Author Topic: Mars to buy pet health care provider VCA  (Read 2708 times)

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Offline Pookie

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Mars to buy pet health care provider VCA
« on: January 10, 2017, 11:58:42 AM »
Another one bites the dust.  I've never heard of them, but it's still not good news, IMO, when a major pet food company takes over a veterinary care business.  Especially when they already own Banfield.   :(

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/09/mars-to-buy-pet-health-care-provider-vca-for-77-billion.html

Quote
Mars is buying pet hospital operator VCA for $7.7 billion in a deal that will tighten the Whiskas and Pedigree pet food maker's grip on the pet care market.

The deal will help privately held Mars, better known for candies such as M&M's and Snickers, add about 800 pet hospitals to its network of more than 900 clinics, which includes the 61-year-old Banfield pet hospital chain.

The combination of Mars Petcare and VCA will dominate the veterinary care industry in the United States, grabbing an even bigger share of the nearly $4 billion global pet care market. 
2-4-6-8  Please don't over-vaccinate!
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Offline DeeDee

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Re: Mars to buy pet health care provider VCA
« Reply #1 on: January 10, 2017, 12:52:35 PM »
WHEW! You almost made me have a heart attack. I had to go back and look up the boys' rabies certificates just to be sure. Tractor Supply clinics are VIP pet though.

VCA has a couple of clinics in and just outside of Nashville, but I've never seen them. VCA seems to be in all but 9 states:

http://www.vcahospitals.com/main/directory
"In order to really enjoy a dog, one doesn't merely try to train him to be semihuman. The point of it is to open oneself to the possibility of becoming partly a dog." Edward Hoagland
"Thorns may hurt you, men desert you, sunlight turn to fog; but you're never friendless ever, if you have a dog."

Offline DeeDee

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Re: Mars to buy pet health care provider VCA
« Reply #2 on: January 10, 2017, 08:33:47 PM »
Read this just written by Susan Thixton:

http://truthaboutpetfood.com/a-concerning-pet-industry-monopoly/

Bloomberg brought up the deadly, corporate M-word--monopoly.
« Last Edit: January 10, 2017, 08:36:51 PM by DeeDee »
"In order to really enjoy a dog, one doesn't merely try to train him to be semihuman. The point of it is to open oneself to the possibility of becoming partly a dog." Edward Hoagland
"Thorns may hurt you, men desert you, sunlight turn to fog; but you're never friendless ever, if you have a dog."

Offline Pookie

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Re: Mars to buy pet health care provider VCA
« Reply #3 on: January 10, 2017, 10:07:14 PM »
Dee, would you mind Tweeting that link?  Thank you!

Bloomberg brought up the deadly, corporate M-word--monopoly.

Exactly.  And what's also scary to me:  "We'll sell you lousy pet food to make your pet sick, then we'll make even more money off of you when you bring your pet to our veterinary clinic to treat the problems caused by our pet food."   bangshead bangshead bangshead bangshead bangshead
2-4-6-8  Please don't over-vaccinate!
"Pass on what you have learned."  -- Yoda, Star Wars:  Return of the Jedi

Offline DeeDee

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Re: Mars to buy pet health care provider VCA
« Reply #4 on: January 10, 2017, 10:17:35 PM »
Dee, would you mind Tweeting that link?  Thank you!



already done  thumbsup1
"In order to really enjoy a dog, one doesn't merely try to train him to be semihuman. The point of it is to open oneself to the possibility of becoming partly a dog." Edward Hoagland
"Thorns may hurt you, men desert you, sunlight turn to fog; but you're never friendless ever, if you have a dog."

Offline DeeDee

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Re: Mars to buy pet health care provider VCA
« Reply #5 on: January 10, 2017, 10:21:21 PM »

Exactly.  And what's also scary to me:  "We'll sell you lousy pet food to make your pet sick, then we'll make even more money off of you when you bring your pet to our veterinary clinic to treat the problems caused by our pet food."   bangshead bangshead bangshead bangshead bangshead

The lack of autonomy of the vets to practice medicine is what bothers me. All of those McVets have special "rules" to learn to follow--much of it designed to make more money off the customer, but sometimes not actually doing anything for the pet that's helpful.

