Today's a great day to celebrate our furry BFFs and the happiness they inevitably bring to our life. At FLAVORx, pets are important to us as we're helping make medicine-time easier for not only children, but dogs, cats, and even lizards too with our FLAVORx for Pets line.

The veterinary medicine market is booming. 

Pet owners spent an estimated $72 billion on their pets in 2018, $15.5 billion of which was spent on medication for their furry family members.

Retail pharmacies can capture a share of this profitable market by offering veterinary compounding and medicine flavoring.

“It’s safe to say that 65 to 70 percent of the patients [pharmacies] are currently filling scripts for probably have a pet at home,” said Chris Cielewich, Vice President of FLAVORx. “If they’re not getting their prescription from you, then that’s an opportunity to grow your business.”

Sarah Henderson, a Certified Pharmacy Technician who has spent 18 years working in both chain and independent retail pharmacies, believes veterinary medicine is an excellent way for pharmacies to build relationships with their customers.

“I love getting to know the little things about my customers, such as their birthdays or the names of their children or grandchildren,” said Mrs. Henderson. “I even know their pets’ names because they’ve become regulars!”

Its official, the Millennial generation has surpassed the Baby Boomers as the largest U.S. pet-owning population, according to data released by research during the Global Pet Expo 2015. 35.2% of the U.S. Millennial population are pet owners, compared to 32.8% of Boomers. The percentage of Millennials owning a pet is only going to grow as studies show that, pet-free Millennials are 39% more likely to own a cat or dog in the future, and are 77% more likely than any other generation to get a pet while unmarried and not a parent.

Why is this so important to pharmacies that cater to selling pet goods in their front store as well as fill pet medications? Because Millennials shop differently and if you want to attract them to your store, you will need to know what they are looking for.

Getting a pet to take their medication is not an easy task. Many pet owners are familiar with stories like covering a pill in peanut butter just to find out the dog has licked the peanut butter off while avoiding the pill or the owner trying to pretend the pill is a treat just to see their pet ignore it completely.

Bernadine Cruz, DVM, a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), finds that between half and two-thirds of her clients prescribed medicine for their pets fall off after about six months. “In spite of their desire to help their pets maintain a high quality of life, they tend to have a low adherence rate,” she says. In fact, clients stop giving their pets certain medications as quickly as five or six days, she adds. As with adherence to human medication, this problem can be both dangerous and expensive. So what can a pharmacist do?

It’s a simple fact, people no longer think of their pet as just domesticated animals, but more of a member of the family. Because of this transition, sales of U.S. pet products and services are continuing to grow. In 2014, sales for pet products and services reached $73 billion dollars and according to experts these sales will only continue to grow.

Why is this information important to you? Because pets are just another way for you to expand the sales to your existing customers as well as attract more customers to your pharmacy! By filling prescriptions for animals, you open your pharmacy up to be a one-stop-shop, people are able to pick up their whole families medication all in one spot.