Feline Visits Surge as Overall Vet Visits Decline — Here's Why

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The Big Headlines

Funding Announcements

Two large funding announcements this week will shape large veterinary institutions on both sides of the 49th parallel:

🦅 South of the border, Oklahoma State University has received a historic $250 million state appropriation — the largest in its history — to build a new, cutting-edge veterinary teaching hospital, addressing critical infrastructure needs and securing the future of veterinary education in the state. Combined with $78 million allocated in 2023, this funding will support a 255,000-square-foot facility that replaces an outdated hospital originally designed for far fewer students. The investment responds to accreditation concerns, supports Oklahoma’s agricultural economy, and helps combat a shortage of rural veterinarians. University leaders hail the project as transformational, positioning OSU as a national leader in veterinary medicine for decades to come.

🍁 North of the border, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, and Manitoba have committed $194 million over five years to support operations and training at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM) in Saskatoon. Despite the significant investment, the number of student seats will remain capped at 88, with no room to expand due to space limitations. While the funding will maintain the current state, opening more seats will be needed to help close the well-documented veterinarian shortage in Western Canada that is leaving clinics overwhelmed and understaffed.

U.S. Federal Incentives Paused

As VIN reported this week, the federal Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program (VMLRP), designed to attract veterinarians to underserved rural areas by offering loan forgiveness, is currently paused under review by the Trump administration and is not accepting new applicants. Despite bipartisan support and the program’s history of easing student debt for food animal veterinarians, the freeze comes at a time when the U.S. faces a severe shortage in that field, driven largely by high student debt and lower salaries compared to companion animal practice. While existing participants remain funded, and several states have launched their own financial incentive programs, experts say addressing the debt burden remains critical to rebuilding the rural veterinary workforce.

Health care prices drive skipped treatments

A national survey by PetSmart Charities and Gallup found that 52% of U.S. pet owners have skipped or declined veterinary care, primarily due to cost, with 71% citing it as the main barrier—affecting all income levels. Veterinary costs in the U.S. have risen over 60% since 2014, contributing to an estimated $39 billion in pet care spending in 2024. Despite high demand, only 23% of respondents reported being offered payment plans, though two-thirds said this would significantly increase their ability to afford care. The lack of affordable options has led to increased pet surrenders and negative health outcomes, with 14% of pets worsening or dying after care was declined. USA Today had the story.

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The Inaugural Feline Market Insights Report

The CATalyst Council has released the inaugural Feline Market Insights Report which suggest that unlike the overall decline in companion animal veterinary visits, feline veterinary care has experienced consistent growth since early 2023. Feline clinical visits and veterinary practice revenues rose year-over-year in both 2023 and 2024, defying broader industry headwinds such as inflation. This growth is fueled by increasing cat ownership, especially in urban settings where cats fit more easily into smaller living spaces and remote or hybrid work lifestyles. Cats now represent a rising share of U.S. household pets, with the pandemic accelerating their adoption and reinforcing their value as companions.

Key findings include:

• Feline clinical visits grew year-over-year in 2023 and 2024, while overall visits to veterinary practices in the U.S. declined;

• Cats represent a growing percentage of the pet population in U.S. households;

• Growth in the number of households with cats has continued at an elevated level since the onset of the pandemic, suggesting cat companionship is highly valued in the current environment;

• The return-to-office movement and denser urban living of today’s world favor cat ownership;

• Leading pet industry companies are prioritizing investment in mergers and acquisitions, product pipelines, and retail strategies to reflect these trends.

As the AVMA reported, the U.S. cat population has shown consistent growth from 1996 to 2024, with a notable rise from 61 million owned cats in 2020 to 73.8 million in 2024. Recent data from the 2024 AVMA Pet Ownership and Demographics Sourcebook highlights a shift in household veterinary spending: while average spending on dogs dropped 7% from 2023 to in 2024, spending on cats increased by 6%. This trend reflects growing investment in feline health and points to evolving priorities among pet owners.

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The Librela Fight Continues

As we’ve covered many times before (most recently in the April 27 edition of Weekend Rounds), the safety of Librela has been under scrutiny. And now, a recent study found musculoskeletal adverse event reports (MSAERs) were nine times more frequent in dogs treated with the drug compared to others.

Zoetis maintains that reported adverse events from the use of Librela are considered to be either rare or very rare. A recent analysis, published in the journal Frontiers of Veterinary Science, reports that 90 per cent of MSAERs reported between May 2021 and December 2024 which did not have conflicting neurological or systemic diagnoses were attributed to Librela. A major concern of Librela is its potential association with rapidly progressive osteoarthritis (RPOA), a known side effect of monoclonal antibodies in people. An important note we will make is that this side effect is distinct from many other reported concerns of dogs generally doing poorly or developing neurologic signs.

The paper’s lead author, Mike Farrell, accused Zoetis of seeking to “deny, deflect blame and downplay” the impact of Librela during his presentation at the Veterinary Osteoarthritis Congress (VOACON) in Loughborough last week.

Meanwhile proponents of the medication caution that more data is needed and point to smaller studies showing fewer adverse events with Librela than with alternatives like meloxicam. The controversy has highlighted a split in the veterinary community and prompting renewed scrutiny from regulators including the FDA, and calls for further investigation.

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Quick Hits

Here are some of the other stories that caught our eye and we're following this week from around the veterinary world and animal kingdom: