Pets per practice
The consolidation wave, regulator-verified
The two completed competition-authority investigations to date — the pattern, not the whole map
9 groups
named across the UK and Dutch investigations combined. Two of them appear in both — the consolidators are pan-European, not national
CMA · Mar 2026 / ACM · Apr 2026
60%+
of UK practices in six groups (10% in 2013); treatment prices +9% and insurance claims +5% four years post-acquisition
CMA final report · Mar 2026
9–51%
Dutch price rises on top medicines within three years of chain acquisition (treatments 1–21%), inflation-adjusted
ACM market study · Apr 2026
Public money in the vet sector
EU procurement notices for veterinary services — state veterinary work, animal control, farm-animal contracts · the seven markets that publish contract values · ECB FX-converted
Methodology & sources
Methodology & sources
Consolidation
- UK: Competition & Markets Authority, veterinary services market investigation, final report, 24 Mar 2026 (group ownership share, post-acquisition price and claims effects).
- Netherlands: Autoriteit Consument & Markt, market study into medical care for pets, 30 Apr 2026 (post-acquisition price ranges, inflation-adjusted, 3-year window).
Pet populations
- FEDIAF (European pet-food federation) Facts & Figures 2026, data year 2025 — dog and cat populations by country. FEDIAF revises estimates between editions; latest edition used.
Practices
- Eurostat structural business statistics for veterinary activities: enterprises and persons employed, 2021–2024. An enterprise is a legal unit — markets with many solo practitioners (notably Italy) show high counts. The UK is absent from Eurostat SBS post-Brexit and is therefore excluded from density measures (pets-per-practice), not from population figures.
Procurement
- TED (Tenders Electronic Daily), all veterinary-services notices, 2021 – Aug 2026. Only the seven markets with like-for-like value disclosure are aggregated (ES, FR, IE, EL, IT, CZ, SE — ≥60% of notices carrying a published value, ≥30 notices, all six years). Non-euro values at ECB annual-average rates; 2026 is year-to-date.