VCA Animal Hospitals: 173/288 (60.1%; 95% interval 54.3–65.6%). Banfield Pet Hospital: 145/288 (50.3%; 95% interval 44.6–56.1%). Their 95% intervals overlap; no sole leader is established.
RESEARCH · Published June 22, 2026 · Updated November 7, 2026
Veterinary Care Index 2.0: VCA and Banfield Lead
288
AI answers analyzed across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity
60.1%
of answers named VCA Animal Hospitals, the most-named (173 of 288)
16
tracked brands named at least once (of 18)
73.2%
of Google searches showed an AI Overview (41 of 56)
Version 2. This version replaces the first version of this study, first published June 22, 2026. It uses measured counts, so the two versions are not comparable. Version 2 asks 24 questions three times each on ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity (288 answers) and adds Google AI Overviews. Every rate comes with its count and a 95% interval.
What the data shows
01
VCA Animal Hospitals and Banfield Pet Hospital
VCA Animal Hospitals and Banfield Pet Hospital lead this measured set. VCA Animal Hospitals: 173/288 (60.1%; 95% interval 54.3–65.6%). Banfield Pet Hospital: 145/288 (50.3%; 95% interval 44.6–56.1%). Their 95% intervals overlap; no sole leader is established.
02
92/288 (31.9%)
Banfield Pet Hospital was the first tracked brand named in 92 of 288 answers, more than any other. Its average first position was 1.5. VCA Animal Hospitals was named first in 45 of 288.
03
91/285 (31.9%)
VCA Animal Hospitals' own domains were cited in 91 of 285 grounded answers, more than any other tracked brand. Banfield Pet Hospital followed at 50 of 285. 4 of 18 tracked brands had 0 of 285.
04
41/56 (73.2%)
Google AI Overviews appeared on 41 of 56 searches (CI 60.4–83%). On the other 15, no overview was shown.
05
15/41 (36.6%)
Banfield Pet Hospital was named in 15 of 41 AI Overviews, more than any other tracked brand, followed by VCA Animal Hospitals at 11 of 41 (26.8%). In the four-engine set, Banfield Pet Hospital was named in 145 of 288 answers (50.3%).
06
91/285 (31.9%)
vcahospitals.com was cited in 91 of 285 grounded four-engine answers, with 107 of 2,488 citations (4.3%). banfield.com came second with 102 citations in 49 answers (17.2%).
Appearance rate across 288 four-engine answers. The bar is the 95% confidence interval; overlapping bars cannot be told apart at this sample size.
Which brands AI engines name
VCA Animal Hospitals
60.1%
Banfield Pet Hospital
50.3%
BluePearl Specialty and Emergency
43.1%
MedVet
21.5%
Vetco
18.4%
Ethos Veterinary Health
16.3%
Vetster
14.2%
Veterinary Emergency Group
11.8%
Dutch
10.8%
Bond Vet
6.9%
Pawp
6.6%
Airvet
5.9%
PetIQ
4.9%
Modern Animal
1.7%
Small Door Veterinary
1.0%
| # | Name | Named in | Appearance rate | 95% interval |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | VCA Animal Hospitals | 173/288 | 60.1% | 54.3–65.6% |
| 2 | Banfield Pet Hospital | 145/288 | 50.3% | 44.6–56.1% |
| 3 | BluePearl Specialty and Emergency | 124/288 | 43.1% | 37.5–48.8% |
| 4 | MedVet | 62/288 | 21.5% | 17.2–26.6% |
| 5 | Vetco | 53/288 | 18.4% | 14.4–23.3% |
| 6 | Ethos Veterinary Health | 47/288 | 16.3% | 12.5–21.0% |
| 7 | Vetster | 41/288 | 14.2% | 10.7–18.7% |
| 8 | Veterinary Emergency Group | 34/288 | 11.8% | 8.6–16.0% |
| 9 | Dutch | 31/288 | 10.8% | 7.7–14.9% |
| 10 | Bond Vet | 20/288 | 6.9% | 4.5–10.5% |
| 11 | Pawp | 19/288 | 6.6% | 4.3–10.1% |
| 12 | Airvet | 17/288 | 5.9% | 3.7–9.2% |
| 13 | PetIQ | 14/288 | 4.9% | 2.9–8.0% |
| 14 | Modern Animal | 5/288 | 1.7% | 0.7–4.0% |
| 15 | Small Door Veterinary | 3/288 | 1.0% | 0.4–3.0% |
The full list
Own-domain citation is the share of 285 grounded answers that cited the tracked name's own domains (subdomains included). Citation share is of all 2,488 citations.
