The Billionaire Oligarchs Are Coming for Your Pets

Have you had to seek veterinary attention for a beloved pet in recent years? Have you noticed higher costs for vaccines and routine exams? Do you occasionally need a pet-sitter and wish to purchase services from an on-line service? I’ve got bad news for you: the billionaires have fixed their sights on you and on every corner of the pet care economy, with the goal of squeezing more money out of you.

Pet ownership was on the rise even before the Covid-19 pandemic; today roughly 70 percent of US households have at least one pet. The share of household income spent on pets has risen significantly, with an estimated $123 billion in 2021. While pet insurance is available, few pet owners have it. Yet many are willing to take on enormous debt for high-priced medical services.

... there has been an unprecedented concentration of ownership over the last decade in pet food, pet stores, and veterinary care, and pet services, like Rover.com. The biggest players in the pet economy include dynastic billionaire families like the Mars candy clan and the German-Reimann family (JAB industries), along with billionaire-backed private equity firms that are snatching up companies in the pet sector.