The Vet Clinic Chow Down
Americans love their pets. More than 63 million U.S. households own a dog and more than 42 million own a cat. People also have fish, horses, birds and lizards as pets. Last year U.S. consumers spent more than 100 billion dollars on their pets, with more than 31 billion going to vet care. With that increase in spending, some large corporations have been increasingly investing in the world of... vets.
Grant Jacobson is a vet in Marshalltown, Iowa. He'd worked at the same clinic for almost two decades and planned one day to buy the place. But a large corporation outbid his price by one million dollars and took over the clinic. That company was Mars. The candy maker is also one of the largest pet food producers and vet clinic operators in the world. As large corporations chase deals and buy out clinics left and right, how are small, independent vets like Grant being impacted?
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