| # | Brand | Named in | Appearance rate | 95% interval | First mention | Own-domain citation | Citation share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | VCA Animal Hospitals | 173/288 | 60.1% | 54.3–65.6% | 1.9 | 31.9% (91/285) | 4.3% |
| 2 | Banfield Pet Hospital | 145/288 | 50.3% | 44.6–56.1% | 1.5 | 17.5% (50/285) | 4.2% |
| 3 | BluePearl Specialty and Emergency | 124/288 | 43.1% | 37.5–48.8% | 2.4 | 11.2% (32/285) | 1.3% |
| 4 | MedVet | 62/288 | 21.5% | 17.2–26.6% | 3.3 | 13.3% (38/285) | 1.5% |
| 5 | Vetco | 53/288 | 18.4% | 14.4–23.3% | 2 | 2.5% (7/285) | 0.3% |
| 6 | Ethos Veterinary Health | 47/288 | 16.3% | 12.5–21% | 3.9 | 7.7% (22/285) | 0.9% |
| 7 | Vetster | 41/288 | 14.2% | 10.7–18.7% | 1.6 | 10.2% (29/285) | 1.2% |
| 8 | Veterinary Emergency Group | 34/288 | 11.8% | 8.6–16% | 3.4 | 3.5% (10/285) | 0.6% |
| 9 | Dutch | 31/288 | 10.8% | 7.7–14.9% | 2.1 | 10.9% (31/285) | 1.2% |
| 10 | Bond Vet | 20/288 | 6.9% | 4.5–10.5% | 3.1 | 5.3% (15/285) | 0.6% |
| 11 | Pawp | 19/288 | 6.6% | 4.3–10.1% | 2.9 | 1.8% (5/285) | 0.2% |
| 12 | Airvet | 17/288 | 5.9% | 3.7–9.2% | 2.5 | 0.7% (2/285) | 0.1% |
| 13 | PetIQ | 14/288 | 4.9% | 2.9–8% | 2.5 | 0% (0/285) | 0% |
| 14 | Modern Animal | 5/288 | 1.7% | 0.7–4% | 4 | 0.4% (1/285) | 0% |
| 15 | Small Door Veterinary | 3/288 | 1% | 0.4–3% | 6 | 0.7% (2/285) | 0.1% |
| 16 | Petfolk | 1/288 | 0.3% | 0.1–1.9% | 6 | 0% (0/285) | 0% |
| 17 | BetterVet | 0/288 | 0% | 0–1.3% | – | 0% (0/285) | 0% |
| 18 | Heart + Paw | 0/288 | 0% | 0–1.3% | – | 0% (0/285) | 0% |
The top eight, side by side
| # | Name | Appearance rate | Answers and interval | Other measures |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | VCA Animal Hospitals | 60.1% | 173/288 answers · 95% CI 54.3–65.6% | first-mention position: 1.9; owned-domain citation (91/285): 31.9%; citation share: 4.3% |
| 2 | Banfield Pet Hospital | 50.3% | 145/288 answers · 95% CI 44.6–56.1% | first-mention position: 1.5; owned-domain citation (50/285): 17.5%; citation share: 4.2% |
| 3 | BluePearl Specialty and Emergency | 43.1% | 124/288 answers · 95% CI 37.5–48.8% | first-mention position: 2.4; owned-domain citation (32/285): 11.2%; citation share: 1.3% |
| 4 | MedVet | 21.5% | 62/288 answers · 95% CI 17.2–26.6% | first-mention position: 3.3; owned-domain citation (38/285): 13.3%; citation share: 1.5% |
| 5 | Vetco | 18.4% | 53/288 answers · 95% CI 14.4–23.3% | first-mention position: 2; owned-domain citation (7/285): 2.5%; citation share: 0.3% |
| 6 | Ethos Veterinary Health | 16.3% | 47/288 answers · 95% CI 12.5–21% | first-mention position: 3.9; owned-domain citation (22/285): 7.7%; citation share: 0.9% |
| 7 | Vetster | 14.2% | 41/288 answers · 95% CI 10.7–18.7% | first-mention position: 1.6; owned-domain citation (29/285): 10.2%; citation share: 1.2% |
| 8 | Veterinary Emergency Group | 11.8% | 34/288 answers · 95% CI 8.6–16% | first-mention position: 3.4; owned-domain citation (10/285): 3.5%; citation share: 0.6% |
The four engines named the leading names at similar rates.
