Banfield® delivers 150 millionth pet visit during national pet month

The leading provider of preventive veterinary care is using its unique scale and decades of experience to provide Associates the support needed to deliver on a shared purpose: A Better World for Pets

VANCOUVER, Wash., May 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ – Banfield Pet Hospital^® – the leading provider of preventive veterinary care in the U.S. – is marking National Pet Month by celebrating reaching 150 million pet visits since it began tracking this data in 2000, helping tens of millions of pets live happy, healthy lives. Banfield will continue to invest in people, extend access to care, and increase its footprint of hospitals to ensure the practice and its Associates are well positioned to provide the next 150 million visits to pets that need care.

"The human-animal bond has grown ever stronger, with over 23 million households welcoming a pet since the start of the pandemic. Our hospitals and Associates have done an incredible job, stepping up to provide care to pets and their owners," said Brian Garish, president of Banfield Pet Hospital. "That's why Banfield is innovating and extending how and where we provide care, with more locations and unrivaled support for our veterinary professionals. With our size, scale, and commitment to societal wellbeing, Banfield and its talented Associates are empowered to continue to make a better world for pets."

By the end of 2023, Banfield expects to expand its number of standalone hospital locations, enabling the practice to provide care to approximately 225,000 more pets annually that need it. This is thanks to the dedicated veterinary professionals that are the lifeblood of Banfield's business.

The practice employs over 3,500 veterinarians and more than 2,200 credentialed veterinary technicians (CVTs) and is part of the world's largest employer of veterinary talent, Mars Veterinary Health. Based on decades of knowledge gathered as the nation's longest-running multi-unit, centrally managed veterinary practice, Banfield offers Associates best-in-class medical quality frameworks, equipment, and benefits that allow them to concentrate on serving pets while Banfield's Central Team Support manages business elements.

Banfield is committed to the health, safety, and wellbeing of its Associates, drawing from Mars Veterinary Health North America's $500 million investment by 2025 to enhance Associate health and wellbeing, advance career growth, and promote workforce diversity. This includes equity, inclusion & diversity initiatives, expanded career development offerings, and support for greater schedule flexibility. In fact, the majority of Banfield's doctors currently work four days or less. In addition, through Banfield's Veterinary Student Debt Relief program, the practice has contributed more than $20 million toward helping veterinarians pay off student loans and enabled more than $17 million in educational debt refinancing for Associates.

Banfield also continues to innovate how its veterinary professionals deliver care to keep up with demand while maintaining flexible schedules and balance. This includes:

• Elevating the role of our CVTs in how they support veterinarians and clients through doctor-directed and supervised appointments for existing patients. Banfield delivered over 700,000 CVT appointments in 2021 and is on track for 1 million in 2022.
• Providing clients with access to virtual care. Banfield logged hundreds of thousands of Vet Chats and continued to increase the number of virtual visits for clients in 2021, enabling the practice to expand access to care while relieving pressure on its hospital teams. The practice expects to deliver at least 10% more virtual visits and chats in 2022.

Banfield believes strongly in the value of providing preventive veterinary care such as vaccinations and preventives for such conditions as heartworm and parvovirus, dental cleanings, spays and neuters, and check-ups. In fact, Banfield veterinary professionals will this month reach the milestone of 300 million heartworm preventives delivered since 2000. This is critical given more than a million pets in the U.S. have heartworm – a serious and potentially fatal parasite that is contracted from infected mosquitos.

In the past decade, Banfield's data found a 46% drop in dogs diagnosed with the parasite, underscoring the importance and effectiveness of preventive care. The same decrease in cases unfortunately can't be said for cats: in the past 10 years, the practice saw a 22% increase in felines diagnosed with heartworms. This is particularly concerning for a number of reasons, including:

• There is currently no safe treatment to remove or kill adult heartworms in cats, so infected cats can only be treated supportively and symptomatically.
• In cats, heartworm infections cause a syndrome known as heartworm associated respiratory disease (HARD).

Cases of heartworm continue to be diagnosed in all 50 states, but the good news is it's preventable. Banfield veterinary professionals work closely with clients to ensure their pets are protected. For more on how Banfield enables its veterinary teams and the broader profession with research-based guidelines and data on everything from heartworm to anesthesia and antimicrobial resistance, visit Banfield Exchange.

About Banfield Pet Hospital^®
Banfield Pet Hospital was founded in Portland, Ore. in 1955 and today is a pioneer in preventive veterinary care with more than 1,000 general veterinary hospitals in 42 states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, and Mexico. More than 3,600 Banfield veterinarians are committed to providing high-quality veterinary care to over three million pets annually. Banfield collects data from each of these visits in the U.S.'s largest electronic veterinary health records system. Our goal is to be here for pets, people, and society. As part of the Mars Veterinary Health family of practices, Banfield is committed to its purpose — A BETTER WORLD FOR PETS^® — because pets make a better world for us. Press seeking additional information are invited to call the Media Hotline: (888) 355-0595.