[2] Until its acquisition by Mars Inc. in 2017, VCA traded on the NASDAQ under the ticker "WOOF".

[3] VCA was founded in 1986 by three health care company executives,[4] Neil Tauber and brothers Robert and Arthur Antin.

[3][5] The name is an abbreviation of Veterinary Centers of America, though VCA no longer uses this full name.

[4] In October 2004, VCA purchased Sound Technologies,[6] a company which supplied digital radiology and ultrasound equipment to veterinary hospitals.

[8] In 2014, VCA acquired the dog day care center Camp Bow Wow, which had about 140 franchises in the US and one in Canada;[9] and licensed the Barkley Pet Hotel & Day Spa brand in Westlake Village, California, from Beverly Hills Pet Hotels, Inc.[citation needed] On January 9, 2017, Mars Inc. announced its intention to purchase VCA for $9.1 billion, operating it as an independent unit within the Mars Petcare division.