How Younger Pet Parents Are Reshaping Veterinary Care

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The Generational Shift Reshaping the Client Experience

Veterinary practices across North America are seeing a steady rise in Millennial and Gen Z pet ownership, which is bringing its own challenges and opportunities. It’s a shift in mindset, expectations, and the way these clients define the veterinarian–client relationship.

As Today’s Veterinary Business highlighted this week, younger owners increasingly view themselves as “pet parents,” not “pet owners.” Their animals are companions, emotional supports, and family and come with the same expectations, care, and attention they would devote to a child. With this comes a greater emphasis on preventive care, proactive wellness planning, and a desire for year-round communication rather than sporadic visits.

The digital-native generations are also shaping how they choose providers, communicate, and what they expect before, during, and after appointments. They prioritize convenience, transparency, and personalization every step of the way.

Younger Generations Are Spending More—But on a Wider Range of Pet Services

A study highlighted in Multifamily Executive shows that Millennials and Gen Z are not only spending more on their pets than previous generations but also directing their dollars toward an expanded set of lifestyle-driven services. This includes behavioral training, specialized and fresh food diets, dog-walking and enrichment services, professional grooming, pet birthday celebrations, and even clothing.

This trend signals two important opportunities for veterinary practices:

1. Expanded service offerings — Practices can grow revenue by offering nutrition counseling, behavior consults, weight-management programs, or partnerships with trainers and pet service providers.

2. Stronger client retention — When practices align with the holistic way younger generations care for their pets, they position themselves as central to the pet’s entire well-being ecosystem.

For younger pet owners parents, care is not transactional. It’s integrated into the rhythm of everyday life with their animals.

Increased Emotional Bonds Means Increased Expectations for Care

For younger clients who view their pets as equivalent to their own children, it brings with it an emotional attachment that strongly influences medical decisions. This depth of bond has two major implications:

• They are willing to make financial sacrifices for their pets’ health, including asking family for help or selling belongings if needed.

• They value reassurance, education, and empathy as much as clinical expertise. Younger clients want communication that makes complex medical decisions feel manageable, transparent, and grounded in partnership.

For veterinary teams, this means emphasizing not only expertise but communication style—slower moments of explanation, clearer reasoning, more accessible follow-up, and a tone that reflects shared investment in the pet’s well-being.

What Practices Can Do Today to Meet These Expectations

As these generations grow into the dominant group of pet owners, practices have an opportunity to modernize in ways that build long-term loyalty and create more sustainable client relationships. Key strategies include:

1. Modernize your digital experience

Younger clients expect digital-first interactions from start to finish including online appointment scheduling, automated reminders, mobile check-ins, telehealth options, and more. Clinics looking to future proof themselves, will invest now.

2. Increase pricing transparency and offer flexible care models

Given the emotional stakes involved and the desire to “do the right thing,” younger clients appreciate clear costs, predictable wellness packages, and membership models. Tiered plans can help match services to budgets while reinforcing preventive care habits.

3. Personalize communication and education

Younger owners rely heavily on digital research, social media, and peer reviews. Practices that position themselves as thoughtful educators and take the time to explain everything thoroughly, even if it’s through a simple post-visit summary can differentiate themselves and build trust.

4. Acknowledge the ‘pet-as-family’ identity

Don’t dismiss their beliefs, even if you think fair-trade organic doggy biscuit birthday cake is taking it a bit too far. From exam-room language to the way staff interact with the pet, practices that understand the mindset will see higher satisfaction and deeper loyalty.

The Bottom Line: They’re Ready to Invest, If You’re Ready to Adapt

Millennial and Gen Z pet parents are passionate, digitally savvy, emotionally invested, and willing to spend. But they also expect more: more communication, more convenience, more transparency, and a more holistic understanding of their pet’s life. Practices that lean into these expectations will not only connect better with today’s clients—they’ll build a future-ready model that keeps them competitive, resilient, and deeply trusted.

Is your clinic ready for more and more younger pet owners parents?

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The Great Canadian Drug Shortage

In a press release and news conference this week, the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA) warned that severe shortages of essential veterinary drugs is limiting veterinarians’ ability to treat both companion animals and livestock.

The drug shortage, and the price increases that go hand in hand with them, caught the attention of major news outlets in Canada including CBC, The Globe and Mail, and Global News who all covered the story.

According to the CVMA, supply chain constraints, limited availability of approved antimicrobial drugs, and Canada’s slower, more fragmented regulatory pathways compared with international counterparts are key drivers behind the shortage. As a result livestock vets are increasingly forced to rely on less effective alternatives, which can compromise animal welfare, elevate food safety risks, and contribute to higher food prices for Canadians. For companion animal vets, shortages are driving up prices which are being passed on to clients.

Alongside the medication crisis, the CVMA highlights two additional pressures: a widening workforce gap and growing mental health strain across the profession. Canada is short thousands of veterinarians, a deficit expected to last at least until 2031, leaving clients facing longer wait times and reduced access to care. Burnout and mental health challenges are accelerating attrition among both veterinarians and technicians.

The CVMA is urging federal and provincial governments to act by coordinating faster drug approvals with trusted international regulators, creating a national testing centre to streamline pathways for internationally educated veterinarians, and funding expanded mental health supports.

To our Canadian readers - have you experienced a drug shortage in your clinic? Reply to this email and let us know!

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Did An AI Software Really Ace the NAVLE?

You may have seen a story a few weeks ago that announced an AI software scored a perfect score on the NAVLE. But did it really happen?

OpenVet, which bills themselves as the “first veterinary reasoning AI system engineered for professional use”, announced last week that its system achieved a perfect score on the NAVLE.

OpenVet’s product has yet to launch, but the startup from Florida is on a mission to bring AI systems to veterinary professionals “by combining curated veterinary data, rigorous engineering, and a commitment to safety.” So it makes sense that a perfect NAVLE score would be some pretty great publicity for the company.

But as VIN reported this month, the story might not be as straightforward.

The non-profit that administers the NAVLE, The International Council for Veterinary Assessment, says the claim is misleading because it sounds as if the software was taking an actual NAVLE exam. Instead, OpenVet sourced free, online NAVLE-style practice questions and then used their AI to generate additional ones.

OpenVet CEO Adam Sager stands by the process, saying that those familiar with AI advancements will understand their announcement was more about demonstrating a benchmark ability than taking an actual exam. However, the release no longer appears on OpenVet's website or social media channels. Sager says the release was pulled because they are "committed to positive relationships across the industry and have no interest in needless friction."

The takeaway: no, an AI model did not get a perfect 600/600 on the NAVLE. But AI models that could help veterinary professionals deliver improved care may not be far away. Ignoring the role that AI will play in the profession would be foolish.

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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: