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 happened in the US. The quality dropped, the prices skyrocketed, and the staff stopped caring. They hid fees in prescriptions- $17 for 30 pills and $15 for 4 more because there’s a $12 dispensing fee hidden in every prescription. It took them a year to finally explain it to me. They fired me as a client (after 20+ years) when I questioned them. Find an independent clinic and support them!
Except in a lot of places there’s no option to switch to an independent clinic. In my area, you’re lucky to even have a vet in the first place. With the exception of one clinic that only deals with cats and another clinic with a questionable vet, all other clinics in my city are owned by the same company!