ChatGPT
72 asked · 72 returned · 72 grounded
Same questions, different answers
VCA Animal Hospitals
70.8%
Banfield Pet Hospital
56.9%
BluePearl Specialty and Emergency
55.6%
MedVet
25.0%
Vetco
19.4%
Vetster
16.7%
Claude
72 asked · 72 returned · 69 grounded
Banfield Pet Hospital
56.9%
VCA Animal Hospitals
54.2%
BluePearl Specialty and Emergency
40.3%
Vetco
19.4%
Veterinary Emergency Group
19.4%
Ethos Veterinary Health
16.7%
Gemini
72 asked · 72 returned · 72 grounded
VCA Animal Hospitals
66.7%
BluePearl Specialty and Emergency
51.4%
Banfield Pet Hospital
45.8%
MedVet
31.9%
Ethos Veterinary Health
27.8%
Vetco
25.0%
Perplexity
72 asked · 72 returned · 72 grounded
VCA Animal Hospitals
48.6%
Banfield Pet Hospital
41.7%
BluePearl Specialty and Emergency
25.0%
MedVet
15.3%
Vetco
9.7%
Veterinary Emergency Group
9.7%
Google AI Overviews were captured through 56 U.S. desktop searches and scored only where an overview appeared, so five-engine figures use 288 + 41 = 329 answers.
The fifth engine
73%
Trigger rate: 41 of 56 searches
Google AI Overviews appeared on 41 of 56 searches (73.2%, CI 60.4–83%). The other 15 searches showed no overview. Within the 41 overviews, Banfield Pet Hospital was named in 15 (36.6%), VCA Animal Hospitals was named in 11 (26.8%), Vetster was named in 11 (26.8%), BluePearl Specialty and Emergency was named in 7 (17.1%). facebook.com was the most-cited source, with 8 citations and an appearance in 6 of 41 overviews.
| Five-engine rank | Name | Five-engine rate | Four-engine rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | VCA Animal Hospitals | 55.9% | 1 |
| 2 | Banfield Pet Hospital | 48.6% | 2 |
| 3 | BluePearl Specialty and Emergency | 39.8% | 3 |
| 4 | MedVet | 19.5% | 4 |
| 5 | Vetco | 17.0% | 5 |
| 6 | Vetster | 15.8% | 7 |
| 7 | Ethos Veterinary Health | 15.2% | 6 |
| 8 | Veterinary Emergency Group | 10.9% | 8 |
| 9 | Dutch | 10.9% | 9 |
| 10 | Pawp | 7.0% | 11 |
Who each question surfaces first
Six questions from the set. Each tile uses that question's own four-engine answers as the denominator.
