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Packaged Facts Commentary

Packaged Facts reports on a variety of topics that impact pets and the veterinary industry and now reports from their Packaged Facts’ U.S. Pet Market Outlook 2023-2024 (April 2023).

Usage Rates for Veterinary Services

MRI-Simmons data show a decline in 2022 in the share of dog or cat owners who use veterinary services, or more specifically in those making “veterinary visits” in the last 12 months.

Among dog or cat owners overall, the percent using vet services rose from 74%-75% in 2013-2016, to 76%-78% for 2017-2019, and then spiked to 85% for 2020 and 2021, in the wake of COVID-19. For 2022, however, these data show the percentage of dog or cat owners falling back to 71%. This same general pattern holds across the board – for those with dogs but not cats, with cats without dogs, or with dogs as well as cats.

M/A/R/C Research Commentary

M/A/R/C Research conducted an online surveys among 1,300+ US pet owners in August of 2022 to better understand the current state of pet purchasing, vet care, and economic impact in a post-pandemic environment.

Vet appointments have moved back into the clinic, with most reporting similar quality of care as before. Pet owners were asked as series of questions including:

When thinking about your last veterinarian visit, what type of visit was this?
And what was the reason for the last veterinarian visit?
Additionally, how has the amount of care that your pet received changed since the last veterinarian visit? My pet(s) are receiving…at the vet
And finally for your next veterinarian appointment, how open would you be to see a veterinary technician or nurse for the visit?

ITR Economics Outlook

ITR Economics CEO, Brian Beaulieu and team share an outlook on the economy and how it might impact the animal health industry providing business leaders with economic information, insight, analysis, and strategy. ITR Economics is the oldest privately held, continuously operating economic research and consulting firm in the US.

In this quarterly updated slide ITR Economics looks at the monthly change in Veterinary Expenditures compared to overall Retail Sales over the past two decades. Veterinary expenditure rate of change has remained stronger than the retail sector though falling over the last several months and generally has lagged on major changes.

Should you have questions regarding the trends in expenditures, we recommend you contact an Account Executive at ITR Economics to assist. They can be reached at itr@itreconomics.com.

Monthly commentary (click to view)

For the YTD ending April 30, 2023, year over year reporting produced primarily positive YTD results among the respective categories. Core and Lifestyle vaccine indices for canine and feline patients were at +3.7% growth across the 32,000+ practices and shelter locations in the Animalytix Marketplace. YTD Kennel Cough vaccine purchases, which provide a measure of the pet mobility, were at +11.4% growth. Purchases of chronic care medications and surgical consumables were +1.1% and +0.9% respectively while parasiticide growth at +0.0% YTD compared to PYTD.

Among the VetWatch™ Bellwether reporting zones for Core/Lifestyle Vaccine Purchase growth vs PYTD, the Milwaukee, WI zone leads all markets with +10.1% growth. Growth for the Baltimore, MD zone performance was notable at +9.5% while Phoenix, AZ was the laggard in the group at (-7.7%) growth vs PYTD.

1 Select your zone from the map below.

*Map displays YTD Core & Lifestyle Vaccines sales courtesy of Animalytix

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Data last updated May 08 with YTD results through April 30.

2 Select a category below to see year to date category growth %'s.

Core & Lifestyle Vaccines
Kennel Cough
Chronic
Canine/Feline F/T/HW Parasiticides
Surgical
*The VetWatch sample reflects 32,000+ small animal practices and shelters including mixed and miscellaneous practices as well as emergency, rescue, spay and neuter hospitals in the US.

The next update will be scheduled after Dec. 1st. Enjoy the holidays!

Monthly commentary (click to view)

This week’s totals for reported parasiticide purchases across all segments year to date through the week ending March 6, are ahead of 2020 results by an extremely robust +12.2% among the 32,000+ practices and shelter locations in the Animalytix Marketplace. The most significant YOY change in the market is the +49.7% growth in the canine combination flea and heartworm products (e.g. specifically Simparica Trio), as substitution continues to occurring at the expense of products from the canine flea and tick preventatives which are experiencing a decline softening decline of (-1.9%) YTD. Canine heartworm preventatives purchases moved ahead of 2020’s record strong sales for the same period, posting growth of +2.6%. Feline flea and heartworm preventatives are now ahead of last year at a robust +8.8% growth.

Among the leading “Bellwether” parasiticide market zones, Greenville, SC now leads with +32.0% growth in total parasiticide purchases followed by Philadelphia, PA at +31.8%. Among the lagging “Bellwether” zones is Los Angeles, CA at +1.9% versus the same YTD period in 2020 bringing all “Bellwether” parasiticide market zones into the positive YTD.

1 Select your zone from the map below.

*Map displays YTD Canine/Feline F/T/HW Parasiticide sales courtesy of Animalytix

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2 Select a category below to see year to date category growth %'s.

Canine Flea/Tick
Canine Heartworm
Canine Flea & Heartworm Combos
Feline Flea / Heartworm
*The VetWatch sample reflects 32,000+ small animal practices and shelters including mixed and miscellaneous practices as well as emergency, rescue, spay and neuter hospitals in the US.

Monthly commentary (click to view)

For the month ending April 30, 2023, aggregate YTD practice revenues are at +6.7% net growth versus YTD 2023 for the ~3,000 reporting practices. Period performance growth in unique patients(pets) is at (-1.2%). Unique client and invoice growth posted (-1.1%) and (-1.1%) growth respectively vs PYTD results.

Among the listed “Bellwether” market zones, Greenville, SC lead with +16.0% YTD revenue growth while unique patient growth was at +1.9%. Los Angeles, CA was notable among the laggard zones, finishing at +2.7% revenue growth and (-4.5%) growth in unique patients vs PYTD.

1 Select your zone from the map below.

Map displays YTD total hospital revenue courtesy of Animal Care Technologies
*Indicates Merged Zone Group

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Unique patients (pets)
Unique clients (persons)
Total invoices
Total revenue

Veterinary Trend Watch

Monthly insight for US veterinary market trends

Welcome to VetWatch, the veterinary profession’s premier resource center for insight and information on the issues that matter most.

1 Select your zone from the map below.

Key

2 Select a category below to see year to date category growth %'s.

1 Select your zone from the map below.

Key

2 Select a category below to see year to date category growth %'s.

1 Select your zone from the map below.

Key

2 Select a data point below.