CALIFORNIA — The sign over the door may still carry the name of a trusted neighborhood veterinarian, but the company behind the practice may be a multinational corporation or a Wall Street investment firm.
That leaves owners wondering which vets in their neighborhood may have been sold to private equity firms.
That reality is the focus of Private Equity Vet, an independent website that tracks ownership of veterinary hospitals across the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.
California dog owner Francis Wong created the database after he says his dachshund, Pluto, died following treatment at a clinic he later discovered was owned by a private equity-backed company.
Wong said he launched the site to help pet owners identify who ultimately owns veterinary practices and better understand the rapid consolidation reshaping the profession.
In addition to increasing transparency about veterinary ownership, the database illustrates how dramatically veterinary medicine has changed over the past two decades.
Corporate ownership represented about 10 percent of U.S. veterinary practices roughly a decade ago.
Today, estimates range from 30 percent to as much as 50 percent. In specialty veterinary medicine, including emergency care, oncology, cardiology, and surgery, corporate ownership is estimated at approximately 75 percent, according to PBS NewsHour.
Once dominated by independently owned neighborhood clinics, the industry has become a target for acquisitions by private equity firms, publicly traded investment companies and privately owned corporate operators. Private Equity Vet tracks all three ownership models.
Independent veterinarian-owned practices remain under the control of one or more practicing veterinarians, with business and medical decisions generally made locally.
In contrast, private equity-backed consolidators purchase veterinary hospitals, combine them into larger regional or national networks, and seek to increase the value of those businesses before selling or refinancing them.
Examples include PetVet Care Centers, owned by private equity firm KKR; VetCor, majority owned by Harvest Partners; and National Veterinary Associates, owned by JAB Consumer Partners.
A third category includes privately owned corporate consolidators such as Curo Pet Care and Mars Veterinary Health, the veterinary care division of Mars Inc., the privately held family-owned company best known for consumer brands including M&M's, Snickers, Pedigree, Royal Canin, Greenies and Whiskas.
These companies also acquire veterinary hospitals, but say they rely on family or company capital rather than private equity investment funds.
For example, Curo Pet Care describes itself as "a family owned hospital operator" that invests its own capital. Its three founders also describe identifying veterinary medicine as an attractive long-term investment opportunity.
Private Equity Vet classifies Curo as a "privately and venture funded corporate consolidator," distinguishing it from traditional private equity ownership.
The distinction matters because not every consolidator is backed by an investment fund.
From a pet owner's perspective, however, each model represents a shift away from the traditional independently owned neighborhood practice they may think they are choosing to care for their pet.
Ownership frequently changes without obvious signs for clients. Hospital names, veterinarians, and staff often remain the same after ownership transfers to a corporation managing hundreds of locations.
Wong said private equity firms are increasingly targeting veterinary practices because they see an opportunity to extract strong profits from a growing and emotionally driven industry.
After Pluto was struck by a car, Wong said he sought treatment at what appeared to be an independent veterinary hospital.
After Pluto died, Wong said he was offered a refund of his approximately $13,000 veterinary bill if he agreed to sign a nondisclosure agreement. That would have kept him from speaking publicly about the services, the bill, and the refund. He declined.
He later learned the practice had been acquired by PetVet Care Centers, which is owned by the global investment firm, KKR.
He discovered that in December 2017, KKR acquired PetVet Care Centers, then operating approximately 125 veterinary hospitals in 22 states.
PetVet has since expanded to more than 420 hospitals nationwide, with independent industry estimates placing the network closer to 450 hospitals.
A search on privateequityvet.org indicates that some of the nation's largest veterinary networks now include more than 1,100 Banfield Pet Hospital locations, approximately 870 VCA Animal Hospitals, more than 1,000 National Veterinary Associates hospitals, more than 900 VetCor locations, and hundreds of additional practices owned by other consolidators.
The largest corporate owner is Mars Inc. Although Mars is not a private equity firm, it has assembled more than 2,000 veterinary hospitals and diagnostic facilities, making it one of the world's largest veterinary businesses.
The company acquired Banfield Pet Hospital in 2007, BluePearl Veterinary Partners in 2015, VCA Animal Hospitals for $9.1 billion in 2017, and later expanded internationally by acquiring AniCura and the Linnaeus Group in Europe.
In the Bay Area alone, dozens of veterinarian clinics are owned by the largest private equity companies in the United States, including Mars, VCA, KKR, according to the database and corporate information.
None of the half dozen vet offices contacted agreed to speak to Patch by press time. They did not return calls and messages asking to confirm or discuss their ownership, or said they did not want to comment, while some asked for a follow up call with office managers but after the press deadline.
Like many consolidators, PetVet generally retains local hospital names while providing centralized administrative support. PetVet and other consolidators like it say the centralization reduces costs and lets vets focus on care.
But as consolidation accelerated, federal regulators increased scrutiny.
For example, when Mars announced its acquisition of VCA Animal Hospitals in 2017, the Federal Trade Commission concluded the merger threatened competition in specialty and emergency veterinary care in 10 local markets.
Rather than block the transaction, the FTC required Mars to divest 12 veterinary hospitals before completing the acquisition. Those hospitals were sold to competing operators, including PetVet Care Centers, Pathway Vet Alliance and National Veterinary Associates.
Federal regulators expanded that scrutiny in 2022 when JAB Consumer Partners sought to acquire Ethos Veterinary Health for approximately $1.65 billion.
JAB already owned National Veterinary Associates and Compassion-First Pet Hospitals, two of the country's largest veterinary chains.
According to the FTC's complaint, the proposed acquisition reflected a growing trend toward consolidation in emergency and specialty veterinary care. The commission required JAB to divest hospitals in San Francisco, Denver, Richmond, Virginia and the Washington, D.C. area before completing the transaction.
Regulators also imposed prior approval and prior notice requirements governing many future veterinary acquisitions. The FTC approved the final consent order by a 5-0 vote.
Federal scrutiny intensified again in January 2025 when the U.S. Department of Justice sued KKR, alleging the investment firm violated the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act at least 16 times by withholding required merger documents, altering documents submitted to regulators, and failing to make required premerger filings.
The lawsuit does not focus specifically on veterinary acquisitions. Instead, it alleges KKR repeatedly failed to comply with federal merger reporting requirements across multiple industries. The case remains pending, and KKR has disputed the allegations.
Wong has said the website's goal extends beyond tracking private equity firms.
The site also documents layers of ownership by large corporate operators and the smaller vet companies they acquire. That lets pet owners know who ultimately owns the veterinary hospital caring for their animals so they can make informed decisions about where they seek treatment and the bills they are asked to pay for that care.
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