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Paws and pandemics
Navigating pet care with a growing vet shortage
The Digital PawPrint
December 21, 2023
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📈 A bite-sized stat tastier than kibble
A colossal shortage of 40,000 veterinarians
Escalating demand for veterinarians driven by surging pet ownership is creating a significant shortage expected to reach 40,000 vets by 2030, along with 133,000 vet techs. This leads to extended wait times and emergency clinics turning away non-critical cases.
Veterinarians are grappling with burnout, pressure from quotas, accreditation demands, and outdated technology.
Veterinarians are feeling financial strain: The average veterinary school debt stands at a staggering $188,853, with a median of $99,000, adding stress to an already challenging work environment.
We can't train veterinarians fast enough: There are only 33 accredited veterinary schools in the U.S. It would take over 30 years for veterinary technician graduates to meet the industry's 10-year demand.
The pet-to-vet ratio is worsening: The rise in pet ownership by nearly 30% during the pandemic is contrasted with only a 10% increase in practicing veterinarians.
🐾 The purr-spective: The advent of technology provides hope as it could help vets in all areas from triage and charting to therapeutics and remote pet monitoring. The legislature is also moving to allow for a remote veterinarian-client-patient relationship (VCPR) empowering telemedicine, starting with California. This will hopefully enhance care efficiency and reduce costs amid this shortage.
🎾 What we’re chasing: New advances in pet tech
Using visual AI to help pet parents decide if a vet visit is needed
DIG Labs helps pet parents make more informed decisions about the care their pets need. As we’ve mentioned with the vet shortage, any tool that helps understand when a trip to the vet is necessary or monitoring post-surgery recovery, say after a neuter or spay, is key. They take image data from stool, skin and coat, teeth and gums, body condition, eyes, and more to create a 360 view of your pet's health. DIG partners with leading pet food brands and vets to provide this service to pet owners.
DIG analyzes photos of their pets and the problem area that pet owners submit via the DIG app
The company uses its 50 million collected data points and machine learning to unlock custom insights into your dog’s health and severity
DIG continues to monitor progress over time and help pet parents more easily communicate with their vet
We sat down with Tara Zedayko, co-founder and CEO of DIG Labs, to hear about how the company is leveraging visual AI to “talk” to pets and help pet parents decide if they need more urgent care.
Read the interview with Tara for more insights.
Petcare Innovation Summit: The latest trends and insights unleashed
The Petcare Innovation conference in Los Angeles brought together 450+ executives and 180+ startups, passionately dedicated to reshaping the pet care landscape. The Digital PawPrint was in attendance and you can read our full article here.
Key takeaways:
The profound impact of pets on our mental health is clear, and solutions are enabling unexpected pet heroes to change lives.
The veterinarian shortage is real, and many startups are embracing IoT solutions to drive preventative care and care follow-up using pet wearables.
Pet brands need to change how they market their products to acknowledge of pets are a part of the family. 97% of pet owners see their pets as family members.
Makes you wonder...
Same industry but with very different trajectories around innovation, acquisitions, and decline
Innovating: Mars, owners of snacking, food, and pet care products and services, such as Pedigree and Whiskas, doubled down on innovation with the launch of a $300M Companion II fund with Digitalis Ventures. They will back founders whose companies are leveraging breakthrough science, technology, and design to improve the lives of pets, pet owners, and veterinarians.
Acquired: Rover is set to join forces with Blackstone after agreeing on a $2.3 billion sale, a 60% premium as it believes in the growth of its business model. Rover reported “an outstanding third quarter” with 30% revenue growth to almost $70 million and profitable. During the quarter, Rover facilitated 1.8 million bookings for pet services, an increase of 20% compared to the same period last year.
Struggling: At the same time, Petco has encountered significant challenges post-pandemic, with a downturn in pet products. Demand is down and its cash reserves are declining. Pet services are its area of growth and competition is intensifying as Walmart enters the pet services domain.
🐾 The purr-spective: Retail has always been difficult, but increasing pet ownership has helped retailers like Petco. This was never sustainable and we’ll continue to see retailers expand into pet services. This is why Rover has seen its model continue to flourish, but Petco needs to move fast. Mars, the largest pet food producer, repeated investment in the pet tech space, with the companion fund, which complements the Leap Ventures community. Similar to Purina's Petcare Innovation Prize, we should expect to see more innovation to follow.
The lethal dog cough continues to spread across the US with no cure
A perplexing canine illness marked by fever, cough, and lethargy has now reached 16 states (as of late December). Dubbed Atypical Canine Infectious Respiratory Disease Complex (aCIRDC), the number of cases has climbed over the past year. While the source of aCIRDC remains unclear, affected dogs exhibit severe symptoms that, in certain instances, have proven fatal. The US Department of Agriculture is leading an investigation into the virus.
Pet owners are advised to remain vigilant and seek immediate veterinary care if their dogs show any signs of illness. Many owners are choosing not to board their dogs at daycares, leading to a lot of cancellations and no new clients.
🐾 The purr-spective: Pet pandemics are real, and as such we need a stronger pipeline for therapeutics and intervention. On the business side, dog boarding facilities are facing a reversal. They were all oversubscribed but demand plummeted over the holiday season. "My daycare business has dropped about 75% in the last two months," said Kimberly Bishop, owner of Bark and Play.
A new treat of resources
⭐ Pet of the month
Meet Yogi, a 2 y/o brittany doodle.
In the words of his pet parents Rachita and Sachin, “Yogi loves a good squirrel chase and is absolutely obsessed with balls. If they're shiny and rubber, great. If they squeak, even better! He loves all humans and has made so many dog friends from the Bay Area to LA. If it were his choice, he would have peanut butter, carrots, and cheese for every meal!”
