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Veterinary Practice Management: Will more veterinarians lead to more pet owners going to the veterinarian?
January 16, 2025
* Please go directly to The CVJ article to see all the relevant graphics and graphs, etc.
Which province has the highest concentration of pet owners, and which province has the highest percentage of pet owners who take their pet to the veterinarian? Comparing pet owner characteristics among provinces suggests the availability of veterinary services is a stronger driver than cost in determining whether a pet owner takes their pet to the veterinarian.
The most “recent” Survey of Household Spending from Statistics Canada (2021) was expanded to report household expenses on pets, pet products and expenditures on veterinarians (1). These data shed light on the number of pet owners in each province along with the number of pet owners that went to the veterinarian; combining the 2 figures provides the veterinary medicalization rate in each province (Figure 1).
Nationally, 50% of households own pets and 34% of households took their pets to the veterinarian in 2021. The highest concentration of pet owners in Canada was in the Maritime provinces where they took the top 3 places. Nova Scotia had the highest percentage of pet owning households with 61%, followed by Prince Edward Island with 58%, and New Brunswick a close third place with 57%. Both Ontario and Quebec had the lowest number of pet owners in the country at 49% and 45% respectively.
At first glance, the percentage of households that take their pets to the veterinarian appears to follow the number of pet-owning households but there are significant differences. The ratio of the 2 figures, households with pets and households that have a veterinarian, provides the percentage of pet owners that take their pets to the veterinarian or the medicalization rate. The highest medicalization rate does not reside in the Maritimes. In fact, only 1 Maritime province, Prince Edward Island, had a medicalization rate higher than the national average of 68% (Figure 2).
The province with the highest veterinary medicalization rate in 2021 was Alberta, with 73% of pet owning households going to the veterinarian. Ontario had the second highest at 70% and Prince Edward Island and British Columbia were tied for third place with 69%. All other provinces came in below the national average medicalization rate of 68%. The provinces with the lowest medicalization rates were Newfoundland and Labrador and New Brunswick.
Factors explored in contributing to the medicalization rates include COVID-19 restrictions, the cost of veterinary services and availability of veterinarians.
There were variations in COVID-19 restrictions from province to province but according to the Statistics Canada COVID-19 Restrictions Index, the provinces that saw the most restrictions during the Omicron wave in 2021 were Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, and Ontario (2). Considering 2 of the 4 provinces were in the top 3 medicalization rates, COVID-19 restrictions were not a significant factor in medicalization rates.
Theoretically, provinces with less expensive veterinary medicine could lead to more pet owners seeking veterinary medicine and more expensive medicine could lead to a lower medicalization rate. Spending on veterinary medicine was measured using the Companion Animal Average Revenue per Transaction (ART) from the 2023 CVMA Economic Survey. Since the cost of living differs from province to province, the ART was adjusted by the Cost of Living Index (COL) for each province. For example, in any given year, the average household in Prince Edward Island spends 15% less than the national average whereas households in Ontario spend 5% more.
When the Medicalization Rate (sorted from low to high) is compared to the COL adjusted Average Revenue per Transaction, it is clear there is no relationship (Figure 3). When sorted from the low in Newfoundland and Labrador to the high in Alberta, the steady gain in Medicalization Rate contrasts with the suspension bridge representation of spending. The cost of veterinary medicine was not a factor in determining medicalization rates.
More access to veterinary services makes it easier for pet owners to find and go to a veterinarian. DVMs per 10 000 population was used to assess the impact access to veterinary care had on medicalization rates (Figure 4) (3,4). There was a weak but positive relationship between access to care and the percentage of pet owners visiting a veterinarian. As the number of DVM’s per 10 000 population increased, so did the medicalization rate.
Veterinary fees do not appear to be a deterrent to pet owners seeking veterinary medicine but access to care does. More veterinarians mean more visits to the veterinarian. Increasing the number of veterinarians by increasing enrollment in current veterinary schools and creating new veterinary schools looks like it’s better for pet owners and veterinarians.
Amy Noonan, Darren Osborne