It’s never fun going to the vet – not for the dog and not for the owner. It’s always expensive and often stressful for both parties. Sure, there are veterinary house calls, but they can still be just as expensive and frustrating to book.
At least, that’s what the team at VetPronto thinks, and that’s why they built a platform to satisfy the need for affordable, convenient, anytime, anyplace veterinary medicine. It’s an exclusive mobile vet service that caters to pet owners the same way Uber caters to on-demand transportation.
“Convenience for the pet owner is only one of our benefits,” says Katherine van Ekert, a VetPronto co-founder and veterinarian. “We can provide a much higher standard of care when working in the pet’s home, where they are more comfortable and less stressed.”
The team, comprised of van Ekert, Joe Waltman, and Soren Berg, founded the initial platform in May 2014 before participating in and graduating from Y Combinator’s winter 2015 class. They honed VetPronto to explicitly bridge the gaps between technology and patient care to ensure that veterinary medicine transitions into the modern age smoothly.
Customers can book appointments online or by phone and VetPronto collects pets’ medical histories to provide an estimated cost of each house visit. In general, according to the team, it’s less expensive than traditional clinic appointments.
VetPronto visits are available nights and weekends and are markedly healthier and less stressful for pets themselves. A recent study performed by Colorado State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine shows significantly lower blood pressures and pulse rates in animals examined at home versus a clinical settings.
Hundreds of pet owners in San Francisco have already experienced VetPronto’s services, and you can access VetPronto in any of these other cities:
- San Jose
- Sunnyvale
- Santa Clara
- Daly City
- San Mateo
- Redwood City
- Mountain View
- Palo Alto
Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons