IVC Evidensia is the largest veterinary group in the UK and in Europe. Our index holds 978 UK practices owned by the group — more than twice the size of CVS. As of September 2026, 428 of those 978 practices now publish a consultation price, 369 publish a microchip fee and 342 publish a dog castration price. Across those prices, IVC Evidensia sits at the upper end of the market on most routine services.
Almost every IVC practice trades under the name it had before acquisition, so the average owner has no idea they're using the country's biggest corporate group or what its pricing looks like. Below is everything the published prices tell us.
Typical IVC Evidensia prices, September 2026 (typical price across published branches)
- Standard consultation: £66.00 (range £24.99–£83.00)
- Annual booster — dog: £81.50
- Annual booster — cat: £83.00
- Microchip: £40.00 — the most expensive of any UK group
- Cat castration: £126.00
- Cat spay: £177.00
- Dog castration (medium dog): £352.00 (range £200–£515)
- Dog spay (medium dog): £470.00
Source: vetpricecomparisonsite.co.uk index, 978 IVC Evidensia practices, of which 446 publish a consultation fee. Sample sizes shown per service. The highest and lowest value are trimmed before each median. Snapshot 23 September 2026.
Who IVC Evidensia is
Independent Vetcare launched in 2011 and merged with Sweden's Evidensia in 2017. The combined group is backed by EQT, Silver Lake and Nestlé, and today runs around 2,500 clinics across Europe with the UK as its largest single market. It owns first-opinion surgeries, referral hospitals, out-of-hours providers and the Vets Now emergency network.
Its defining feature for pet owners is invisibility. Unlike Vets4Pets or Medivet, IVC almost never rebrands. Your local surgery keeps the family name over the door and the same staff behind the desk, and there is usually nothing on the website to indicate corporate ownership. The Competition and Markets Authority singled out exactly this in its market investigation: owners can't compare what they can't identify. Check your own practice on our who owns my vet lookup, or see the full IVC Evidensia hub.
IVC Evidensia consultation prices
Across the 446 IVC practices publishing a fee, the median consultation is £66. The distribution is unusual: a small cluster of practices advertise a low headline figure — several at £24.99, typically a nurse consultation or an introductory rate — alongside a main body charging £60–£83. The median is the number to use.
Two practical warnings follow. First, a low advertised consultation at an IVC practice is often not the vet appointment you actually need. Second, at £66 the median sits £10 above the independent median of £56, so the group is expensive at the point of entry even before treatment — and it is now the dearest consultation of any major UK group, having overtaken CVS at £65.
IVC Evidensia vaccination costs
- Annual dog booster: median £81.50 — £20.50 above the independent median of £62.
- Annual cat booster: median £83 — £18.12 above independents.
- Puppy primary course: typically £90–£130 across the practices that publish one.
Only CVS charges more for a dog booster, and by just £2.50. Our cat and booster vaccination cost guide shows what the wider market charges.
IVC Evidensia microchipping — the most expensive in the UK
At a median £40, IVC microchipping is the dearest of any group we track: 60% above the independent median of £25, and 82% above CVS at £22. Microchipping is a legal requirement for dogs and for cats in England, and it is a five-minute procedure. If your practice is IVC-owned and quotes you £40 to chip a kitten, it is worth ringing two other practices first — our postcode search will show you who's nearby and what they publish.
IVC Evidensia neutering costs
This is where the gap becomes serious money:
- Cat castration: £126 median vs £98 for independents — 31% more.
- Cat spay: £177 median vs £138 — £39 more.
- Dog castration (medium dog): £352 median vs £245.00 for independents and £233 at Medivet — £119 more than Medivet for the same procedure.
- Dog spay (medium dog): £470 median vs £330 for independents — a £140 gap, the largest single-service gap among the groups compared.
These figures now rest on 330–368 published prices rather than the 64–98 we had in early August, so they are no longer a thin sample: IVC is the most expensive group for every neutering category, by a wide margin. Our dog neutering cost guide puts these numbers in context against the whole market.
IVC Evidensia health plans
IVC has some of the widest health-plan coverage of any group: 260 practices publish a plan, and because each surgery keeps its own brand, the plans have local names rather than one national scheme. Typical 2026 pricing is £16–£28 a month for a dog and £12–£20 for a cat, covering the annual booster, parasite treatment, health checks and a service discount.
Given IVC's booster prices, a plan will often pay for itself faster here than at a group with cheap vaccinations — but as always it covers no illness or injury. See our vet care plans guide.
IVC Evidensia vs the other big groups
| Service | IVC Evidensia | CVS | Medivet | Independents |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard consultation | £66.00 | £65.00 | £60.00 | £56.00 |
| Annual booster — dog | £81.50 | £84.00 | £70.00 | £62.00 |
| Microchip | £40.00 | £22.00 | — | £25.00 |
| Cat spay | £177.00 | £158.00 | £139.00 | £138.00 |
| Dog castration (medium) | £352.00 | £243.00 | £233.00 | £245.00 |
| Dog spay (medium) | £470.00 | £353.00 | £320.00 | £330.00 |
IVC finishes last on every line in this table. It is also the most expensive entry in our Corporate Pricing League Table, which ranks every major group on the same basket using live data.
Regional variation
Counties with at least 15 IVC practices publishing a consultation fee:
| County | Practices sampled | Avg consultation | Avg dog booster |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sussex | 22 | £70.39 | £88.32 |
| Surrey | 15 | £68.64 | £89.73 |
| Kent | 21 | £64.19 | £82.78 |
| West Midlands | 18 | £64.17 | £79.90 |
| Hampshire | 20 | £63.57 | £88.32 |
| West Yorkshire | 18 | £63.50 | £81.83 |
| Staffordshire | 20 | £62.07 | £78.87 |
| Lancashire | 23 | £59.00 | £77.65 |
The South East is IVC's most expensive region: Sussex and Surrey practices average close to £70 for a consultation and around £89 for a dog booster, roughly £10 more per visit than the group's northern branches. Read the consultation fee and the booster fee together, never in isolation.
How to check your practice
Because IVC practices keep local names, the ownership check comes first:
- Who owns my vet? — search any UK practice
- IVC Evidensia group hub — branch count, regional spread and pricing profile
- Vets in Bristol — 11 IVC practices
- Vets in Worthing — 7 IVC practices
- County-by-county pricing map
Frequently asked questions
How much does an IVC Evidensia vet cost?
The median published consultation across 446 IVC practices is £66. Dog boosters run £81.50, cat spays £177 and medium-dog castrations £352 at the median — all well above the UK independent median.
Which UK vets are owned by IVC Evidensia?
Around 978 UK practices, most trading under their original local names. Search your practice on our ownership lookup to find out.
How many IVC practices publish prices?
446 of 978 publish a consultation fee as of September 2026, up sharply from 147 earlier in the month as more branches added price pages. The CMA's market investigation has pushed for mandatory price transparency, which would close the remaining gap.
Is IVC Evidensia more expensive than independents?
On our data, yes — materially. The biggest gaps are neutering (£140 more for a medium-dog spay) and microchipping (£15 more).
Is IVC Evidensia the same as Vets Now?
Vets Now, the out-of-hours emergency provider, is part of the IVC Evidensia group. Emergency consultations are charged at emergency rates, typically £150–£280 before treatment.
Methodology: medians calculated from published prices indexed for 978 IVC Evidensia practices on vetpricecomparisonsite.co.uk, with the highest and lowest value trimmed. Sample sizes are stated per service — 446 of 978 for consultations, 340 for dog castration — so these figures describe the practices that publish. Implausible outliers are excluded. Snapshot 23 September 2026.