Discontinued Operations - Additional Information (Details) - Patterson Medical - Discontinued Operations, Disposed of by Sale - USD ($) $ in Thousands	1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
Aug. 31, 2015	Apr. 28, 2018
Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Additional Disclosures by Disposal Groups, Including Discontinued Operations [Line Items]
Consideration receivable as per definitive agreement	$ 716,886
Percentage of common units obtained	10.00%
Ratio of acquirer cash inflows to cash outflows at which common units obtained begin participating in distributions	2.5
Transition services agreement, period of involvement		24 months

Percentage Of Common Units Obtained

No definition available.

Name:	pdco_PercentageOfCommonUnitsObtained
Namespace Prefix:	pdco_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Ratio Of Acquirer Cash Inflows To Cash Outflows At Which Common Units Obtained Begin Participating In Distributions

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	pdco_RatioOfAcquirerCashInflowsToCashOutflowsAtWhichCommonUnitsObtainedBeginParticipatingInDistributions
Namespace Prefix:	pdco_
Data Type:	xbrli:pureItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Period of expected continuing involvement with a discontinued operation after the disposal date, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents the reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 205
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 4B
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=64827811&loc=SL51721665-107760

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DiscontinuedOperationPeriodOfContinuingInvolvementAfterDisposal
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of consideration received or receivable for the disposal of assets and liabilities, including discontinued operation.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DisposalGroupIncludingDiscontinuedOperationConsideration
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_IncomeStatementBalanceSheetAndAdditionalDisclosuresByDisposalGroupsIncludingDiscontinuedOperationsLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_IncomeStatementBalanceSheetAndAdditionalDisclosuresByDisposalGroupsIncludingDiscontinuedOperationsAxis=pdco_PattersonMedicalMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_DisposalGroupClassificationAxis=us-gaap_DiscontinuedOperationsDisposedOfBySaleMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: