Last month, on November 2, I dropped into my vet’s office to make an appointment for my dog. I was told that there were no appointments available for the entire month of November, and the calendar for December was not yet open for booking.
I’ve been wanting to make this infographic for a while and finally had some time to dig into the statistics this past weekend.
A few notes on data and sources
I try my best to verify data sources and pick only those that I feel are reliable and most recently published.
Pet demographics were obtained from a few sources including the Pet Ownership and Demographics Sourcebook by the AVMA using data collected in early 2021. Therefore, I went with the Forbes survey for pandemic-related pet ownership which was published December 8, 2022.
Veterinary population statistics were extracted from the companion animal vets subcategory under clinical practice category of the 2021 AVMA U.S. veterinarians statistics.
Why is it so hard to see a vet now? Infographic text
As of 2022… 90.5 million household in the U.S. own at least 1 pet1
78% of pet owners got new pets between March 2020 – May 20212
Americans currently own about 89 million dogs and 62 million cats3
But there are only about 57,805 companion animal vets4
That’s an average of 2,612 cats/dogs to 1 veterinarian
Your vet & vet staff are overwhelmed
- Schedule routine care at least 1 month ahead
- Be patient with vet staff at appointments
- More pets = more emergencies, so plan ahead and prepare for wait times
Sources
