My Yellow lab has had his moments—everything from leg issues as a puppy to lump removals as he got older. Cosmo is almost ten now and still very much a lab. Puppyish, loving, cuddly, and energetic, but pet care costs are getting out of hand.
The last quote I got for some minor superficial surgery had at least two dozen line items on it. Every action had a price tag. There were numerous additional charges. Everything is line-itemed. It reeks of profit over practice. And according to Vets, it’s a huge problem.
Corporations view the booming pet industry as an opportunity, and they are acquiring clinics and promoting revenue targets ahead of necessary care.
Many corporate-owned clinics have begun implementing monthly performance metrics that include quotas for procedures like surgeries and diagnostic tests. Several veterinarians, speaking anonymously, report that these quotas often pressure them to recommend invasive or costly treatments that may not be strictly necessary. The intention? Boost clinic revenue and meet shareholder expectations. The result? Ethical compromises that strike at the heart of the profession.
This shift fundamentally changes the patient-care dynamic. Where once decisions were made based on what’s best for the animal, now those decisions are often filtered through a financial lens. The traditional “treat conservatively first” model is being replaced with a fast-track to drugs and surgery. And if those interventions fail? Euthanasia often becomes the final, heartbreaking stop.
Corporate interests are acquiring local clinics, animal hospitals, and even pet insurance operations, thereby gaining total control over care, practice, pricing, coverage, and more. In some instances, you might not even be able to escape them because they own all the locally available resources. They offer oversized hard-to-turn-down buyouts and systematize operations.
In this clip from X, a veterinarian who attended a conference discusses it.
Pets are big business. Billions and billions. From food to toys, treats, prevention and care, treatment, surgery, and more. Yuge. It makes sense that big business would want to get in on that action. Still, it is doing so at the expense of the sort of lower-cost, personalized care people used to be able to get before the rise of the Public Health industrial complex and the triad of Hospitals, Big Pharma, and health insurers.
As a service to our readers, if you know a local veterinarian who is independent and passionate about animals, please share that information in the comments. A list of several options around the state would be great, as well as for our readers in other states.
I can’t say for sure that my vet got corporatized, but it sounds like that is the trend. While it has the potential to lower costs by offering volume discounts on many things, these new owners appear to be taking it (at least anecdotally) in the opposite direction.
