State report

State of Vet Care in Missouri

As of September 2026, Missouri has 757 veterinary practices tracked; 15.5% are corporately owned , led by CareVet with 18 in-state locations . 84.5% of practices remain independently owned , and 6.9% are actively hiring .

Key takeaways

  • 757 veterinary practices tracked in Missouri, of which 15.5% are corporately owned.
  • 10.3% of practices in Missouri are private-equity-backed.
  • CareVet (owned by Compass Group Equity Partners) leads all consolidators operating in the state with 18 locations.
  • General practices make up 87.5% of the state's practice mix.

Consolidation by city

At a glance

757
Practices tracked
84.5%
Independent
15.5%
Corporately owned
10.3%
PE-backed

6.9% of practices in Missouri are actively hiring.

Ownership breakdown in Missouri

Ownership type Practices Share
Independent 640 84.5%
PE-backed 78 10.3%
Corporate group 37 4.9%
Nonprofit 1 0.1%
National ownership-type breakdown, stacked by share Independent: 84.5% (640 practices) PE-backed: 10.3% (78 practices) Corporate group: 4.9% (37 practices) Nonprofit: 0.1% (1 practices) 85%10% Independent (84.5%) PE-backed (10.3%) Corporate group (4.9%) Nonprofit (0.1%)

Top consolidators operating in Missouri

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 CareVet Compass Group Equity Partners (Private Equity) 18 12.8%
2 Heartland Veterinary Partners Gryphon Investors 18 12.8%
3 Banfield Mars (Strategic) 18 12.8%
4 NVA TSG Consumer Partners (Private Equity) 16 11.3%
5 Vetco (Petco) Petco (Public) 13 9.2%
6 Mission Pet Health The Vets Pets (Private Equity) 10 7.1%
7 Blue River PetCare Apax Partners (Private Equity) 8 5.7%
8 Veterinary Practice Partners Audax Private Equity 7 5.0%
9 Alliance Animal Health Latticework Capital / Bridgepoint (Private Equity) 5 3.5%
10 VetCor Harvest Partners / Oak Hill Capital (Private Equity) 4 2.8%

Practice-type mix

Type Practices Share
General 662 87.5%
Mixed 32 4.2%
Mobile 22 2.9%
Specialty Referral 19 2.5%
Emergency 12 1.6%
Urgent Care 10 1.3%

Species mix

Segment Practices Share
Small Animal 536 70.8%
Mixed 197 26.0%
Equine 13 1.7%
Exotic 5 0.7%
Unspecified 2 0.3%
Food Animal 2 0.3%
Avian 1 0.1%
Other 1 0.1%

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Frequently asked questions

How many veterinary practices are in Missouri?

As of September 2026, VetPulse tracks 757 veterinary practices in Missouri.

What percentage of veterinary practices in Missouri are corporately owned?

15.5% of veterinary practices in Missouri are corporately owned — part of a consolidator, private-equity-backed group, or public company — while 84.5% remain independent.

Who is the largest veterinary consolidator in Missouri?

CareVet (owned by Compass Group Equity Partners) is the largest veterinary consolidator operating in Missouri, with 18 in-state locations.

What share of veterinary practices in Missouri are hiring?

6.9% of veterinary practices in Missouri 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 Missouri against every other state on the ownership & consolidation statistics page, or browse the rankings.