Here’s Why Pet Owners Aren’t Using Apps to Share Vaccination Records
At VetVerifi, we sit at a unique intersection—right where pet services like boarding, grooming, daycare, and training overlap with veterinary care, especially when it comes to required vaccinations. Over the past few years, we’ve analyzed contributed data from 3,153 individual vet clinics, both corporate and independent, as well as over 50,000 pet service reservations across a wide array of services nationwide. More recently, we’ve engaged with thousands of individual pet owners to better understand their behavior surrounding their pet's vaccinations.
In doing this work, we’ve come across several misconceptions in the vet industry, particularly around how pet owners manage and share their pet's vaccination records. Today, we’re diving into the assumption that pet owners are using apps to share their pet’s vaccine records with service providers.
Myth: Pet Owners Use Apps to Share Their Pet's Vaccine Records with Pet Service Providers
There’s a common belief in the veterinary world that pet owners are leveraging mobile technology to manage and share their pet's health records. A statement we hear often from vet clinics is, "Our pet owners have an app with their records on it, and they can share it directly with groomers or other service providers." On paper, this sounds like a fantastic, seamless experience, right? The reality, though, is far different.
Across the 50,000+ pet service reservations we’ve examined, the number of times pet owners actually use an app to share their vaccination records is astonishingly low. So, why the disconnect?
Vet Clinic Apps: Useful, But Not for Sharing Records
It’s true that many clinics now have apps that extend their client communication systems. These apps are great for certain tasks—booking appointments, communicating with the clinic, accessing comprehensive health histories, and maybe even ordering medication or pet food. But when it comes to actually transporting those records from a vet clinic’s app to a pet service provider, it’s simply not happening.
Here’s why:
Transactional Vet Relationships: A surprising number of pet owners (by some reports, as many as 40%) use their vet clinic in a transactional way, particularly when it comes to vaccinations. For example, let’s say I need to get my dog’s Bordetella vaccine, but my regular vet can’t see me for a week. I might go to a vaccine-only clinic for a quick fix because they have same-day availability. That vaccination isn’t reflected in my regular vet clinic’s app, which renders the feature to share records useless in this case.
Limited Features in Apps: While some of the more modern apps do include a "share my records" feature, many older or less advanced apps don’t have this functionality at all. Even among those apps that do allow sharing, our data shows that the feature is rarely used by pet owners. Most people are simply not using these apps as a way to forward or share records with their groomers, boarding facilities, or daycare providers.
Service Providers Need More Information: A key limitation of these apps is that service providers often require information that isn’t easily accessible via the app. For instance, a pet resort might require proof of a fecal test, but this data may not even be stored in the app—or in some cases, not easily available from the clinic at all. In other words, even when the app can share basic vaccine records, it often can’t provide all the documentation a service provider needs.
App Screenshots Aren’t Enough: Many service providers don’t accept a screenshot from an app as a verified record. In those cases, they still need to contact the vet clinic directly to confirm that the vaccination record is accurate and up-to-date. So, even if a pet owner could send a screenshot from the app, it doesn’t necessarily meet the requirements of the service provider, leading to extra steps that the app was meant to eliminate in the first place.
The Reality: Pet Owners Want Seamless Access to Their Records, Not More Apps
What do pet owners really want? They’re not asking for more “techy” solutions to share their pet’s records. In fact, we’ve found that most pet owners are more focused on convenience than on adopting new technology for its own sake. They want their records to be easily accessible by the places they need to go—whether that’s a boarding facility, a groomer, or a daycare.
This isn’t just a minor preference; it’s about creating a seamless experience. The modern consumer doesn’t want to download another app that may or may not have the right features. Instead, they want a connected system where their pet’s records are automatically available to any service provider who needs them, without having to jump through hoops to make it happen.
Why This Matters for Veterinary Clinics
For veterinary clinics, this insight is crucial. While apps are valuable tools for maintaining communication with clients, they’re not solving the real problem when it comes to record sharing. Clinics should be aware that even if they have a high-tech app with all the bells and whistles, it doesn’t necessarily mean that pet owners are using it to meet the requirements of service providers.
In fact, clinics might want to explore more collaborative solutions that make sharing records easier for pet owners and service providers alike. This could mean integrating with platforms that pet service providers use, or at the very least, ensuring that records can be accessed and shared without requiring the pet owner to play the middleman.
Conclusion: A More Connected Experience is the Answer
At the end of the day, pet owners aren’t looking for more apps—they’re looking for better connectivity between their vet clinic and the services they use. The goal should be to create a seamless, automated experience where a pet’s records can flow easily to the people and businesses that need them. By addressing this need for accessibility, we can remove the friction from the process and ensure that pets get the care they need, while also making life easier for pet owners.