Teesside's ONLY independent Cat Charity covering Stockton, Yarm, M'bro & beyond
Teesside's ONLY independent Cat Charity covering Stockton, Yarm, M'bro & beyond
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Until a change in the law in 1999, only qualified veterinary surgeons could own vet clinics. This meant most practices were small businesses run by partners who knew their patients and played an important role in the community.
By 2013, about 10% of vet practices were owned by six large corporations; by late 2024 that figure rose to 60%. Most pet owners don't realise this, as four out of six practices keep the name and branding of the previous independent business.
(Rupert Neate, The Guardian, 2024)
Put simply - YES.
Profits before pets has become the norm for many practices, even though the vets themselves don't want this. Pressure to hit targets, refer for tests that don't affect outcomes and to upsell services such as screening, profiles and petplans means that many vets are no longer making their own clinical decisions - they're contracted and pressured to make money instead of focusing on the best actions for the animals.
“Not being able to help animals, which is what we’ve been trained to do and what we love to do, is causing staff distress.”
Corporatisation has also meant increased workloads: Valley Vets staff report seeing a new animal every 15 to 20 minutes, for hours on end. Not only is this stressful for staff, but it means that the chance of making a mistake - accidental overdose, admitting the wrong animal, delivering incorrect news to an anxious pet owner – shoots up.
These are the large vet companies (that own over 60% of the UK Market) and who catalysed the need for a scrutiny of the vet sector in 2023. The overall findings of the Competition and Markets Authority for the UK Government are available, but have had all of the financial information from their Financial Analysis redacted (for unspecified reasons).
However, you can find a short and simple overview of these profit-led companies here.
The steep rise in fees from Big Six profit-making has led to pet owners being forced to reject treatment on the basis of cost. At its starkest, vets are seeing more “economic euthanasia”: pet owners opting to put down an animal with a good chance of recovery because they can’t afford to treat them.
Put simply - Choose an INDEPENDENT clinic.
That might sound easy, but there's a lot of misleading statements out there. For instance:
"Our locally owned practice is taking new clients. Local people. Local pets.
Register today to put the paws you love in the hands you trust."
This is a statement from Vets4Pets, who are leading a huge campaign to make their practices appear independent - but they're no more independent than 'owning' any other franchise (like a branch of Subway, for instance!)
Prices, support services (owned by the Pets at Home group) and a whole host of other essential aspects are completely controlled by the larger company (not the individual franchises) and are non-negotiable - leading to fundamental effects on the outcomes for both pets and owners.
Suzanna Hudson-Cooke (chair of the British Veterinary Union (BVU), part of Unite) states that “When the practice is owned by a veterinary professional, decision-making about the reinvestment of profit centres on clinical matters. When your company is owned by private equity, reinvestments are made on the basis of generating more profit.”
So please; don't be fooled.
Ask the following specific questions when choosing your vet practice:
"Are you COMPLETELY independent?"
"Are you part of ANY larger group or ownership, in ANY way whatsoever?"
In 2023, the UK government acknowledged that there was a pressing need to address the issue of Profits before Pets, tasking the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to investigate the issue. You can read the reasons for this in the 2023 Veterinary Sector Concerns and the all the associated information in the March 2026 Final Outcomes
Fast-forward to today and some really positive changes ARE being made:
2026 Vet Sector Reforms - An Overview
Will this fix the problem? In our opinion, it's a very good start, but it's highly unlikely that the Big Six will just roll over to have their tummies tickled and say "Fair enough, the profits were great while it lasted."
Marketing is already become more misleading, structures are being reshuffled and rebranded to hide the involvement of larger companies, alongside name changes and company directors being replaced at an unprecedented pace.
Words such as "local", "family" and "independent" are being liberally scattered through marketing campaigns and rebranding exercises, almost as if they are being deliberately misused to deceive consumers. So, much like tummy tickles - be careful of obvious traps!
Please - research your vet clinic VERY CAREFULLY.