VCA ANTECH, INC. FILES
                          SHELF REGISTRATION STATEMENT

     LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, APRIL 14, 2004 - VCA ANTECH, INC. (NASDAQ NM
SYMBOL: WOOF), a leading animal health care company in the United States, today
announced that it has filed a shelf registration statement with the Securities
and Exchange Commission. When effective, the Registration Statement will allow
VCA to sell, from time to time, up to $250,000,000 of its common stock or other
equity or debt securities. The terms of any offering will be established at the
time of sale.

     Bob Antin, President and Chief Executive Officer said, "The company has no
immediate plans to raise equity or debt, but rather, having a shelf registration
in place provides VCA with flexibility to sell securities and to move quickly to
access equity or debt markets when favorable opportunities exist." Proceeds from
the sale of securities by VCA are expected to be used to finance acquisitions,
to reduce VCA's indebtedness and for general corporate and other purposes.

     Pursuant to certain contractual registration rights, the Registration
Statement also covers potential future re-sales of up to 6,846,937 million of
already outstanding shares of VCA common stock by Green Equity Investors III,
L.P. VCA will not receive any proceeds from the sale of shares by this selling
stockholder.

     The Registration Statement relating to these securities has been filed with
the Securities and Exchange Commission but has not yet become effective. These
securities may not be sold and offers to buy may not be accepted prior to the
time the registration statement becomes effective and then may be made only by
means of a prospectus and related prospectus supplement. This release shall not
constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any
securities nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state in which
the offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or
qualification under the securities laws of any state.

     FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

     Statements contained in this release that are not based on historical
information are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties.
Actual results may vary substantially as a result of a variety of factors. Among
the important factors that could cause actual results to differ include risks
that some or all of the proposed offering by VCA will not occur as planned and
other risks discussed in VCA's recent filing with the Securities and Exchange
Commission on Form 10-K and the reader is directed to these statements for a
further discussion of important factors that could cause actual results to
differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements.

     VCA Antech owns, operates and manages the largest networks of free-standing
veterinary hospitals and veterinary-exclusive clinical laboratories in the
country.

     Media contact: Tom Fuller, Chief Financial Officer
                    (310) 571-6505