Why owners miss preventive visits, and what brings them back

Here is what the evidence says about the size of the gap and what helps close it.

The gap is large

In the UK, the PDSA Animal Wellbeing (PAW) Report 2026 found that 82% of dogs, 66% of cats and 54% of rabbits were receiving regular booster vaccinations. About one cat in three was not¹. In a German survey of 3,881 dog owners, fewer than half of dogs (46.8%) were vaccinated to current guidelines².

Parasite control shows the same pattern. Across France, Germany, Spain, Sweden and the UK, owners reported deworming dogs 2.3 times and cats 2.2 times a year on average³, against ESCCAP’s minimum of four times a year when risk is unknown⁴.

Many owners don’t know what their vet recommends

In an Italian survey of 1,247 cat owners, 61% of owners of unvaccinated cats didn’t know how often their vet recommended revaccination, compared with 6% of owners whose cats were up to date⁵. In the German survey, what the vet recommended was the factor most strongly linked to whether a dog was vaccinated². Both surveys show associations, not causes.

Cost still matters for some owners: in the Italian survey, owners who rated vaccination cost as important were more likely to have an unvaccinated cat⁵. But a clear recommendation, repeated when the date comes round, is the part a clinic controls.

Bonded clients come more often

A study of 2,000 US dog and cat owners published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association found that owners with a strong bond to their pet visited the veterinarian 2.1 times a year, against 1.5 times for owners with a weaker bond, and said they were willing to spend considerably more on care⁶. Practical help with remembering the schedule is one of the few things a clinic can do between visits to keep that relationship active.

Reminders work, modestly and reliably

In human health, two large randomised trials tested text reminders for flu vaccination. Among 47,306 patients with an upcoming doctor’s appointment, text reminders raised vaccination by 2.1 percentage points on average, and the best message by 4.6 points⁷. Among 689,693 pharmacy patients, they raised it by 2.0 points against no message⁸. A 2026 meta-analysis of 10 trials with 8,236 patients found that appointment reminders increased hospital attendance compared with no reminder (risk ratio 1.11)⁹. No study of this kind exists yet for veterinary practice, so treat this as the closest available evidence rather than a direct measure.

In veterinary practice the best-documented example is a re-engagement programme run with 1,612 US practices in 2015–16: an email to inactive clients brought 8.5% of them back for an appointment within six months, an average of 128 visits per practice. 38% of the returning patients had been away for more than two years¹⁰.

What helps

• One plan per pet, not one reminder per year. Different items run on different cycles; a single annual reminder misses most of them.
• Channels owners read. In 2025, 90.22% of people aged 16–74 in Cyprus used instant messaging such as WhatsApp or Viber, against 76.92% who used email¹¹.
• Dates from real visits. If the next date is calculated from when the procedure was actually given, owners who come late are not reminded too early next time.
• An easy next step. A reminder should end with one action: call or message the clinic.