Goodbye Family Vet

Is the local, family-run vet clinic a fading business model?

Big Business

Animal medicine is a big business that looks a lot like its human counterpart.

Pets are part of the family, and more people are willing to go into debt to pay for their animals' care.

• Americans spent a record $158 billion on their pets in 2025. About $41 billion of that went to vet care.

♦ Veterinary clinics have become very attractive to investors. About one-quarter of regular vet clinics and three-quarters of specialty and emergency clinics are now owned by corporations.

That quarter of clinics brings in about half of all the money spent on vet care. Ten-plus years ago, only about 8% of clinics were corporate-owned.

• Many vet offices have been replaced by animal hospitals outfitted with expensive MRI machines, sophisticated lab equipment and round-the-clock intensive care units.

Dogs and cats often see highly trained specialists in neurology, cardiology and oncology.

♦ This high-tech care has spurred a booming market. As of 2024, vet prices had soared more than 60 percent over the past decade.

Private equity firms and large corporations have bought hundreds of clinics around the country, a buying spree that looks a lot like what happened with doctors' offices.

From 2017 to 2022, private equity spent $45 billion on deals in the veterinary industry.

• Private equity firms say their money gives clinics the capital to buy better technology and run more efficiently. And in many cases, corporate chains can offer their employees better benefits, like health insurance.

Prices have also gone up because of the rising cost of drugs, vaccines and other supplies, and paying workers in a tight labor market.

♦ Thanks to more advanced medicine, pets today can survive serious illnesses, like cancer, that once would have been unthinkable.

As corporate managers push clinics to become more efficient profit centers, vets are often paid based on how much money they bring in. That creates an incentive to see more pets, order more tests, and upsell wellness plans and food.

♦ The result is an increasingly unsustainable situation for pet owners, most of whom don't have pet insurance.

Why investors love vet clinics

The vet industry is attractive because it's mostly made up of small, privately owned businesses that corporations can buy and combine into bigger chains. And it's mainly a cash business. Unlike human health care, pet owners usually pay out of pocket instead of relying on insurance companies.

• In some cases, private equity firms and other corporations buy community clinics from the vets who own them for two, five or even ten times what they're worth. Then the firms roll them up into a larger chain that can corner a regional market.

♦ It's a strategy that can push other independent owners out of the business.

Private equity's move into human health care in recent years has drawn public outrage and scrutiny from lawmakers. Firms have been blamed for raising prices, cutting services and closing hospitals to boost profits for their investors.

Now some vets and advocates are sounding the alarm that private equity in pet care could lead to the same results.

Some states (Minnesota, New Jersey, New York and North Carolina) already have laws that bar non-veterinarians from owning vet practices.

Inevitably, some corporations will find ways to get around state laws.

Be aware

Some private equity-backed chains buy vet practices and don't rename them. So you likely won't know the ownership has changed.

It can look like you're getting care from your local vet, when in fact the private equity owners are pushing them to bring in more money.

♦ The biggest owner? Mars, the candy company. It owns Banfield, VCA and BluePearl. Yes, the same company that makes M&M's may own your vet. Other big names include National Veterinary Associates (NVA) and Thrive.

• Want to know who owns your vet? Just ask the front desk. You can also check the fine print at the bottom of the clinic's website.

A big jump in prices should make you wonder. And you may want to hold your wallet a little tighter.