The big companies, known as consolidators, have bought hundreds of clinics from 2012 onwards, according to records and reports, across the country, because pets and vets are big money.
Sixty per cent of Canadians have a pet, according to a recent report from Mintel, a consumer research firm, and the country’s vet practices pull in around $9.3 billion a year according to a 2023 report prepared for the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association.
A 2023 report from the Ontario Veterinary Medical Association (OMVA) said corporate interests contol 20 per cent of veterinary hospitals in Canada, and estimates those chains employ about 40 per cent of the nation’s vets.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
He’s lucky he could take it over because, for more than a decade, large and often international companies have been snapping up local clinics here and around the world, a trend that intensified in Canada a few years before the pandemic.
In the Halifax area, for example, where Redgrave practises, CBC News checked out the 55 local clinics, finding 23 of them (42 per cent) are corporate-owned.
An Angus Reid survey found 60 per cent of consumers who took their pet to the vet for a routine checkup in 2022 said they felt they were charged too much.
In a Calgary dog park, Laurie Peterson told CBC News she’s on a budget but does her best “to pick independent” and has a vet she feels is affordable.
“I don’t believe consolidation is making pet care more expensive,” he said, pointing to inflation, rising rents and higher salaries as clinics compete for vets and staff as key issues.
In a statement, the VetStrategy chain said all its veterinarians and technicians have “clinical freedom to recommend and provide care that is best suited to both an animal’s medical needs and an owner’s financial position.”
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