Walmart adds low-cost vet clinics and new online pet pharmacy

Walmart is launching an online pet pharmacy and adding veterinary clinics to 100 stores.The vet clinics will offer services such as exams, vaccinations, and treatments for minor illnesses at discounts of up to 60% off, according to Walmart.“Millennial dog owners ... spend up to $1,285 a year on their furry friends, with the majority of spend going towards vet care and vaccinations, food and supplies,” a Walmart executive said. “We're about to bring that cost down.”Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.Walmart is launching an online pet pharmacy and adding veterinary clinics to 100 stores as US shoppers' pet spending balloons.Starting Tuesday, the new online pharmacy, WalmartPetRx.com, will deliver pet medications from more than 300 brands to customers' homes and businesses. Orders costing more than $35 will qualify for Walmart's free, two-day shipping.Walmart said it will add pet medications to its stores as well. By the end of May, the company will carry the top 30 requested pet medications for same-day pickup from its 4,500 US pharmacies. Read more: Millennials make up 35% of US pet owners and are spending more on pet food than any other generationWalmart also said Tuesday that it's adding vet clinics to dozens of stores that will offer services such as exams, vaccinations, and treatments for minor illnesses at discounts of up to 60% off. The company now has 21 vet clinics in six states. The number of clinics will grow to 100 over the next 12 months, Walmart said. These moves should help Walmart attract a greater share of shoppers' pet spending, which doubled between 2005 and 2018 to reach more than $72 billion, according to the American Pet Products Association.Much of this spending growth has been driven by millennials, who account for the largest demographic of pet owners in the US.Millennials are waiting longer than older generations to have children and buy homes, and they are spending a greater share of their discretionary income on premium foods, veterinary care, and clothing for their pets. “They treat them like it was their firstborn child,” Beverley Petrunich, owner of DoGone Fun, a dog-day-care center in Chicago, said of millennials' pet spending in an interview last year with The Wall Street Journal.Walmart cited millennials' spending on their dogs in a blog post announcing the company's new pet services.“Millennial dog owners... spend up to $1,285 a year on their furry friends, with the majority of spend going towards vet care and vaccinations, food and supplies,” wrote Kieran Shanahan, senior vice president of retail for Walmart US ecommerce. “We're about to bring that cost down.”