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Protect your pet

“People are waking up to the fact that feline veterinary medicine is a growth factor,” said Jon Ayers, former longtime CEO of IDEXX Laboratories.

Feline health, which has long lagged that of dogs, is entering a transformative period. This is driven mainly by the sudden maturity of AI and the proliferation of home feline health monitoring tools. 

The underserved feline health market represents a massive missed opportunity. According to CATalyst Council, the U.S. feline veterinary market has the potential to grow 2.5 times to US$32 billion if feline medicalisation matched that of dogs.

In a wide-ranging interview with Feline Business Brief, Ayers outlined:

Ayers began by pointing out a stark discrepancy underpinning the state of feline health today: “Less than one-third of cats in households go to the vet in any one year - that's a U.S. number - compared to over two-thirds of dogs in households.”

The CATalyst Council defines this as the “feline medicalisation gap.”

At the same time, Ayers noted: “The fact is that felines benefit from care, no less than canines. Their issues are different because, simple concept, they're different species.”

According to IDEXX data, the average age of cats at death / euthanasia has increased from 12.3 years in 2010 to 14.4 years in 2024 (an 18% increase). Dogs showed a smaller improvement, from 11.6 years to 13.4 years (16% increase).

Cats hide disease more effectively:

The stress factor:

Price sensitivity:

Veterinarian discomfort and training gaps:

These four factors have created decades-long structural barriers to care for cats. AI, Ayers argued, is about to unwind each one.

A. Behavioural AI and at-home monitoring will reduce missed illness

Ayers sees emerging home behaviour assessment technologies as the first major shift. These include Sylvester.ai, which uses AI to assess pain in cats’ facial expressions (which Ayers invested in last week), smart litter boxes, health trackers, smart feeders and water fountains.

“How cats behave in the home is much more natural and comfortable. You can learn a lot about the history of the cat that you would never know without technology such as Sylvester.ai and other related technologies,” Ayers said.

Health signals such as elimination frequency, water intake, weight trends can prompt the cat caregiver to seek veterinary care earlier.

B. Calming technologies help reduce feline stress

Ayers also highlighted calming innovations such as Pet Acoustics’ species-specific music, as well as other approaches such as pheromones and medicinal relaxants.

The idea is straightforward: a calmer cat leads to a more confident vet, which in turn leads to a better exam and a higher likelihood of return visits.

C. AI-enabled price transparency may reshape the U.S. veterinary market

Veterinary service inflation has exceeded general inflation by > 60% in the consumer price index over the past two decades.

Ayers believes that AI-powered price comparison platforms will put competitive pressure on practices. The first clinics that publish or promote prices will draw clients, putting pressure on others to follow.

“It only takes 10% to 20% of the market to push another 60% into following along, because otherwise they suffer a further decline in their clientele,” he said.

D. Decision-support AI will raise vets’ confidence, especially with cats.

Ayers pointed out how large language models (LLMs) already produce high-quality differential diagnoses, highlight comorbidities, flag overlooked data points, and outline next steps more systematically than most humans can.

Ayers believes that feline health is seeing the kind of inflection point that canine care saw years ago:

This moment did not exist during his tenure at IDEXX Laboratories, he adds. The shift began around 2019 and has accelerated dramatically since 2022.

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Ayers is bullish on:

We ended the conversation on a personal note. When asked what draws him to felines so much, Ayers replied:

“I can’t explain it. God told me to take care of cats.”

Ayers now supports 41 types of felines, chairs Panthera, and contributes to local trap-neuter-release (TNR), rehabilitation and health initiatives.

AI alone will not “fix” feline health. It will, however, reduce the practical frictions that have held back feline access to veterinary care for decades.

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Jon Ayers was Chairman, President and CEO of IDEXX Laboratories from 2002 to 2019, overseeing its transformation into a global veterinary diagnostics leader and growing revenues from US$380 million to US$2.4 billion.

In 2019, a devastating cycling accident left Ayers quadriplegic. Instead of stepping away, he redirected his energy toward conservation, philanthropy, and continued strategic work. His journey offers a rare example of tremendous resilience and leadership.

With deep experience across diagnostics, software, therapeutics and industry consolidation, Ayers brings a deep understanding of where veterinary medicine has come from, and where it’s headed. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a degree in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale.