State report

State of Vet Care in California

Name: Veterinary Practice Ownership & Consolidation Data — California
Creator: VetPulse
License: https://vetpulse.ai/methodology

As of September 2026, California has 3,243 veterinary practices tracked; 26.3% are corporately owned , led by VCA with 166 in-state locations . 73.7% of practices remain independently owned , and 11.6% are actively hiring .

Key takeaways

3,243 veterinary practices tracked in California, of which 26.3% are corporately owned.
12.0% of practices in California are private-equity-backed.
VCA (owned by Mars) leads all consolidators operating in the state with 166 locations.
General practices make up 81.3% of the state's practice mix.

Consolidation by city

At a glance

3,243

Practices tracked

73.7%

Independent

26.3%

Corporately owned

12.0%

PE-backed

11.6% of practices in California are actively hiring.

Ownership breakdown in California

Ownership type	Practices	Share
Independent	2,389	73.7%
PE-backed	389	12.0%
Corporate group	415	12.8%
Nonprofit	4	0.1%
Public company	1	0.0%

Top consolidators operating in California

Ranked by in-state locations. See the full national leaderboard on ownership & consolidation statistics.

#	Group	Ultimate owner	In-state locations	Share of corporate practices
1	VCA	Mars (Strategic)	166	18.6%
2	Banfield	Mars (Strategic)	119	13.3%
3	Vetco (Petco)	Petco (Public)	103	11.5%
4	PetVet Care Centers	KKR (Private Equity)	93	10.4%
5	NVA	TSG Consumer Partners (Private Equity)	71	7.9%
6	VetCor	Harvest Partners / Oak Hill Capital (Private Equity)	38	4.3%
7	Curo Pet Care	Curo Pet Care	37	4.1%
8	AmeriVet	North Castle Partners	35	3.9%
9	Thrive Pet Healthcare	TSG Consumer Partners (Private Equity)	31	3.5%
10	Mission Pet Health	The Vets Pets (Private Equity)	27	3.0%

Practice-type mix

Type	Practices	Share
General	2,636	81.3%
Mobile	223	6.9%
Specialty Referral	160	4.9%
Emergency	115	3.5%
Urgent Care	77	2.4%
Mixed	26	0.8%
Telehealth	6	0.2%

Species mix

Segment	Practices	Share
Small Animal	2,889	89.1%
Mixed	223	6.9%
Equine	92	2.8%
Exotic	23	0.7%
Other	10	0.3%
Food Animal	3	0.1%
Avian	2	0.1%
Unspecified	1	0.0%

Browse by city

Frequently asked questions

How many veterinary practices are in California?

As of September 2026, VetPulse tracks 3,243 veterinary practices in California.

What percentage of veterinary practices in California are corporately owned?

26.3% of veterinary practices in California are corporately owned — part of a consolidator, private-equity-backed group, or public company — while 73.7% remain independent.

Who is the largest veterinary consolidator in California?

VCA (owned by Mars) is the largest veterinary consolidator operating in California, with 166 in-state locations.

What share of veterinary practices in California are hiring?

11.6% of veterinary practices in California are actively hiring, based on live job-signal data.

Every figure above is queried live from our practice-level dataset — see the methodology for how ownership is triangulated from multiple independent sources. Compare California against every other state on the ownership & consolidation statistics page, or browse the rankings.