Competition for Veterinary Talent Intensifies
Modern Animal
The real bottleneck in scaling modern vet chains is not demand from pet owners, it is staffing each new box with enough doctors and support staff to keep appointments available and labor costs in line. Modern Animal is growing into Sun Belt markets at the same time as Bond Vet, Small Door, Petfolk, and Chewy Vet Care, which means the same metro areas can see several well funded employers recruiting from the same local labor pool.
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Modern Animal had 27 clinics across California, Texas, and Colorado as of February 2026, with expansion capital from a $46M Series D in September 2025. Its model depends on dense local networks, so every new city requires hiring enough veterinarians to cover both in person visits and extended hours.
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The competitive set is concrete and local. Bond Vet has more than 55 clinics across Northeast and Midwest markets. Small Door is moving beyond New York into Boston and DC area markets. Petfolk had 19 clinics across seven markets and targeted 40 by the end of 2025. Chewy Vet Care opened clinics in Florida, Colorado, Georgia, and Texas, including Austin.
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This hiring pressure shows up in unit economics. Modern Animal makes most of its money from services, diagnostics, procedures, and pharmacy, not from the $199 membership alone. If doctor wages rise or open roles delay clinic ramp, revenue per clinic lags while rent, buildout, and centralized support costs keep running.
The next phase of competition will be won by the chains that make vets more productive, not just the chains that open the most doors. Modern Animal is already using a centralized virtual care center and AI charting tools to remove phone work and admin time. That should matter more as overlapping clinic networks keep expanding and the best clinicians gain more choice over where they practice.