SBA 7(a) Veterinary Clinic Feasibility Study in Oregon

Three lenders and very different loan sizes

Oregon veterinary clinics under SBA 7(a) are financed by three named lenders whose books look nothing alike. 6 loans, $10.7 million in all, sit with Live Oak Banking Company; the same count under Columbia Bank totals only $595,000; and Wells Fargo Bank National Association stands at 5 loans and $5.2 million. The contrast is sharp: the same loan count yields a far smaller dollar sum, which is consistent with small loans next to large practice purchases.

The cell in numbers

The file counts 37 approvals from FY2017 to FY2026 totaling $32.1 million and the median loan is $500,000, which is 0.81x of what clinics elsewhere borrow; the central half runs from $125,000 to $1.5 million, a very wide spread. Oregon is 27 among states by count and clinics hold 17 of 39 in the state list. Franchise brands appear in 2.7%. Jackson and Multnomah counties lead with 5 loans each, Clatsop and Washington have 4 each, and Deschutes, Klamath, Lane and Marion have 3 each.

Time and outcomes

The count began at 9 loans and $5.5 million in FY2017, fell to 2 loans and only $70,000 in FY2025, and shows 2 and $2.5 million in FY2026. Cancellation stands at 9.1% of the earlier approvals, with undisbursed loans changing nothing. A charge-off rate is absent, as too few early loans funded, and nothing should be inferred from that.

What the Oregon study has to test

Veterinary lending turns on the practice's earnings and the doctors who produce them. The study should reconstruct revenue by service line, such as wellness, surgery, dental and boarding, and compare it with the payroll of veterinarians and technicians, since staffing is scarce. For a purchase, it should show how many clients are tied to the selling doctor and how a transition will be managed. For a build, it needs a count of pet-owning households within reach, plus zoning and noise rules, and the cost of kennels, surgical suites and imaging. Oregon's coastal, valley and high-desert counties differ in client base and wages, so the trade area should be defined carefully. Coverage should be shown at a conservative caseload, and the appraisal should be built on income a different practitioner could earn.