Mazy Cat
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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.
Bloomberg brought up the deadly, corporate M-word--monopoly.
Dee, would you mind Tweeting that link? Thank you!
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."
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.
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.