Consolidated Statements of Income - USD ($) shares in Thousands, $ in Thousands	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014
Income Statement [Abstract]
Revenue	$ 2,516,863	$ 2,133,675	$ 1,918,483
Direct costs	1,924,799	1,623,604	1,473,842
Gross profit	592,064	510,071	444,641
Selling, general and administrative expense	204,724	183,995	171,506
Impairment of goodwill and other long-lived assets	0	0	27,019
Business interruption insurance gain	0	(4,523)	0
Net loss (gain) on sale or disposal of assets	1,006	829	(1,152)
Operating income (loss)	386,334	329,770	247,268
Interest expense	32,901	21,208	17,951
Interest income	(448)	(132)	(172)
Debt retirement costs	1,600	0	1,709
Other (income) expense	(902)	359	219
Gain on sale of business	0	(43,306)	0
Income before provision for income taxes	353,183	351,641	227,561
Provision for income taxes	135,780	135,543	86,878
Net income	217,403	216,098	140,683
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests	8,207	5,049	5,245
Net income attributable to VCA Inc.	$ 209,196	$ 211,049	$ 135,438
Basic earnings per share (in dollars per share)	$ 2.59	$ 2.59	$ 1.56
Diluted earnings per share (in dollars per share)	$ 2.56	$ 2.56	$ 1.54
Weighted-average shares outstanding for basic earnings per share (in shares)	80,926	81,443	86,656
Weighted-average shares outstanding for diluted earnings per share (in shares)	81,725	82,414	87,825