Access to veterinary care is unevenly distributed by income and geography, leaving millions of animals without treatment for preventable and treatable conditions.
Veterinary access inequity is a welfare justice issue: animals suffer from preventable and treatable conditions because their owners lack financial resources or geographic access to care. This is not a personal failure but a systemic one. The welfare implications are enormous — millions of animals living with unmanaged pain, dental disease, and chronic illness because care is out of reach. Low-cost clinic models, sliding scale fees, and telehealth expansion are all evidence-based approaches to closing this gap.