Dr. Tail hopes to keep pets in good shape

As the old saying goes, dogs are man’s best friend. In keeping with this adage, dog and pet ownership more broadly has been on the rise in recent years.

According to the non-profit American Veterinary Medical Association, out of the 122 million households in the US, some 56%, or around 69 million, owned a dog in 2021, up from 36.5% (43 million) in 2012. Equally, an increasing number of people are caring for other animals, including cats, birds, fish, and reptiles. In 2021, a staggering 70% of US households owned a pet.

Due in part to this trend, the shortage of vet offices in the US is becoming an increasingly urgent issue. Currently, a pet owner must make an appointment with a vet at least 3 weeks in advance, with clinics being few and far between. What’s more, medical care for pets is far from cheap.

In its pursuit of a solution to these issues, the South Korean start-up Dr. Tail has gone all out with its remote veterinary consultation service.

“Vets usually work to a tight schedule, which can leave some pet owners waiting multiple weeks to address an issue that may not have even needed medical attention,” said Daehwa Lee, CEO of Dr. Tail.

“Our remote vet consultancy service saves both the time and energy of pet owners, while also preventing unnecessary spending.”

In imitation of models of medical healthcare systems, which consist of primary, secondary and tertiary levels of care, Dr. Tail hopes to provide pet owners with the earliest stage of veterinary consultancy. Launched in 2020, the mobile app has attracted a total of 130,000 users, and offers around 500 consultations per day.

Venturing into the US market

Although the company is headquartered in Seoul, it doesn’t operate in Korea, but rather is targeting the US market. It chose America in part to sidestep the negativity and regulatory issues surrounding remote medical services in Korea due to data privacy concerns. He also saw a gap in the US market while visiting the nation several years ago during his master’s degree in computer science.

While on this trip, the computer scientist was wowed by people bringing their dogs with them to every sort of public space, which prompted him to consider developing a blockchain that stores genealogy data for purebred dogs.

This idea, however, was not popular. “I later realized that very few dog owners care about pedigree, which taught me to build what users want, rather than what I perceive to be a silver bullet,” the first-time entrepreneur said.

In order to better understand the needs of dog owners, the CEO took to the streets to ask the public. He also made cold calls and in-person visits to clinics in New York, Denver, and Los Angeles, all of which helped him to build his current business model, which provides professional healthcare advice to pet owners before they decide to visit vet clinics.

A win-win for growth

It goes without saying that a number of pet telehealth apps for pets have entered the US market over the last few years. Dr. Tail, however, has maintained its competitive edge and held its own against the big dogs thanks to its patented technology, which syncs the medical records of pets held by veterinarians to the mobile app and is the key to reliable health consulting, according to Lee.

As pets’ medical histories are stored in the app, pet owners are provided with much more accurate medical assessments than when they use images or verbal descriptions to consult vets remotely. 

Clinics can also benefit from Dr. Tail’s service, the CEO explained. “According to our calculations, 51% of vet appointments didn’t actually warrant medical attention. The Dr. Tail service encourages pet owners to consult the app first, before deciding if it’s necessary to visit a vet in person,” the CEO said.

One of its biggest veterinary partners is an animal hospital in Los Angeles that treats around 25,000 pets per year.

Currently, 20 vets are participating in the mobile consulting service, which is offered 24/7, and the start-up is preparing to expand to 100 vets total after scaling up.

The licensed vets working with the company include both those on maternity leave and novice practitioners looking to build their skills and experience by treating diverse cases. 

Dr. Tail’s plan to scale

The service is currently provided to users free-of-charge, which means they have entirely free access to veterinary advice from medical professionals. This is set to change, however, as part of a number of plans designed to generate profit. 

Among these is a plan to offer a $19.99 monthly subscription that would provide individuals with unlimited consultations. It also hopes to partner with corporations to allow employees to access subsidized pet care services from as little as $1 when the company pays $9.99 per month.

Other potential profit models include providing over-the-counter medicines and recommending pet insurance programs.

“We aim to offer 3,000 consultations per day, or around 100,000 per month, by the end of this year. To that end, we’re heavily motivated to increase our pool of vets and staff once we’ve completed Series A funding,” Lee said.

The company is hoping to raise some 4 billion won ($2.8 million) via the ongoing funding round. Using these funds, it hopes to attract 500,000 new users and partner with 500 animal hospitals.

In a bid to increase its operational efficiency, it also plans to deploy an artificial intelligence system that screens and addresses recurring simple requests from users.

The mobile app currently handles an average of 500 veterinary cases per day, with around 30% of users returning to the app multiple times. In a recent survey, its user satisfaction rate sat at 4.77 out of 5.

The US pet market is home to 214 million pet owners and is valued at 20.5 trillion won ($15.5 billion), with 38.1 million vet appointments being conducted per year, according to the AVMA.

Moorea Mehta (m.p.a.mehta@gmail.com) contributed to the editing of this story.