
Can Pet Owners Get a Veterinary Appointment? What a Secret Shopper Study Revealed
From Veterinary Vertex by AVMA Journals
March 7, 2026 · 20 min
About this episode
The episode discusses a secret shopper study on veterinary appointment accessibility for pet owners.
Send us Fan Mail Worried pet parent meets phone tree is a stress spiral no one needs—so we put it to the test. We sat down with health services researcher Dr. Simon Haeder to unpack a large secret shopper study that mimicked real owners calling nearby clinics to book first-visit puppy care. Across six diverse states, the results upend common assumptions: two-thirds of callers landed an appointment, average waits hovered around six days, and typical drives were about 13 minutes. Even better, d...
People in this episode
Guest: Dr. Simon Haeder
Topics covered
- veterinary care
- pet ownership
- health services research
- appointment accessibility
- secret shopper study
Keywords
- veterinary appointment
- pet care
- secret shopper
- health services
- appointment wait times
- puppy care
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