The pet care stack is messier than you think: fragmentation and the race for operational excellence

From a distance, pet care looks like a single, booming industry. Global spend is expected to top $400 billion by 2030, and every year brings more services, products, and platforms aimed at the growing population of pet owners. But when you zoom in, you quickly realize that “pet care” isn’t one industry. It’s a patchwork of distinct, underbuilt service verticals, each with its own economics, operational challenges, customer expectations, and data gaps.

Veterinary clinics, grooming salons, doggy daycares, boarding facilities, pet food manufacturers, and retailers all serve the same customers. Each “end user” includes a pet (across multiple species and countless breeds) and a pet parent, bringing their own preferences, expectations, and budgets. This means providers must deliver on two fronts, adding a layer of complexity that often exceeds the human-service industries they resemble.

This has two implications for founders and investors: there is no one-size-fits-all approach to innovation, and the bar for operational excellence is far higher than most people assume.

Breaking down the pet care stack

Veterinary care: healthcare systems in miniature

The closest human parallel to vet care is healthcare, specifically small, multi-specialty medical centers. Both require trained professionals, regulatory compliance, detailed patient records, and diagnostic tools.

The difference is that most patients share a similar anatomy and physiology in human medicine. In veterinary care, a single clinic might treat a Labrador, a Siamese cat, a parrot, and a guinea pig on the same day — each with unique health risks, treatment protocols, and medication dosing. Additionally, each appointment involves communicating with a pet parent who may have emotional attachments and expectations that influence decision-making.

Despite this complexity, many veterinary practices are small independents, often with two to 14 employees managing thousands of patient files. In the UK, the Competition and Markets Authority has flagged the difficulty of maintaining transparency and consistency in a £2 billion annual market.

Grooming: A blend of salon and dermatology

At first glance, grooming resembles the human salon industry: appointment-based, personalized services, and an emphasis on aesthetics. But it also has elements of dermatology. Groomers work with different coat types, breed-specific trims, and skin conditions like dermatitis or fungal infections.

Unlike human salons, grooming also involves behavioral management. Some dogs might stand calmly for an hour-long cut, while others may panic at the sound of clippers. Groomers need the skill set of a stylist, a pet handler, and a health technician, all while working to tight time slots. Typically groomers manage 5–8 service types per day, each with its own workflow.

Daycare: childcare meets enrichment

Like childcare centres, pet daycares require safe environments, structured routines, and trained staff. But while childcare typically groups by age, pet daycares manage animals of vastly different sizes, play styles, and energy levels in the same space.

A staff member might have to separate a high-energy Husky from a senior Bulldog, supervise playgroups, and manage feeding schedules, all while fulfilling what pet parents want. Millennials and Gen Z expect enrichment programs, rest breaks, and photo/video updates. The U.S. daycare market was worth $73.5 billion in 2024, yet no single player dominates.

Boarding: hotels with wellness services

Boarding mirrors hospitality in its booking systems, check-in/check-out processes, and service layering (meals, activities, extras). Unlike hotels, guests may need medication administration, 24/7 monitoring, or behavior management.

In one room might be a senior cat needing isolation and a low-stress environment; in another, a puppy requiring constant supervision. Luxury boarding is growing with suites, play yards, and “spa” treatments, but many operators still rely on manual processes. Some U.S. chains are now piloting RFID collars to track feeding, play, and rest patterns.

Nutrition: from CPG to personalized wellness

The human equivalent is the packaged food and wellness sector, with a similar supply chain, safety, and regulatory challenges. But pet nutrition must also cater to multiple species with fundamentally different dietary needs, from obligate carnivores (cats) to omnivores (dogs) to herbivores (rabbits).

Layer in breed-specific considerations like large-breed puppy diets formulated to manage growth rates, and the complexity multiplies. Pet food was a $58.1 billion category in the U.S. in 2023, and newer entrants are introducing novel proteins like insects and lab-grown meat, adding further operational and trust-building challenges.

Retail and e-commerce: logistics meets discovery

Retail and e-commerce in pet care are much like general retail: inventory management, merchandising, and fulfillment. But the product mix is broader, covering perishables, prescription medications, wearables, toys, and grooming supplies.

Retailers must serve first-time puppy owners, exotic reptile keepers, and senior-cat caregivers. Amazon and Chewy lead in convenience, but curated offerings are winning loyalty too; BarkBox, for example, serves 2.3 million subscribers with tailored monthly boxes.

So what: why this complexity matters

1. Operational excellence is hard

Most pet businesses are still local, high-touch, and people-dependent. Tech providers have historically faced a trade-off: build a generalist product that works okay across multiple verticals, or specialize so deeply that the market is too small to sustain innovation. Until recently, spending and ownership numbers were too low to attract venture capital. But with rising pet ownership (66% of US households) and increasing per-pet spend, there’s finally room for venture-backed operational platforms.

2. We’re in the infancy of brand building

National brands barely exist, especially in services. Most are regional, and even when services overlap (i.e, grooming and boarding), cross-brand leverage is rare. In human services—hospital chains, salon brands, hotel groups—national names help drive consistency and loyalty. In pet care, we’re only just starting to see franchising and platform roll-ups emerge to fill this gap.

3. AI generalist solutions will only go so far

AI can automate scheduling, billing, inventory, and customer communications across pet care. But generalist solutions—designed for human healthcare, hospitality, or retail—can only partially address the sector’s unique needs. A multi-species, multi-breed environment, with both an animal and human “customer” per transaction, creates safety, care standards, and record-keeping complexities that require sector-specific models. The future will be a mix of generalist AI frameworks adapted by companies that understand the realities of pet care.

Pet care’s messiness is becoming its moment

For years, pet care’s fragmentation has made it resistant to technological transformation. But the conditions have shifted. Rising spend, larger market size, and the professionalization of operations mean the industry is finally ripe for technology.

Venture capital is backing more than consumer-facing brands; funding is flowing into B2B platforms, operational infrastructure, and AI-powered tooling. Private equity is driving consolidation and operational excellence through roll-ups, franchising, and multi-site platforms. The result: national brands are emerging with the capability to deliver a consistent, high-quality experience at scale.

AI will be the connective tissue, enabling these operators to standardize workflows, predict demand, optimize staffing, and deliver personalized care at a level that feels human and high-touch. For consumers—many of whom see their pets as family members, if not children—this shift will raise expectations. They will increasingly choose providers with a frictionless experience, complete transparency, and the assurance that their pets are receiving the best possible care. In this next phase, the industry’s complexity won’t be a barrier—it will be the moat.