Pet owner guide
Who owns your vet? A guide to UK corporate ownership
More than half of UK first-opinion veterinary practices are now part of a larger corporate group. In most cases the branch still trades under its original local name, so it isn't obvious from the shop front that ownership has changed. This guide explains who the major groups are, why it matters for pricing and choice, and links through to a dedicated ownership profile for each one.
Why corporate ownership matters
Independent vs corporate is one of the questions we're asked most often. The practical difference isn't clinical — every UK vet works to the same RCVS standards regardless of who signs the payslips — but it does affect how prices are set, whether medicines and diagnostics are handled in-house or through a group supply chain, and whether the practice reports up to a listed plc, a private-equity backer, or the individual partners on the door.
The Competition and Markets Authority is currently conducting a formal market investigation into UK vet services after finding that consolidation, opaque pricing and referral practices may be limiting consumer choice. The ownership of your local branch is central to that debate — and unless you check, you may not know that the practice you've used for years is now part of a national group.
The seven biggest UK vet groups
Between them, the groups below now own the majority of first-opinion branches in the UK. Each hub page below has the parent company, head office, UK footprint, regional spread and a sample of published prices drawn from the branches we index.
Medivet
One of the UK's largest veterinary groups, with 350+ branches concentrated in London and the South East.
Read the Medivet profileIVC Evidensia
The largest veterinary group in Europe and the biggest in the UK, operating 900+ British sites.
Read the IVC Evidensia profileCVS Group
The only publicly-listed UK veterinary group, running 500+ small-animal, farm and equine practices.
Read the CVS Group profileVetPartners
A York-headquartered group of 430+ UK practices, structured around retaining each practice's local brand and clinical leadership.
Read the VetPartners profilePets at Home Vet Group
In-store and standalone practices under the Companion Care and Vets4Pets brands, part of listed retailer Pets at Home.
Read the Pets at Home Vet Group profileLinnaeus
A Mars Petcare-owned group of 200+ UK first-opinion practices and referral hospitals, including many long-established local brands.
Read the Linnaeus profileVets4Pets
The retail-integrated first-opinion brand of Pets at Home Group plc, run under a Joint Venture Partnership model.
Read the Vets4Pets profileHow to check who owns any UK vet
Every practice page on this site lists the corporate group where we've been able to verify it, and every practice profile also has an ownership FAQ explaining whether that branch is independent or part of a wider network. If you'd like to check your own vet, search for the practice on our home page and open its profile — the ownership status is shown next to the headline details.
Prefer to browse? Start with our county directory or the live county pricing map. For deeper reading, our independent vs corporate chains explainer and CMA vet-sector investigation summary put the ownership picture in its regulatory context.