Pet owners are spending more on animal care, and expectations keep rising. The American Pet Products Association projects $157 billion in U.S. pet industry sales for 2025, with vet care and product sales projected at $41.4 billion.¹
So why do many clinics still feel stuck, overbooked, understaffed, and buried in admin?
Because what is lacking in the pet industry is not demand. It’s consistency: consistent service quality, a modern client experience, connected operations, and systems that help teams move faster without cutting corners.
Naming these gaps also helps answer a question many clinic owners are quietly asking: how to make money in the pet industry without running the team into the ground.
Understand the Current State of the Pet Industry
Pet care has become more “healthcare-like.” Clients increasingly expect:
- Convenience (self-service scheduling, faster checkout, less paperwork)
- Clear communication (reminders, updates, follow-ups)
- Modern care delivery (preventive programs, diagnostics, care plans)
- Transparency (estimates, invoices, payment options)
At the same time, veterinary teams are under strain. Research on veterinary technicians points to high levels of burnout, driven in part by workplace and organizational stressors.²
This mismatch, higher demand, stretched teams, plus higher expectations, is where most gaps show up. For clinics, those gaps are not just frustrating. They directly affect revenue, retention, and capacity.
Identify Key Gaps That Affect Veterinary Practices
Outdated Administrative and Clinical Workflows
Many clinics still rely on processes that are hard to scale:
- Manual scheduling and check-ins that overload phones and front desks
- Paper forms that slow intake and create re-entry work
- Inefficient medical recordkeeping makes charting take longer than it should
- Disconnected tools that lead to duplicate work, missed details, and billing delays
When workflows are fragmented, the practice pays twice: in staff time and in lost capacity (fewer appointments completed, longer cycles, and more errors to correct).
Communication and Client Experience Challenges
Communication gaps are one of the clearest signs of what is lacking in the pet industry because they show up in no-shows, lower compliance, and churn.
Clients also have strong preferences about how they want to hear from you. One survey reported that 52% of pet owners prefer appointment reminders by text, while only 25% said they were receiving reminders that way.³ A more recent report summary found 77% of pet parents prefer communicating with their clinic via text or online chat.⁴
If communication isn’t consistent and convenient, it creates predictable problems:
- Missed or inconsistent appointment reminders
- Limited follow-up around preventive care
- Difficulty keeping clients engaged and compliant
Underutilized Service Opportunities
Many clinics have demand sitting in plain sight, but don’t package or promote it consistently:
- Specialized services offered inconsistently (dentistry, senior care, diagnostics, nutrition)
- Missed opportunities for wellness plans and recurring revenue programs
- Little differentiation in a crowded local market
This is where growth often shifts from “do more visits” to “deliver more planned care.” When preventive services and follow-ups are structured, teams spend less time reacting and more time providing care that clients already value.
Staffing and Operational Inefficiencies
When staffing is tight, small inefficiencies become expensive:
- Overloaded front-desk teams handling phones, reminders, reschedules, and payments
- Inefficient task delegation that pulls clinical staff into administrative work
- Limited visibility into appointment flow, patient volume, and practice performance
If you can’t clearly see what’s happening across the day, it’s harder to fix bottlenecks or invest in growth with confidence.
Turn Industry Gaps Into Growth Opportunities
The clinics that grow sustainably are not just “busier.” They’re more intentional:
- They reduce friction (less manual work and fewer interruptions)
- They make preventive care more predictable (recurring services and structured programs)
- They protect clinician time (better intake, better charting, better handoffs)
- They meet modern expectations (digital access, clear updates, easier payment)
Closing these gaps supports how to make money in the pet industry in practical ways:
- More kept appointments (fewer no-shows, fewer scheduling gaps)
- Higher compliance (more preventive care delivered on time)
- Higher efficiency (the same team can get more done without feeling constantly behind)
Actionable Strategies for Veterinary Practices
Automate Scheduling and Client Communication
If your phones are the bottleneck, this is often the fastest win.
- Online booking so clients can request appointments without tying up staff
- Automated text and email reminders to reduce no-shows
- Digital follow-ups to support preventive care and increase compliance
Client communication software can support online booking, automated text and email reminders, and digital forms sent before a visit.
