{"id":2061,"date":"2026-03-22T23:36:31","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T23:36:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/?p=2061"},"modified":"2026-03-22T23:36:31","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T23:36:31","slug":"pricier-vet-care-fewer-visits-but-still-many-11000-surgeries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/?p=2061","title":{"rendered":"Pricier vet care: Fewer visits but still many $11,000 surgeries"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

It\u2019s exceedingly expensive to own a pet, prompting owners to delay veterinary visits or reconsider adopting one in the first place. Yet, animal health companies\u2019 earnings keep growing.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s down to the unwavering love between owners and their pets.<\/p>\n

While some owners might extend the time between their pets\u2019 annual wellness visits to save money, they\u2019ll shell out when their darling is truly sick or hurt, and that care is often the most expensive \u2014 and lucrative.<\/p>\n

Last year, Matthew Joseph, a 41-year-old New Yorker, spent $11,000 on lifesaving spleen surgery for his now 14-year-old pooch Frankie. \u201cThe amount that we spend on Frankie, you could probably buy a Hyundai, or finance one at least.\u201d<\/p>\n

Animal diagnostic testing and pharmaceutical companies like IDEXX Laboratories, Inc., Zoetis Inc. and Elanco Animal Health Inc., along with pet store companies like Petco Health & Wellness Co. and Chewy, Inc. are reaping the benefits.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pet-care costs have been rising faster than overall inflation. The consumer price index for all urban consumers increased 2.4% in February from a year earlier, while pet services \u2014 including veterinary care \u2014 jumped 5.1%, according\u00a0to data\u00a0from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.<\/p>\n

Total vet visits declined 3% in the fourth quarter of last year, marking the 16th straight quarter of declines, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Ann-Hunter van Kirk wrote in a note, adding there\u2019s only low correlation with the performance of pharmaceutical pet companies. Last month, vet visits fell 1.7% year-over-year, according to data provided by Vetsource.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople in a down economy, they may not be taking their pet to the vet quite as often as they need to, but they also still know the main things that they need to do \u2014 those maintenance therapies \u2014 and they\u2019re still doing that,\u201d van Kirk said in an interview.<\/p>\n

Pet owners are still spending, Zoetis Chief Financial Officer Wetteny Joseph said at the Leerink Global Healthcare Conference on March 9, specifically for visits that incur \u201chigher prices\u201d such as emergency hospital visits.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Essential Visits Only<\/p>\n

Andi Lichtenfeld \u2013 who, like most owners, doesn\u2019t have pet insurance \u2013 only takes her two dogs, three-year-olds Marilyn and Wayne, to the vet for emergencies, or when they don\u2019t seem like themselves. The 37-year-old says this is similar to how she treats herself; if she\u2019s sick, she goes to the doctor. For their vaccines, Lichtenfeld takes them to Petco.<\/p>\n

Petco shares surged 35% on March 12 after the company\u2019s\u00a0forecast\u00a0beat estimates, although its revenue is still pressured as it works to turn around operations.<\/p>\n

IDEXX\u2019s long-term growth should be fueled by \u201cheightened spending by younger consumers and increased pet life expectancy that requires more expensive care,\u201d according to BI\u2019s van Kirk.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of these companies don\u2019t expect the macro dynamic to change in 2026,\u201d Jefferies analyst Keith Devas said, but \u201cwe saw over the last 18 months that the vet visit trends are not very correlated to these companies\u2019 results.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lack of correlation between declining vet visits and related companies\u2019 earnings speaks to the growing humanization of our furry friends.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As pets have moved \u201cfrom the yard to the kitchen into the bedroom,\u201d owners\u2019 bonds deepen and their willingness to spend increases, said Harold Herzog, professor emeritus at Western Carolina University, who studies the psychology behind human-animal interactions.<\/p>\n

Treating pets like family has accelerated as more people delay or forgo having children due to cost or personal choice, said Ingrid Tague, a professor at the University of Denver who has written a book about pets in British history. \u201cThe more we treat them as people, the more we get caught up in that same kind of consumerist cycle that we have for ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

For example, pet food used to just be kibble and canned meat, but now includes foods humans could salivate over \u2014 ribeyes, salmon fillets and flamboyant multicolored cakes fit for a child\u2019s birthday party.<\/p>\n

That explains why many pet owners are willing to stomach rising costs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would never use the word expensive because to me the ROI is better than anything else I would spend,\u201d Joseph said, noting Frankie\u2019s \u201cunconditional love and companionship.\u201d<\/p>\n

#Pricier #vet #care #visits #surgeries<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s exceedingly expensive to own a pet, prompting owners to delay veterinary visits or reconsider…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[245],"tags":[1631,4863,4864,4866,2997,4865],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2061"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2061\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}