Are there vets at petsmart

Integrative medicine from a One Health perspective. Are we making headway or losing ground? How to properly utilize your techs. Pandemic relief program gets funding boost. COVID pandemic exposes science denial—even in veterinary medicine.

PetSmart made its quest public this week at the Western Veterinary Conference in Las Vegas, where it had a trade-show booth 50 paces from Petco, its biggest rival. Like PetSmart, Petco is recruiting veterinarians and support staff for clinics in its stores as part of an ambitious new plan to include veterinary services among its offerings. Unlike PetSmart, Petco is new at hosting clinics on a large scale. Last summer, it announced a nationwide initiative to add veterinary services to its offerings.

The first clinic in this initiative opened in October. Petco now counts 12 in-store clinics, which are operated by two separate companies — Thrive and The Pet Vet — both based in Texas. Petco's director of veterinary medicine, Dr. Last year, the two largest practice chains in the world came under a single owner when Mars Inc.

Mars also owns practices under the brand names BluePearl and Pet Partners. While the sale of VCA made the most headlines, a number of smaller companies, many funded by private-equity investors, have been acquiring independent practices at a brisk pace, too.

The subject of growing corporate influence in veterinary medicine dominated discussion at an American Veterinary Medical Association leadership conference in January. About the same time, a group of veterinarians formed the Independent Veterinary Practitioners Association to advocate for the interests of small practices. Signaling its shift from partnering only with Banfield, the largest practice brand in the world with more than 1, locations, PetSmart hung banners at its conference trade-show booth inviting attention from "independent vet practices.

Darling said PetSmart is open to working with veterinarians who run a single clinic as well as those with experience managing multiple locations. PetSmart's role would be limited to licensing the space to the selected clinic operators, she said: "There's no oversight PetSmart senior legal counsel Michael Kuehn, who co-staffed the booth, said the company is looking for practices that would provide a full suite of services, not only vaccinations.

It would like the clinics to keep hours similar to the stores, Kuehn said. They even could provide overnight hospitalization, a service that Banfield's in-store clinics don't offer. PetSmart's alliance with Banfield dates to , when it acquired part ownership of Banfield and began housing its clinics. In , Banfield bought non-Banfield clinics in PetSmart locations, thereby becoming "the preferred veterinary provider for PetSmart," according to Banfield's website.

As of January, Banfield had clinics in PetSmart's 1, stores. Banfield also operates standalone clinics. PetSmart no longer has an ownership share of Banfield. Asked whether PetSmart's hunt for other clinic operators indicates a loosening of the relationship between the two, Banfield public relations manager Ryan Bartholomew provided this company reply: "Banfield and PetSmart remain strategic partners, and we continue to consider PetSmart locations for new hospital openings.

To submit a commentary for consideration, email news vin. Information and opinions expressed in letters to the editor are those of the author and are independent of the VIN News Service.

Letters may be edited for style. We do not verify their content for accuracy. Clinicians are reminded that you are ultimately responsible for the care of your patients. Any content that concerns treatment of your cases should be deemed recommendations by colleagues for you to consider in your case management decisions.

Dosages should be confirmed prior to dispensing medications unfamiliar to you. To better understand the origins and logic behind these policies, and to discuss them with your colleagues, click here. Images posted by VIN community members and displayed via VIN should not be considered of diagnostic quality and the ultimate interpretation of the images lies with the attending clinician. Suggestions, discussions and interpretation related to posted images are only that -- suggestions and recommendations which may be based upon less than diagnostic quality information.

Send us feedback about this article. PetSmart looks beyond Banfield for veterinary-clinic operators.