At Beyond Indigo Pets, we are always interested in hearing the latest from the veterinary world. In the podcast Unfiltered Vet Discussions, our CEO Kelly Baltzell discusses some of the most pressing industry issues with other bigwigs in the veterinary field. In this episode, Kelly, Dr. Peter Weinstein (President, PAW Consulting, Inc.), and Dr. Phil Richmond (Founder | CEO at Flourishing Phoenix Veterinary Consultants, LLC) discuss VCA shutting down numerous urgent care centers, and what this means for the future of these specialty centers.

The Face of Veterinary Urgent Care Facilities

As of January 2025, VCA has closed at least 17 urgent care facilities spanning 5 states. These facilities just opened in 2022, so does this represent a shift in industry mentality when it comes to urgent veterinary medicine? The experts discuss potential reasons for this shift and how it’s going to change the field as a whole in this episode. They mention how stand-alone urgent care facilities didn’t really exist before the pandemic. Will this style of veterinary medicine fade into the ether as the world returns to “normal” pre-pandemic life?

A Post-Pandemic Veterinary World

The unfiltered discussion about the potential shift in stand-alone urgent care facilities focuses a lot on how hard it was to get a veterinary appointment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Urgent care facilities became a helpful solution that gave pet owners a way to get care for their pets when they couldn’t get into their regular vet. 

In 2025, however, the veterinary world is more akin to 2018-2019 capacity numbers where most clinics have at least a few open appointments in a day. In fact, Vetsource statistics for the last year show that veterinary visits are down by 2.4 percent. This means that general practitioners have the capacity to meet the needs for urgent same-day appointments for already established clients. The need for facilities that only offer urgent care services is dissipating, and veterinary hospitals must shift to account for this. 

Veterinary Marketing in This New (Old) World

As more urgent care facilities close throughout the country, now is the time to start ramping up your marketing to let pet owners know you have these valuable same-day appointments when they need them. As Dr. Weinstein mentions in this podcast, VCA closing so many urgent care facilities is a “flare that we should be aware of. Take it as a message that things are changing.” Now is the time to be proactive in your marketing approach to keep up with the changing industry, and Beyond Indigo Pets can help you do that. Contact us today to get started, and be sure to check out the full Unfiltered Vet Discussions podcast episode below.