S., Brazil, the U.K., Germany, and China found that 90% of respondents believed pet food prices had increased in the past year, but less than 17% said they had switched to a less expensive pet food as a result.
- A January 2024 Packaged Facts survey of U.S. pet owners found that 17% of dog owners and 19% of cat owners had switched to a lower-priced name-brand pet food in the past 12 months, while 15% of dog owners and 9% of cat owners had switched to a less expensive store-brand food. However, 34% of dog owners and 44% of cat owners had switched to a more expensive food in the past year.
- A Cleveland Research Co. survey of U.S. pet owners in Q4 2023 revealed that nearly 70% of respondents had noticed an increase in pet food prices, but only 17% had switched to less expensive foods because of the rising prices.
Could pet food prices reach a point where consumer loyalty is more drastically affected?
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| +3.9% Revenue YoY (Last Week) |
-1.3% Visits YoY (Last Week) |
Year-over-year revenue and visits fell slightly last week compared to the week prior. Revenue dipped to 3.9% from 4.9%, and visits declined to -1.3% from -0.2% the previous week.
 -2.6%Heartworm YoY |
 +3.4%Flea/Tick YoY |
| +4.8% Services YoY |
+1.3% Products YoY |
Year-over-year parasiticide protection also dropped last week, with heartworm protection at -2.6% and flea/tick protection at 3.4%, declines from -1.9% and 5.4% respectively the week prior. Year-over-year revenue from services was 4.8%, a drop from the previous week’s 5.9%, and year-over-year revenue from products fell to 1.3% from 1.9%.
| +5.2% Revenue YoY (Last 12 Months) |
-2.0% Visits YoY (Last 12 Months) |
The rolling 14-day trendline shows revenue and visits steadily climbing since mid-February.
| 5,423 Practices |
2.1M Revenue per Practice (Last 12 Months) |
10.5K Visits per Practice (Last 12 Months) |
Last week, North Carolina and Iowa were once again the only states showing positive year-over-year visits growth at 0.9% and 0.2% respectively. North Carolina showed the most growth in year-over-year revenue at 9.3%, with New Hampshire following closely behind at 8.5%.
*Numbers are subject to change based on data availability and PIMS adjustments.
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