| Question | Leader | Next | AI Overview |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q01 · 12 answers | VCA Animal Hospitals 100.0% | Banfield Pet Hospital 100.0%; BluePearl Specialty and Emergency 100.0% | AI Overview shown on 2 of 2 searches |
| Q02 · 12 answers | Banfield Pet Hospital 100.0% | VCA Animal Hospitals 41.7%; BluePearl Specialty and Emergency 8.3% | AI Overview shown on 3 of 3 searches |
| Q03 · 12 answers | VCA Animal Hospitals 100.0% | Banfield Pet Hospital 83.3%; BluePearl Specialty and Emergency 50.0% | AI Overview shown on 2 of 3 searches |
| Q04 · 12 answers | Veterinary Emergency Group 75.0% | VCA Animal Hospitals 75.0%; BluePearl Specialty and Emergency 75.0% | AI Overview shown on 0 of 2 searches |
| Q05 · 12 answers | BluePearl Specialty and Emergency 100.0% | VCA Animal Hospitals 83.3%; MedVet 83.3% | AI Overview shown on 2 of 2 searches |
| Q06 · 12 answers | Vetster 100.0% | Pawp 91.7%; Dutch 75.0% | AI Overview shown on 3 of 3 searches |
The four engines produced 2,488 citations in total. vcahospitals.com was cited most often, with 107 citations (4.3%) across 91 answers. Next came banfield.com (102), en.wikipedia.org (56), chewy.com (49), aaha.org (44), avma.org (43).
Four AI engines · share of 285 grounded answers
Most-cited domains
vcahospitals.com
31.9%
banfield.com
17.2%
en.wikipedia.org
15.4%
avma.org
14.0%
medvet.com
13.3%
aaha.org
13.0%
chewy.com
10.9%
bluepearlvet.com
10.9%
dutch.com
10.5%
marsveterinary.com
9.8%
Google AI Overviews · share of 41 overviews
chewy.com
17.1%
facebook.com
14.6%
telavets.com
12.2%
vcahospitals.com
9.8%
youtube.com
7.3%
aaha.org
7.3%
businessinsider.com
7.3%
rankings.newsweek.com
7.3%
reddit.com
7.3%
rexvet.org
7.3%
Citation share by source type
Share of all citations by the type of site cited.
| Source type | Four AI engines (of 2,488 citations) | Google AI Overviews (of 123 citations) |
|---|---|---|
| Other / unclassified | 1,428 (57.4%) | 72 (58.5%) |
| Company / brand sites | 569 (22.9%) | 16 (13%) |
| General news / business press | 131 (5.3%) | 9 (7.3%) |
| Directories / rankings | 85 (3.4%) | 4 (3.3%) |
| Community / social | 73 (2.9%) | 19 (15.4%) |
| Reference | 57 (2.3%) | 0 (0%) |
| Research / data providers | 50 (2%) | 1 (0.8%) |
| Official / government | 42 (1.7%) | 1 (0.8%) |
| Review / comparison publishers | 40 (1.6%) | 0 (0%) |
| Trade / specialist press | 8 (0.3%) | 1 (0.8%) |
| Health publishers | 3 (0.1%) | 0 (0%) |
| Institutions / trade bodies | 2 (0.1%) | 0 (0%) |
How can veterinary brands improve their AI visibility?
These steps follow from the measured results above. They describe what the engines cited in this study and are not a guarantee of results.
| Step | What this study measured |
|---|---|
| Put your facts on your own domain. | VCA Animal Hospitals' own domains were cited in 31.9% of grounded answers, Banfield Pet Hospital's in 17.5% and MedVet's in 13.3%. Dutch was named in only 10.8% of answers, yet its own domains were cited in 10.9%. |
| Keep your facts accurate on the sites engines cite. | The most-cited sites other than the tracked names' own were en.wikipedia.org (in 15.4% of grounded answers), avma.org (14.0%), aaha.org (13.0%), chewy.com (10.9%) and marsveterinary.com (9.8%). General news and business press supplied 5.3% of citations and directories and rankings 3.4%. |
| Check each engine separately. | ChatGPT named BluePearl Specialty and Emergency in 55.6% of answers against 25.0% on Perplexity. Gemini named Ethos Veterinary Health in 27.8% of answers against 5.6% on Perplexity. |
| Watch names outside the tracked list. | National Veterinary Associates (64 answers), Thrive Pet Healthcare (49 answers), Mars Veterinary Health (37 answers), PetVet Care Centers (31 answers), Petco (22 answers) were named often but were not tracked. |
| Re-run the same questions every month. | Compare counts and intervals, not ranks. The 24 questions are in the appendix. |
What AI answers
Which veterinary brands lead these AI answers?
