Why do many pet owners avoid preventive veterinary consultations? Creation of the perceived barriers to preventive...

Preventive veterinary consultations can greatly increase the quality of life and lifespan of pets, but many people do not regularly take their pet to preventive veterinary consultations. Researchers have found that perceived barriers are among the strongest predictors of whether pet owners attend preventive veterinary consultations; however, a limitation of this literature is the investigation of only one or two perceived barriers at a time within studies, which poses concerns regarding the predictive abilities and psychometric properties of measures when multiple perceived barriers are studied together. The current article resolves this tension in the literature. We undergo a four-study scale development process to create the Perceived Barriers to Preventive Veterinary Consultations (PBPVC) Scale, which assesses the eight most commonly expressed perceived barriers to preventive veterinary consultations. Our results demonstrate that the PBPVC produces appropriate psychometric and validity information, and the dimensions together explain significant variance in the frequency that participants take their pets to preventive veterinary consultations. In our discussion, we identify theoretical lenses relevant to the dimensions that produced the most consistent relations with relevant correlates and outcomes, which were the perception that preventive veterinary consultations are expensive (Cost) and preventive veterinary consultations do not benefit pet well-being (Unneeded). By doing so, the present article opens several avenues for future research to better understand why pet owners may refuse preventive veterinary consultations.