What Ownership Can and Can’t Tell You About Your Next Role

When you’re considering your next veterinary role, ownership can feel like a deciding factor. Working as a private practice veterinarian may bring to mind independence and close relationships, while corporate owned vet clinics may suggest structured systems, larger networks, and business expectations.

Those impressions can be part of the picture, but they rarely tell the whole story.

A supportive corporate hospital and a well-run independent practice can both offer meaningful careers. Both can also have challenges that affect your workload, professional autonomy, and well-being. Understanding ownership is a useful starting point. Looking at the people, expectations, and everyday experience behind it helps you decide where you can thrive.

What is a private practice?

Here, “private practice” refers to an independently owned clinic. Corporate groups can also be privately held, so the distinction is about who owns and operates the practice.

How Corporate Owned Vet Clinics Reshaped the Industry

Corporate consolidation has reshaped veterinary medicine as larger organizations have acquired individual hospitals and entire practice groups. Although consolidation has become increasingly visible over the last decade, it dates back further. For example, VCA was founded in 1986.

These acquisitions expanded hospital networks and the range of employers veterinarians encounter. A familiar neighborhood practice may now belong to a national organization while retaining its local name.

Who Owns Banfield and VCA?

Banfield and VCA are owned by Mars, Incorporated, and operate within Mars Veterinary Health. Banfield joined Mars in 2007, followed by VCA in 2017. Although many Banfield hospitals are located inside PetSmart stores, PetSmart does not own Banfield.

For veterinarians, understanding ownership is the first step toward understanding the workday. Who makes decisions? What support is available? How much authority stays with the local medical director and hospital team?

Corporate owned vet clinics can differ substantially in those answers, even within the same organization. How a hospital joined the group—and how it is managed today—can help explain those differences.

Different Ownership Paths Create Different Working Experiences

Hospitals become part of larger organizations in different ways. Some are purchased from existing owners, bringing an established team, client base, and workplace culture into a new structure. Others are developed as new locations, with facilities and teams built from the beginning.

For someone considering a role, these histories are worth understanding. At an acquired hospital, ask what has changed and what remains under local leadership. At a newly established practice, ask how staffing, mentorship, and workflows will be supported as the hospital grows.

Retail-based veterinary care adds another ownership model to consider. Banfield helped establish the in-store model through its PetSmart partnership beginning in 1994. Its history also includes franchise-style “charter practices,” where individual veterinarians operated hospitals under the Banfield name.

PetSmart introduced a separate program, PetSmart Veterinary Services, in 2022. This franchise model allows veterinarians to own and operate practices inside PetSmart stores while accessing business support and an established retail location. A hospital inside a national retailer can therefore still be veterinarian-owned while operating under the terms of a franchise agreement.

Rather than relying on appearances, ask who owns the business, who employs the team, and who makes medical and operational decisions. Once those responsibilities are clear, you can look more closely at what the role offers in daily practice.

What Life as a Private Practice Veterinarian Can Look Like

Working as a private practice veterinarian may offer close access to the owner, opportunities to influence workflows, and continuity with clients. The experience will depend on the practice’s leadership, resources, and approach to supporting its team.

Corporate owned vet clinics may offer established benefits, continuing education, administrative support, or opportunities across a wider hospital network. Ask what is available in the specific position and how team members access it. An employer’s size alone does not tell you how supported you will feel.

Both models have tradeoffs. Centralized systems may feel helpful to one veterinarian and restrictive to another. Direct access to an owner may encourage collaboration, but it does not automatically create a healthy workplace. Financial pressures and scheduling challenges can exist under either model.

Neither ownership structure tells you everything about a practice’s culture. Look at how leaders respond to concerns, how the team works together, and whether promised support is available when people need it.

Those everyday details can help you connect the opportunity in front of you with the career and working life you want to build.

Choose the Workplace That Supports Your Values

Whether you’re pursuing a private practice veterinarian role or considering a corporate hospital, start with what matters most to you. That might include consistent mentorship, manageable scheduling, room to develop a clinical interest, or greater involvement in practice decisions.

Bring those priorities into your conversations with potential employers:

• Clinical autonomy: How are treatment decisions made, and what happens when a veterinarian questions a protocol?
• Workload and support: How are appointments scheduled, and what technical support is available?
• Leadership and culture: How are concerns addressed, and can you speak with current team members?
• Professional growth: What does mentorship look like, and is time available for learning?
  

Ask for examples. How a clinic handled a staffing shortage or supported someone through a difficult case can reveal more than a general statement about culture. Give yourself room to ask follow-up questions and consider whether the answers reflect your priorities.

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At VetMatch Partners, we believe where you work should support your well-being as well as your professional goals. That is why we are selective about the practices and organizations we recruit for. We take time to understand their leadership, expectations, and working environment alongside your values, working style, and career direction.

Choosing between corporate and private medicine starts with understanding the opportunity beyond its ownership label. What has worked for you in the past? Is there anything you would like to change? How could the right support help you move forward? Those are the conversations we want to have.

Connect with us to discuss your goals and the kind of workplace where you can contribute, grow, and feel valued. Your next role should reflect the life and career you want to build.