VCA Animal Hospitals and Banfield Pet Hospital lead this measured set. VCA Animal Hospitals: 173/288 (60.1%; 95% interval 54.3–65.6%). Banfield Pet Hospital: 145/288 (50.3%; 95% interval 44.6–56.1%). Their 95% intervals overlap; no sole leader is established.
Which brand is named first most often?
Banfield Pet Hospital was the first brand named in 92 of 288 answers, with an average first position of 1.5.
How often do Google AI Overviews appear for these questions?
An overview appeared on 41 of 56 searches (73.2%, CI 60.4–83%). Within those 41 overviews, Banfield Pet Hospital was named most often, in 15 (36.6%).
Which sources do the engines cite?
Across 2,488 four-engine citations, vcahospitals.com was cited most (107 citations, in 91 of 285 grounded answers), followed by banfield.com (102 citations).
Do the four engines agree?
Largely. No tracked name differed by more than 12 points between engines.
How this study was measured
24 questions × 3 runs each × 4 AI engines = 288 answers + 56 Google searches · 41 AI Overviews
24 questions asked three times on each of ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity, measured November 4, 2026. United States, English; Google retrieval uses desktop results. Models: gpt-5-mini, claude-sonnet-5-5, gemini-3.6-flash only, sonar-pro. Google AI Overviews come from DataForSEO, not inferred chat answers. Appearance counts returned text, including ungrounded answers; citation rates use grounded answers. Longer overlapping names suppress shorter ones; First mention is the earliest eligible name order. Own-domain rates include declared domains and subdomains; shared parent scopes may count for multiple names and cannot be summed as unique citations.
| Engine | Model IDs called | Asked | Returned | Grounded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | gpt-5-mini | 72 | 72 | 72 |
| Claude | claude-sonnet-5-5 | 72 | 72 | 69 |
| Gemini | gemini-3.6-flash | 72 | 72 | 72 |
| Perplexity | sonar-pro | 72 | 72 | 72 |
| Google AI Overviews | DataForSEO Google SERP (live, advanced) | 56 | 41 shown | 41 |
Own-domain citations count a domain plus all its subdomains, with the same rule in every table.
Definitions
- Appearance rate: answers naming the tracked name ÷ answers returned, with Wilson 95% intervals.
- First mention: average order in which the tracked name first appears (1 = first).
- Own-domain citation: grounded answers citing the tracked name's domains ÷ grounded answers.
- Citation share: citations to the tracked name's domains ÷ all citations.
Limits
- Only 18 tracked brands are ranked; results are not an exhaustive market ranking.
- Only the tracked brands were scored. Untracked names that appeared often were not scored, including National Veterinary Associates (64 answers), Thrive Pet Healthcare (49 answers), Mars Veterinary Health (37 answers), PetVet Care Centers (31 answers), Petco (22 answers).
- 344 of 360 planned results were returned. 16 AI Overview lookups were excluded after at most three total attempts.
- 56 successful Google searches: 41 overviews shown; 15 without an overview. Failures are excluded, not scored as zero.
- 3 chat answers had no search sources and are left out of the citation figures.
- Question 2 names Banfield, so its count includes up to 12 answers to that question.
- Removing 1 Core question naming tracked subjects leaves 276 eligible answers. The top two are VCA Animal Hospitals (168/276) and Banfield Pet Hospital (133/276); their order does not change.
- Unverified own domains are not available, never zero or guessed. Source types use Company / brand sites only for verified official organisations; other unresolved sites are Other / unclassified.
- Wilson 95% intervals are descriptive; overlapping leading intervals do not establish a sole leader. Measurements do not endorse medical, legal, financial or product claims.