We've run into that kind of medicine with our own selves in the past. The Dr's had to follow the insurance company's rules when those rules were only going to cause more strife instead of going straight to the problem and fixing it.

It really bothers me knowing this kind of medicine is being practiced with pets that can't tell a Dr what's hurting, and too many pet owners just don't know all the signs of things that they should be reporting. Bad medicine all around.
"In order to really enjoy a dog, one doesn't merely try to train him to be semihuman. The point of it is to open oneself to the possibility of becoming partly a dog." Edward Hoagland
"Thorns may hurt you, men desert you, sunlight turn to fog; but you're never friendless ever, if you have a dog."

Offline DeeDee

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Info Continues. . .Re: Mars to buy pet health care provider VCA
« Reply #6 on: January 14, 2017, 06:02:14 PM »
This just leads back to my comment about the lack of autonomy.

Quote
Many veterinarians scoffed that Banfield dumbed down its medicine by using a software program, PetWare, to standardize care. The company also put its hospitals inside the big-box retail stores of PetSmart, turning medical care into a product to be purchased along with dog food and chew toys—just another item on a one-stop shopping list. A former chief medical officer at Banfield once compared the business to the no-frills carrier Southwest Airlines. “If you want first class,” he said, “you can buy it from a different airline.” Some animal doctors called Banfield “vet in a box,” but it was a gibe that betrayed anxiety. Veterinarians feared Banfield just as mom and pop grocery stores once feared Walmart.

Robb knew all of this. He also knew that a lot of doctors thought Banfield overvaccinated pets. But he had a wife and two kids to support, and he knew he could make a very good living with a pet hospital inside a shopping center.


More at -- https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-01-05/when-big-business-happens-to-your-pet
"In order to really enjoy a dog, one doesn't merely try to train him to be semihuman. The point of it is to open oneself to the possibility of becoming partly a dog." Edward Hoagland
"Thorns may hurt you, men desert you, sunlight turn to fog; but you're never friendless ever, if you have a dog."

Offline Lola

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Re: Mars to buy pet health care provider VCA
« Reply #7 on: January 15, 2017, 01:53:22 PM »
It all makes me just sick...
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Offline DeeDee

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In the end you don’t buy companies—you buy people
« Reply #8 on: January 16, 2017, 10:50:35 AM »
Yep. They said that. My 2cents? People that can be bought can be unethical. (I'm just changing Subject when new articles pop up so that all this story can be kept in one thread.)

I'm sure that all veterinarians start out with the best of intentions, but by the time they get out of school/internship/residency, they're different people. These companies with their fingers in so many pies (check the Mars and VCA stats posted on both pages of this article) have gotten their claws into them and thanks to student debt, they listen.

dvm360 exclusive interview:

Behind the Mars-VCA merger

Principal players lift the curtain on Banfield owner’s acquisition of large veterinary hospital group consisting largely of specialty and emergency practices.



Quote
In an announcement that’s taken the veterinary industry by surprise and generated no shortage of speculation and opinion, Mars Petcare, owner of the Banfield, BluePearl and Pet Partners veterinary practice groups, says it will acquire VCA’s nearly 800 hospitals in a deal that’s expected to be finalized in the third quarter of this year. The acquisition also includes Antech Diagnostics, Sound Technologies and Camp Bow Wow, all part of the VCA company.

This week Bob Antin, CEO of VCA, and Poul Weihrauch, president of Mars Petcare, talked with dvm360 in an exclusive interview about what this move means for the two companies and for the profession at large—and whether corporate practice is the downfall or the salvation of veterinary medicine.

More at: http://veterinarynews.dvm360.com/dvm360-exclusive-interview-behind-mars-vca-merger?pageID=1

Another note on this to show the way Mars is taking control: VCA is a public entity. Mars plans to buy back all their stock in the market for $93 a share and then VCA will be private again and absorbed into the giant. Mars Petcare obviously doesn't want a board of directors that they didn't already have. More boards, more risks for leaks of company secrets?

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/petcare-company-vca-to-be-bought-by-mars-in-a-91-billion-deal-2017-01-09
"In order to really enjoy a dog, one doesn't merely try to train him to be semihuman. The point of it is to open oneself to the possibility of becoming partly a dog." Edward Hoagland
"Thorns may hurt you, men desert you, sunlight turn to fog; but you're never friendless ever, if you have a dog."

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