Once scheduling and communication are streamlined, the next bottleneck many practices face is how patient and client information is managed during the visit.
Streamline Client and Patient Management
Your team should not be retyping information across tools.
- Centralized medical records that are easy to access during consults
- Digital intake forms that speed check-ins and reduce errors
- Faster check-in and payment processes that shorten the “busywork” around visits
DaySmart Vet is a cloud based veterinary practice management software designed to help clinics centralize scheduling, patient records, client communication, payments, and reporting in one system.
It supports collaborative, cloud-based SOAP notes, enabling multiple team members to update patient charts in real time.
Expand High-Demand or Specialty Services
You don’t need to become a specialty hospital to differentiate. You need services that clients value, delivered consistently.
High-impact options include:
- Preventive care and wellness plans
- Senior pet programs
- Dentistry, diagnostics, and teletriage
- Add-on services that raise average transaction value
Use Reporting to Identify Revenue Opportunities
Most practices already have growth opportunities hiding in their schedule. Reporting helps you find them.
Use reporting to track:
- Appointment types and frequency (what’s driving demand and what’s underused)
- Gaps in service utilization (what you recommend vs. what gets scheduled)
- Patient retention and preventive care compliance trends
DaySmart Vet’s operations management software includes over 80 reports to support business decisions and track patient activity and engagement over time.
How Technology Helps Veterinary Practices Bridge the Gaps
Technology isn’t the goal. It’s a way to remove friction, so your team can deliver care with fewer interruptions.
Integrated Scheduling and Workflow Automation
Manual steps add up fast. Integrated scheduling and workflow tools can reduce errors and save time.
DaySmart Vet’s scheduling software helps with real-time scheduling, online booking, automated reminders, digital forms, and integrated payments, including the ability to collect deposits at booking to help reduce no-shows.
Improved Communication Tools
Better communication reduces phone volume and improves follow-through.
DaySmart Vet’s communication tools include two-way texting, online booking, automated reminders, online forms, and a branded client app, all designed to keep clients informed while reducing staff workload.
Centralized Billing and Payments
Checkout friction is a hidden cost. The longer payments take, the more staff time you burn, and the more likely accounts drift.
Payment and credit card processing software that supports online, phone, and in-person payments, plus the ability to store cards on file for contactless and recurring payments.
Reporting and Insights for Smarter Decisions
When you can see top-performing services, demand patterns, and operational bottlenecks, you can make changes without guessing.
From a clinic perspective, technology is one of the clearest paths to how to make money in the pet industry because it protects capacity, supports consistent follow-up, and helps you make smarter decisions with real data.
Veterinary Practices Thriving by Filling Industry Gaps
So, what is lacking in the pet industry?
Not love for animals. Not demand. Not clients willing to pay for care.
What’s often missing is the operational foundation that makes modern care easier to deliver:
- Connected workflows
- Consistent communication
- Predictable preventive programs
- Clear reporting
- Faster, simpler payments
Clinics that close these gaps stand out quickly because they run more smoothly, communicate better, and deliver more consistent patient outcomes. Start by making it easier for clients to book, show up, follow up, and pay, and for your team to do the important work if you want to make money in the pet industry.
If you’re ready to modernize how your practice runs, DaySmart Vet can help you streamline scheduling, automate client communication, centralize patient records, simplify payments, and use reporting to spot growth opportunities. Book a demo to see what a calmer, more efficient clinic can look like.
Sources
- American Pet Products Association. “Industry Trends & Stats: 2025 Projected Sales in the U.S. Market.” American Pet Products Association website. Accessed Dec. 22, 2025. americanpetproducts.org
- Kogan, Lori R., et al. “Veterinary Technicians and Occupational Burnout.” Frontiers in Veterinary Science. 2020. PMC
- DVM360. “Updates and appointment reminders? Text, please!” DVM360 website. May 8, 2019. DVM360
- Veterinary Practice News. “Digital convenience impacts client retention, study shows.” Veterinary Practice News website. March 17, 2025. Veterinary Practice News