- The ranking covers veterinary brands that pet owners use directly. Parent companies and corporate groups are not ranked.
- Mission Pet Health is counted together with Southern Veterinary Partners and Mission Veterinary Partners, which combined under that name in July 2025. The short forms Mission, SVP and MVP on their own were not counted.
- Short or common-word names (such as Thrive, Mars, Dutch, Small Door, Modern Animal, VCA, NVA and VEG) were counted only with exact capitals or in their full form, and samples of matching answers were read by eye. No matches were removed.
- Brands are not combined with their parent companies; for example, Vetco is not counted as Petco.
- This study does not give medical advice; being named is not a measure of care quality.
- Some brands were added for this edition because the earlier page did not publish a full list.
- Google Shopping links and unresolved google.com/goto redirect links are not counted as cited sources; original URLs remain in the evidence.
- Answers were collected through each engine's API using the model IDs listed in the methodology. The consumer ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity apps can answer differently.
The 24 questions
Questions marked "Core question" are the original study questions, asked word for word. The others are added neutral questions.
| # | Question | Group | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | What are the best veterinary hospital chains in the US? | Veterinary Care Index 2.0 | Core question |
| 02 | Is Banfield worth it for routine pet care? | Veterinary Care Index 2.0 | Core question |
| 03 | What is the best pet wellness plan from a vet chain? | Veterinary Care Index 2.0 | Core question |
| 04 | Where should I take my pet for emergency care at night? | Veterinary Care Index 2.0 | Core question |
| 05 | What are the best specialty and emergency animal hospitals? | Veterinary Care Index 2.0 | Core question |
| 06 | What is the best online vet or vet telehealth service? | Veterinary Care Index 2.0 | Core question |
| 07 | Can I see a vet by video for my dog? | Veterinary Care Index 2.0 | Core question |
| 08 | Are corporate vet clinics or independent vets better? | Veterinary Care Index 2.0 | Core question |
| 09 | What vet chains offer low-cost vaccines? | Veterinary Care Index 2.0 | Core question |
| 10 | Which vet clinics are good for cats only? | Veterinary Care Index 2.0 | Core question |
| 11 | What is the best veterinary oncology care for dogs? | Veterinary Care Index 2.0 | Core question |
| 12 | How do I choose a good veterinarian? | Veterinary Care Index 2.0 | Core question |
| 13 | Which veterinary networks operate hospitals in multiple US states? | Veterinary Care Index 2.0 | Added question |
| 14 | Which veterinary groups operate referral hospitals for complex cases? | Veterinary Care Index 2.0 | Added question |
| 15 | Which veterinary companies own general practice and specialty hospitals? | Veterinary Care Index 2.0 | Added question |
| 16 | What is the difference between online veterinary advice and a veterinary prescription? | Veterinary Care Index 2.0 | Added question |
| 17 | Which retailers have veterinary clinics inside their stores? | Veterinary Care Index 2.0 | Added question |
| 18 | Which veterinary chains offer dental care for dogs and cats? | Veterinary Care Index 2.0 | Added question |
| 19 | Which veterinary hospitals offer overnight intensive care? | Veterinary Care Index 2.0 | Added question |
| 20 | What is included in veterinary wellness plans? | Veterinary Care Index 2.0 | Added question |
| 21 | Which veterinary networks provide rehabilitation services for pets? | Veterinary Care Index 2.0 | Added question |
| 22 | Which online veterinary services offer scheduled appointments? | Veterinary Care Index 2.0 | Added question |
| 23 | Which veterinary groups operate practices with locally retained names? | Veterinary Care Index 2.0 | Added question |
| 24 | Which veterinary providers offer vaccination-only appointments? | Veterinary Care Index 2.0 | Added question |
About 5W
5W is an independent PR, creative and AI Visibility agency founded in 2003, and we get you in the chatbox. All of our work is done in house, including media relations, site building and content. Learn more about our GEO practice or write to info@5wpr.com.
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