About VetFirm Sales

Who operates VetFirm Sales?

VetFirmSales.com is operated by a non-licensed entity and is an affiliate of Wraith Brokerage, LLC (a Delaware LLC). We specialize in veterinary practice M&A for all types of animal care facilities including small animal clinics, animal hospitals, specialty practices, and emergency clinics.

This statement appears word for word in the footer of every page and next to every form on the site.

Does VetFirm Sales buy veterinary practices?

No. The “firm” in VetFirm Sales is not a veterinary group, a corporate consolidator or an investor, and a valuation request is not an offer from anyone to buy your practice.

• The site does not list veterinary practices for sale, and requesting a valuation does not list yours.
• The veterinary practice value estimator gives a rough range from the numbers you enter. It is not an appraisal and not an offer; how much a veterinary practice is worth explains the published ranges and who publishes each.

What do the guides on this site cover?

They cover what makes a veterinary sale different: controlled substances, premises permits, state rules on who may own a practice, client records and the way corporate groups pay. Some of what they explain:

• Under DEA rules, a controlled-substance registration cannot be assigned or transferred to a buyer without DEA's written consent.
• California's veterinary premises registration is nontransferable, and in Arizona a change of owner cancels the premises license.
• Texas bars a corporation, partnership or other entity from engaging in veterinary medicine unless Texas-licensed veterinarians own all of it, while Florida lets a non-veterinarian own a veterinary establishment that holds a premises permit and has a designated supervising veterinarian.
• Pennsylvania requires written notice to clients at least 30 days before a planned retirement or practice closing, including how to get their records and the name of any buyer.
• Attorneys Peter H. Tanella and Eileen R. Funnell wrote in 2024 that corporate buyers generally no longer offer simple cash deals but a mix of cash, equity, promissory notes and earnouts.

Start with the guides to selling to a corporate buyer, selling to an associate or another veterinarian and who can own a veterinary practice. The guides page lists the rest.

Nothing on this site, including the guides, the FAQ and the estimator, is legal or tax advice. The rules on premises permits, medical records and noncompetes differ from state to state, so confirm anything you plan to rely on with counsel and a CPA in your state.

What happens when you request a valuation?

1. 1

   Describe your practice

   Your name, email and phone, your state, your annual revenue range and your service focus (wellness, surgery, dental, emergency or hybrid), on one short form that takes about two minutes. It asks for no client or patient records.

2. 2

   Your financials and practice software reports

   Have your last two or three years of tax returns and financial statements ready. Simmons & Associates appraisers usually look at that span, recasting the tax returns and adjusting the owner's salary to fair market.

   Reports from your practice-management software help too, such as revenue by veterinarian and by service and your active client count. Say which window that count uses: in a 2015 dvm360 article, the executive director of the Veterinary Hospital Managers Association called a transaction in the last 12 months the industry standard, while most respondents to a small survey of its members had stretched it to 18 months or longer.

3. 3

   Your valuation

   A value range from your practice's earnings that names its base: EBITDA after a fair-market salary for your own clinical work, or the cash flow you can take out for your own use, two figures that many accountants and appraisers keep apart, as Simmons & Associates' Doyle Watson writes. The range is set against published ranges, with what would move it up or down. It is not an appraisal, and not an offer from a veterinarian or a corporate buyer.

4. 4

   Your decision

   There is no obligation to sell. Whether you sell to an associate, another veterinarian or a corporate buyer, and when, is your decision. AAHA's Trends magazine reported in July 2024 that many owners start thinking about a sale too late, because finding a veterinarian buyer other than an associate can take several years and consolidators typically require sellers to keep working for years.

A buyer's lender may also need its own number. If a veterinarian buys your practice with an SBA 7(a) loan, the lender may not use a valuation prepared for you or the buyer: under SBA rules for loans numbered on or after October 1, 2026, it orders its own from an independent, accredited appraiser, or may value the practice itself when the price is $350,000 or less and buyer and seller have no close relationship.

Is a valuation request confidential?

Details about your practice are not shared with prospective buyers, whether another veterinarian or a corporate group, without your permission. Requesting a valuation does not list your practice, and the form asks for no client or patient information; the privacy policy explains what it does collect and where it goes.

An associate or credentialed technician who leaves when word of a sale gets out can be hard to replace. When AAHA surveyed the industry in 2022, filling a vacant associate veterinarian role took more than 15 months on average, and a credentialed technician role almost 13 months. Associates also carry value: Simmons & Associates appraisers say a multi-doctor practice whose associates stay after the sale is worth more than a solo practice whose seller leaves at closing.

Medical records come into a sale later, in a buyer's due diligence; the veterinary practice due diligence checklist covers what buyers ask for, records included.

How do I contact VetFirm Sales?

For questions about this site or a veterinary practice valuation request, email info@vetfirmsales.com. Veterinarians and veterinary groups looking to buy a practice can join the buyer list.

Sources

All sources accessed October 27, 2026.

1. Office of the Federal Register / National Archives, 21 CFR 1301.52 Termination of registration; transfer of registration; distribution upon discontinuance of business, eCFR current as of October 23, 2026
2. California Veterinary Medical Board, California Veterinary Medicine Practice Act, 2026 Edition: Bus. & Prof. Code § 4853(f)
3. Arizona State Legislature, Arizona Revised Statutes § 32‑2272, Veterinary premises license; application; nontransferability, current as posted at access
4. Texas Legislative Council, Texas Occupations Code § 801.506, Prohibited practices relating to certain entities, current text as of access
5. The Florida Senate, 2025 Florida Statutes § 474.215(8), Premises permits
6. Pennsylvania Code & Bulletin, 49 Pa. Code § 31.22(10) Veterinary records of retiring veterinarian or a veterinary practice that is closing, adopted May 20, 1994
7. Today's Veterinary Business, Legal Lingo: Navigating a Corporate Takeover, May 21, 2024
8. Simmons & Associates, Unraveling the Mystery of Practice Appraisals, Published March 19, 2024
9. dvm360, Is your veterinary client retention a sad country song? October 30, 2015
10. Simmons & Associates, Veterinary Practice Financial Fitness, Published February 20, 2024
11. U.S. Small Business Administration, SOP 50 10 8.1, Lender and Development Company Loan Programs with Technical Policy Updates, September 25, 2026
12. U.S. Small Business Administration, SBA Information Notice 5000‑880695, Issuance of SOP 50 10 8.1, August 14, 2026
13. American Animal Hospital Association, Practice Ownership Exit (and Entry) Strategies (AAHA Trends magazine), July 1, 2024
14. American Animal Hospital Association, Staff Retention: Stay, Please (Trends magazine), January 2024