Private Equity-Backed Company Buys Walnut Creek Pet Hospital

WALNUT CREEK, CA — A Walnut Creek veterinary hospital that has treated local pets for nearly 50 years is now part of a growing network backed by a private equity firm.

VetnCare has acquired Geary Veterinary Hospital, a Walnut Creek practice that has treated East Bay pets for nearly five decades.

The acquisition expands VetnCare’s presence in the East Bay and advances the company’s strategy of partnering with locally rooted veterinary hospitals, according to an announcement in the trade magazine PetAge.

However, VetnCare is owned by Great Point Partners, a private equity company.

Great Point Partners invested in VetnCare in 2022. Since that partnership, VetnCare has made seven acquisitions, with Geary Veterinary Hospital in Walnut Creek being the latest deal.

“Geary has built an exceptional reputation over nearly five decades by combining strong medicine with deep relationships across the Walnut Creek community,” VetnCare CEO Matt Kirchner said.

Founded in 1979, Geary Veterinary Hospital is today led by Gillian Hamilton and Erica Weiss.

They said in PetAge that the partnership would allow the practice to continue its work in Walnut Creek.

Layers of ownership

The acquisition comes amid a growing trend of private equity ownership in veterinary medicine documented by Private Equity Vet, an independent website that tracks ownership of veterinary hospitals.

Independent veterinarian-owned practices remain under the control of one or more practicing veterinarians, with business and medical decisions generally made locally.

Private equity-backed consolidators, by contrast, purchase veterinary hospitals and bundle them into larger regional or national networks. The database shows multiple VetnCare facilities in Contra Costa County, as well as Oakland, San Francisco, and farther afield in Northern California.

California dog owner Francis Wong created the database after he said his dachshund, Pluto, died following treatment at a clinic he later discovered was owned by a private equity-backed company.

Wong said he launched the site to help pet owners identify who ultimately owns veterinary practices and better understand the rapid consolidation reshaping the profession.

Wong has said his website’s goal extends beyond tracking private equity firms. The site also documents layers of ownership by large corporate operators and the smaller veterinary companies they acquire.

Before Walnut Creek, the previous purchase was Holistic Veterinary Care in Oakland on July 14, making Geary its second acquisition in roughly six weeks.

The database allows pet owners to identify who ultimately owns the veterinary hospital caring for their animals so they can make informed decisions about where they seek treatment and the bills they are asked to pay for that care.

Wong also created Independent Vet, a website for locally owned veterinary practices.