Business Overview and Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2019
Accounting Policies [Abstract]
Business	The Merger with VFC was accounted for under the acquisition method of accounting for business combinations and the Company was considered the acquiring company per ASC 805 “Business Combinations.” Upon completion of the Merger, all VFC unvested stock option awards and restricted stock and restricted stock units owned by Henry Schein’s employees who transferred to Covetrus were exchanged with economically equivalent awards of Covetrus.
Principles of Consolidation	Principles of Consolidation The accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company, as well as those of our wholly owned and majority owned subsidiaries from their respective dates of inception or acquisition. All significant intercompany transactions and balances are eliminated in consolidation. Investments in unconsolidated affiliates, which are greater than or equal to 20% and less than or equal to 50% owned or investments in unconsolidated affiliates of less than 20% in which the Company has the ability to influence the operating or financial decisions, are accounted for under the equity method. All prior period information is presented on a combined basis. The unaudited combined financial statements have been derived from the consolidated financial statements and accounting records of Henry Schein. The unaudited combined financial statements reflect the combined historical results of operations, financial position and cash flows of the Animal Health Business as they were historically managed in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”). The unaudited combined financial statements include the accounts of the Animal Health Business and all of its controlled subsidiaries. Investments in unconsolidated affiliates, which are greater than or equal to 20% and less than or equal to 50% owned or investments in unconsolidated affiliates of less than 20% in which the Business has the ability to influence the operating or financial decisions, are accounted for under the equity method. All intracompany transactions have been eliminated. All intercompany transactions between the Animal Health Business and Henry Schein have been included in these unaudited combined financial statements and are considered to be effectively settled for cash in the unaudited combined financial statements at the time the transaction is recorded. The unaudited combined financial statements include expense allocations for: (i) certain corporate functions historically provided by Henry Schein, including accounting, legal, information services, planning, compliance, investor relations, administration and communication, and similar costs; (ii) employee benefits and incentives; and (iii) stock-based compensation. These expenses have been allocated to the Animal Health Business on the basis of direct usage when identifiable, with the remainder allocated on a pro rata basis of net sales, headcount or other measures of the Animal Health Business and Henry Schein. The Animal Health Business believes the bases on which the expenses have been allocated are a reasonable reflection of the utilization of services provided to, or the benefit received by, the Animal Health Business during the periods presented. The allocations may not, however, reflect the actual expenses that the Animal Health Business would have incurred as a stand alone company for the periods presented. Actual costs that may have been incurred if the Animal Health Business had been a stand alone company would depend on a number of factors, including the chosen organizational structure, what functions were outsourced or performed by employees and strategic decisions made in areas such as information technology and infrastructure. Following the separation from Henry Schein, these functions have been performed using the Animal Health Business’ own resources or third-party service providers. For an interim period, however, some of these functions will continue to be provided by Henry Schein under transition services agreements, which are planned to extend for a period of up to 21 months following the closing.
Basis of Presentation	Basis of Presentation The accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements of the Company have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“GAAP”) for interim financial information and with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnote disclosures required by GAAP for complete financial statements. The consolidated financial statements reflect all adjustments considered necessary for a fair presentation of the consolidated results of operations and financial position for the interim periods presented. All such adjustments are of a normal recurring nature. The results of operations for the three months ended March 31, 2019 are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for any other interim period or for the year ending December 31, 2019. These unaudited interim consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and notes to the consolidated financial statements contained in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 29, 2018.
Use of Estimates	Use of Estimates The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires the Company to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities, at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates. The most significant estimates include the Company's evaluation of doubtful accounts receivable, inventory reserves, customer returns, goodwill impairment, self-insurance reserves, supplier rebates, fair value of redeemable noncotrolling interests, stock-based compensation expense, purchase price allocations and intangible assets acquired.
Fiscal Year	Fiscal Year During fiscal year 2018, the Company operated on a 52-53 week basis ending on the last Saturday of December. For fiscal year 2019, the Company adopted a last day of the calendar year accounting and operating cycle. The Company made this change on a prospective basis and did not adjust operating results for periods prior to 2019.
