I would also say there is extra value for the multiple pet household with a single vet hospital. I can bring anyone of our three cats in and the vet will ask me about the problem pee'r with some mild kidney issues, our overweight girl and how Chongo's broken hip is doing. They know what I feed them, are familiar with their personalities and they really don't need to look at the chart for a snap shot.
This doesn't preclude their being really great vets at the larger hospitals. For routine things you can certainly build a relationship and work around their schedule. Again, the issues arise when you really need that emergency attention and make do with the first vet. They might be great, but they often don't know you and aren't at all familiar with your pet.
Additionally, not all pet owners are the same and there are definitely preconceived notions of the lengths you will travel for the care of your pet. When Chongo broke his hip and needed emergency care the larger animal hospital with emergency services was more than willing to do the surgery and create a false joint for about $1500. Our regular vet who I contacted a day later, and very capable of doing the same surgery, immediately referred us to a surgical center. The cost was nearly 3x as much, great risk of a second surgery, longer recovery, but an opportunity to emerge on the other end as good as before his incident.
I love our current vet and certainly like some of the vets at the larger hospital. If they had their own practice our pets would still be under their care. The only inconvenience of using the smaller practice is that sometimes you may need to wait if a pet comes in who needs more urgent care than yours, and that's exactly what I signed up for.
