Is private equity behind the surging cost of veterinary care? 

Michael Marmesh, co-owner of the Coconut Grove Animal Clinic in Miami, has received several approaches from larger companies looking to buy the family business. But the vet, who first joined his father at the practice in 1978, has resisted even as peers across the city sold up. “My experience has been that if we had a corporate takeover, it costs my clients more and the quality of medicine goes down. I’d like to retire but I wouldn’t want to sell to them — I’d like her to take over,” he said, nodding to his daughter Kate, who works alongside him at the clinic. Soaring demand for veterinary care amid a surge in pet ownership has sparked a rush of consolidation in the sector, led both by large companies and private equity firms.Meanwhile, the cost for consumers has surged. The Office for National Statistics estimates that the cost of vet and other pet services in the UK has risen about 50 per cent since 2015. The average price of an annual pet vaccination has almost doubled over the past 15 years to £64, according to consumer rights site Which?Detector dogs of the Turkish Provincial Gendarmerie Command receive health checks and treatment at Bingol University Animal Hospital © Ridvan Korkulutas/Anadolu via Getty ImagesUS prices for veterinary services have jumped roughly 60 per cent in the past decade, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. American spending on pet services is expected to hit $112bn in 2030, according to research by Morgan Stanley, up from $48bn in 2019. Critics of the “roll up” strategy say the price rises stem from reduced competition in what was once a “mom and pop” business. The industry counters that bill inflation is more the result of advances in animal healthcare and of owners expecting ever more sophisticated treatments for their increasingly pampered pets.“We’ve gone from a dog in the yard, to dog in the house, to dog in the bed,” said David Steinberg of Marlowe Partners, a New York-based fund that invests in animal health companies. “Life expectancy is going up because there are new treatments that were never there before. It’s a new paradigm.”Regardless of the cause, pet owners are often left aghast when hit by a vet bill. “My dog Leo got a foxtail seed stuck in his nose and the vet asked us for €600 for a trip to the emergency room,” said Elisa Pizzetti, a video editor in Milan. “These prices are wild. I love him, I would do anything for him, but it really is a lot — my annual gynaecological check-up is cheaper than Leo’s annual vaccines”New Yorker Josh Bombart said the bill for his husky “runs close to $600 or more just for a check-up and yearly vaccines. Because she is older they recommend all this extra expensive [work] — who knows if it does anything’.”Some of the largest vet consolidators include JAB-owned National Veterinary Associates, KKR-owned PetVet, London-listed CVS, Mars’s Veterinary Health and EQT-backed IVCE Evidensia. Mars starte