Accounting Pronouncements Adopted and Recently Issued Accounting Standards	Accounting Pronouncements Adopted On January 1, 2019, the Company adopted the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") No. 2016-02, "Leases (Topic 842)", which introduces the balance sheet recognition of lease assets and lease liabilities by lessees for those leases classified as operating leases under previous guidance. The Company has adopted the new lease standard using the new transition option issued under the amendments in ASU No. 2018-11, "Leases (Topic 842): Targeted Improvements", which allowed the Company to continue to apply the legacy guidance in Accounting Standards Codification ("ASC") 840, "Leases", in the comparative periods presented in the year of adoption. The Company elected the package of practical expedients permitted under the transition guidance within the new standard, which among other things, allowed the Company to carry forward the historical lease classification. The Company made an accounting policy election to keep leases with an initial term of 12 months or less off of the balance sheet. The Company will recognize those lease payments in the Consolidated Statements of Operations on a straight-line basis over the lease term. The impact of the adoption was an increase to the Company’s operating lease assets and liabilities on January 1, 2019 of $67 million. See Note 12 for further information. In January 1, 2019, the Company adopted FASB issued ASU No. 2017-04, “Intangibles-Goodwill and Other” (Topic 350) (“ASU 2017-04”). ASU 2017-04 eliminates step two from the goodwill impairment test, thereby eliminating the requirement to calculate the implied fair value of a reporting unit. ASU 2017-04 will require the Company to perform an annual goodwill impairment test by comparing the fair value of the reporting units to the carrying value of those units. If the carrying value exceeds the fair value, the Company will be required to recognize an impairment charge; however, the impairment charge should not exceed the amount of goodwill allocated to such reporting unit. The adoption did not have a material impact on the Company's consolidated financial statements and related disclosures. On January 1, 2019, the Company adopted FASB ASU No. 2018-02, “Treatment of Stranded Tax Effects in Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income Resulting From the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017”, which allows the reclassification from accumulated comprehensive income to retained earnings of the income tax effects resulting from the Tax Act. The adoption did not have a material impact on the Company's consolidated financial statements and related disclosures. On January 1, 2019, the Company adopted FASB ASU No. 2018-07, “Compensation—Stock Compensation (Topic 718): Improvements to Nonemployee Share-Based Payment Accounting” (“ASU 2018-07”), which expands the scope of Topic 718 to include share-based payment transactions for acquiring goods and services from nonemployees. ASU 2018-07 simplifies the accounting for share-based payments to nonemployees by aligning it with the accounting for share-based payments to employees. The adoption did not have a material impact on the Company's consolidated financial statements and related disclosures. Recently Issued Accounting Standards In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-15, “Intangibles—Goodwill and Other-Internal-Use Software (Subtopic 350-40): Customer’s Accounting for Implementation Costs Incurred in a Cloud Computing Arrangement That Is a Service Contract” (“ASU 2018-15”), which aligns the requirements for capitalizing implementation costs incurred in a hosting arrangement that is a service contract with the requirements for capitalizing implementation costs incurred to develop or obtain internal-use software (and hosting arrangements that include an internal use software license). The accounting for the service element of a hosting arrangement that is a service contract is not affected by the amendments in this ASU. ASU 2018-15 is effective for public business entities for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019, including interim periods within those fiscal years. Early adoption is permitted. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of this pronouncement on its consolidated financial statements and related disclosures.
Contract Balances	Contract Balances Contract balances represent amounts presented in the consolidated and combined balance sheets when either the Company has transferred goods or services to the customer or the customer has paid consideration to the Company under the contract. These contract balances include accounts receivable, contract assets and contract liabilities. Accounts Receivable The carrying amount of accounts receivable is reduced by a valuation allowance that reflects the Company’s best estimate of the amounts that will not be collected. In addition to reviewing delinquent accounts receivable, the Company considers many factors in estimating its reserve, including historical data, experience, customer types, credit-worthiness and economic trends. From time to time, the Company adjusts its assumptions for anticipated changes in any of these or other factors expected to affect collectability. Contract Assets Contract assets include amounts related to any conditional right to consideration for work completed but not billed as of the reporting date and generally represent amounts owed to the Company by customers, but not yet billed. Contract assets are transferred to accounts receivable when the right becomes unconditional. Current contract assets are included in prepaid expenses and other and the non-current contract assets are included in investments and other within the consolidated and combined balance sheets. The contract assets primarily relate to the bundled arrangements for the sale of equipment and consumables and sales of term software licenses. Current and non-current contract asset balances as of March 31, 2019 and December 29, 2018 were not material. Contract Liabilities Contract liabilities are comprised of advance payments and deferred revenue amounts. Contract liabilities are transferred to revenue once the performance obligation has been satisfied. Current contract liabilities are included in accrued expenses-other and the non-current contract liabilities are included in other liabilities within the combined balance sheet. The contract liabilities primarily relate to advance payments from customers and upfront payments for service arrangements provided over time.
Fair Value	The following section describes the valuation methodologies that the Company used to measure different financial instruments at fair value. Financial assets and liabilities The carrying amounts reported on the consolidated and combined balance sheets for cash and cash equivalents, accounts receivable, other receivables, accounts payable and other current liabilities approximate their fair value due to the short maturity of those instruments. Investments in affiliates There are no quoted market prices available for investments in affiliates; however, the Company believes the carrying amounts are a reasonable estimate of fair value. Long-term debt The Company's debts are Level 2 inputs in the fair value hierarchy. The carrying amount of the Term Loan Facility (see Note 11) approximates fair value, given its recent issuance and the underlying interest rate applied to such amounts outstanding is currently reset to market rate on a monthly basis. Derivative contracts The Company currently has no outstanding derivative contracts. Redeemable noncontrolling interests Some minority equity owners in certain of the Company's subsidiaries have the right, at certain times, to require the Company to acquire their ownership interest in those entities at fair value based on third-party valuations. The primary factor affecting the future value of redeemable noncontrolling interests is expected earnings and, if such earnings are not achieved, the value of the redeemable noncontrolling interests might be impacted. The noncontrolling interests subject to put options are adjusted to their estimated redemption amounts each reporting period with a corresponding adjustment to Additional paid-in capital. Future reductions in the carrying amounts are subject to a “floor” amount that is equal to the fair value of the redeemable noncontrolling interests at the time they were originally recorded. The recorded value of the redeemable noncontrolling interests cannot go below the floor level. The values for redeemable noncontrolling interests are classified within Level 3 of the fair value hierarchy. The details of the balances and changes in redeemable noncontrolling interests are presented in Note 7.