How to Choose a Veterinary Practice

Choosing the veterinary practice you take your loved one to may be one of the most important decisions you make, yet people rarely do the research. Please learn from our mistakes and plan ahead. Consider where you would take your pet for routine care, chronic conditions and in the event of a major emergency (have backups). The last thing you want is to face a critical emergency at a practice you don’t know, can’t trust and that may not have your best interests at heart.

Here are a few things we think you should consider:

1. Practice ownership structure

We established this site primarily to bring transparency to the underlying ownership of veterinary practices across the US and beyond. We believe that ownership has a significant influence on how a practice operates and is an important factor to consider when choosing where to take your loved ones. Independent practices may offer greater local autonomy, continuity of care and the flexibility to make decisions based primarily on the needs of their patients and community. PE/Corporation owned practices may benefit from larger support networks, greater purchasing power, standardized systems and access to specialist resources. Ultimately, there can be excellent and poor examples of both, but understanding who owns a practice and how that ownership may influence its culture, priorities and decision-making can help you make a more informed choice.

2. Vet reputation and tenure at the practice

If you find a veterinarian you trust, consider staying with them for the long term even when they move practice. Continuity of care allows them to get to know your pet and can make a real difference over time. Pay attention to how long vets stay at a practice, as stable teams often reflect a well-run clinic. If your trusted vet leaves or the practice changes ownership, don’t hesitate to ask them how they feel about the changes and whether they have affected the way they are able to practice.

3. Online reviews

Reviews on Google and Yelp are often the first place people start and in many cases they can be a proxy for quality but beware that these ratings can be heavily manipulated. Be sure to look at the most recent reviews as well as the one or two star reviews to understand how the practice did when things didn’t go well. Every practice has instances where things go wrong or fail to meet expectations but how these cases are dealt with is usually where the best practices shine - if you spot a pattern, dig a little deeper.

4. Employee reviews at the practice and/or consolidator

One of the most eye opening ways we’ve found to understand how a practice operates is to look at the employee reviews on Indeed, Glassdoor and Reddit. This gives you a behind-the-curtain look at what it’s like to work there and most importantly, whether an employee would be willing to bring their own loved one to that practice as a patient. For corporation owned practices you can also look at reviews from employees at the holding group for insight into how things are run and whether the employer even monitors what people write about them. Again, every practice is likely to have a few disgruntled employees over time, but beware if a pattern emerges.

5. Practice capabilities

To the extent possible, understand what needs the practice can serve and what it cannot. If your pet is an exotic, can they help? What are their opening hours? Can they do walk-ins or same-day appointments? Do they have surgical capabilities? Do they have ultrasound and/or advanced imaging? How regularly do they treat major trauma? The main bases to have covered are regular primary care, emergency care and/or out-of-hours care and not all of these have to be covered by a single practice. Indeed it is often better to have an option for high-complexity emergency care in the unfortunate case it’s needed and primary care for all the other times (vaccines, chronic conditions, non-urgent care).

6. Past experience with your chosen practice(s)

Build experience and trust with your local practice through low-complexity interactions like vaccines or routine health checks. See who works at the practice and keep an eye on whether they stay over time. If they don’t deal with out-of-hours emergencies, ask them who they’d recommend and why. Get a feel for whether their services are reasonable or if they feel unnecessary and pushy. Monitor for ownership changes and changes in staffing.

7. Leadership of the corporation (if applicable)

If the practice you’re considering is corporation owned you can often find the profiles of the leadership team documented on their corporate websites. Are these people who have experience in the veterinary care or health care industry or do they come from a consumer or financial background? Do they just have one vet at the leadership level or are there multiple clinical voices. Are these people who understand what it’s like to run a clinic and deliver care? In corporation owned practices the culture and values usually come from the top and this can really matter.

8. Consolidation model

If you look at the marketing from corporate consolidators on their websites, it is often aimed at veterinary practice owners looking to sell. The language often centers on partnership, the vet retaining control and preserving their legacy. Yet, we know from experience that the reality can be quite different. With that said, not all consolidators are the same and there is undoubtedly a wide variation in how they operate. We hope that consolidators will start to be more transparent about how they differentiate and prove their commitment to quality and reasonable cost of care to pet parents.

9. Practice branding - do they take pride in their corporate ownership?

If the practice you’re considering is PE/corporation owned, do they make it obvious that this is the case or is it hidden in the small print? Do they present themselves as a local vet when they are not? Corporates that are proud of their identity tend to care more about their reputation because it impacts the whole network. Practices that obscure their true ownership and tend to rely more on the goodwill that was accumulated under previous ownership may not.

10. Medical leadership and veterinary staffing

What does the staffing at the practice look like? Do they have a bench of experienced and well qualified veterinarians and techs to deliver care? Who is the medical director and how long have they been there? At the end of the day, probably the biggest factor in whether your loved one gets excellent care is the staff and whether they are well supported to do their best work. Often at practices in turmoil (and sometimes cited at recently acquired practices) there is high turnover of staff and staffing relies heavily on relief vets who do their best but are coming in to new environments, have little ownership and cannot provide continuity of care.

11. Systems in place to ensure quality of care

To the degree it is possible to ask, try and find out how the practice maintains quality, how they help teach and train, and what they do when things don’t go to plan. For example, if an animal dies unexpectedly in their care do they discuss the case post-mortem and try to understand whether there is something they should have done differently? Errors happen even with the best practices, and those who recognize and learn from them will always improve. In human healthcare many quality assurance and improvement systems are essential for delivering high-quality care but in veterinary medicine much is optional.

12. Accreditations and awards

Some practices may have accreditations that usually means they’ve attested to or have been verified to meet a certain set of standards (usually around facilities, equipment and/or staffing). While these accreditations do stand for something, they can often be a rubber stamp associated with an annual fee. Awards such as best vet for a local geography may mean something but should be judged on a case-by-case basis and relative to the time period they were awarded.

13. Stability of ownership

Has the practice been under stable ownership for many years or has it been recently acquired by a new entity? Practices can undergo significant change after an ownership change and that could include an almost complete turnover of staff (who are the lifeblood of a practice). Sometimes change can be good but it may also mean past recommendations or reputation are no longer valid.

14. Disciplinary actions

This may be low yield but it’s always worth checking your state’s registry for disciplinary actions. For example in California you can view them by year at the California Veterinary Medical Board.

15. Personal recommendations from trusted vets

To the extent you know trusted vets, ask for their recommendation and where they would take their own pets. Many veterinary practices are not 24/7 hospitals that you would go to in the case of a life-threatening emergency and if you have a trusted vet for regular primary care it is vital you ask them where they would recommend you go in the case of emergency and have that place on speed-dial just as it is for your human loved ones.

16. Pricing Transparency

Don’t be afraid or ashamed to price shop when you have the time. Prices have risen across the board since the pandemic because many of the costs of providing veterinary care—including supplies, laboratory testing and staffing—have increased. While some of this is unavoidable no matter where you go, you should have the right to know the cost of routine services ahead of time. If cost is a concern, be open with your veterinarian and ask whether there are ways to tailor diagnostics or treatment to fit your budget. A good veterinary team should be willing to explain the options, discuss the trade-offs, and work with you to provide the best care they can within your financial constraints.

Feedback

If you have feedback on this list or think we’ve missed something, just drop us a line - we’d love to hear from you.