Tails.com expands into 6 more countries
(pet food & subscription delivery)

Tails.com, a London-based dog food subscription service, has expanded its reach into 6 more European countries.

The company now ships its customized dog meals to pet owners in the UK, France, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Austria, the Netherlands and Ireland.

Tails.com was acquired by Nestle Purina in April 208. At that time, the company had over 100,000 customers. Since then, the number of customers has doubled and the company now delivers more than 9 million pet meals each month.
 

Airvet scores $14 million (pet telehealth)

Airvet, a Los Angeles-based telehealth platform for vets, closed a $14 million Series A funding round.

The funding was lead by Canvas Ventures and included e.ventures (investor in pet food home delivery startup NomNomNow) and Starting Line (investor in health monitoring cat litter startup PrettyLitter.)

Like other telehealth companies, the company has experienced rapid growth due to COVID-19. The new financing will help the company meet the increase in demand for its service.

Airvet’s primary product is software that helps vet clinics connect to their existing clients. However, they also offer direct-to-consumer triage support when the primary care vet is unavailable or when a pet owner does not have a primary vet. The company has a network of 2,600 vets and trainers offering telemedicine recommendations.

The company was founded in 2018 by Brandon Werber, son of celebrity veterinarian Dr. Jeff Werber.

Somehow both Europeans and Americans own the same number of dogs & cats – 184 million  (pet industry stats)

The European Pet Food Industry (FEDIAF) released its annual overview of the pet market in Europe this week and the report contained the following tidbits:

• 85 million households own a pet (38% of all households)
• Europeans own 77.4 million dogs and 106.4 million cats
• Pet food sales hit €21 billion ($23.6 billion)
• Pet supplies sales reached €8.7 billion ($9.8 billion)
• Pet services hit €11 billion ($12.4 billion)

That seems like a lot, but lets compare it to the US. 

Courtesy of the American Pet Products Association, below are the US counts for the same categories:

• 85 million households own a pet (67% of all households)
• Americans own 90 million dogs and 94 million cats
• Pet food sales hit $36.9 billion
• Pet supplies reached $19.2 billion
• Pet services reached $10.3 billion
• Vet care hit $29.3 billion (not clear whether FEDIEF included vet care in its total for services, but I think they did)

So somehow, Europeans and Americans own the same number of dogs and cats:184 million. But Americans spend a whole lot more on every pet category: food, supplies and services. Of course we do, we spend more on everything. 
 

Popular dog-focused Facebook group offering pet insurance (pet insurance)

I Love My Dog So Much – a Facebook group with over 5.5 million followers, has rolled out an affinity pet insurance product. 

The insurance provides up to $2,000 annual coverage for vet bills rising from accidents. Treatment for illnesses and routine care are not covered.   

The popularity of the Facebook group suggests that they may get some traction. Most of the half a dozen daily posts in the group get thousands of likes and hundreds to thousands of comments and shares. 

It will be interesting to see if this succeeds. While common in Europe, accident-only pet insurance has never really caught on in the states. Most pet owners are attracted by the low price, but fail to realize that illness coverage is not included. And pet Illnesses are much more common than accidents. So when the pet owner eventually tries to use the insurance to reimburse for an illness-related vet bill, they are upset to learn that their claim is denied.  
 

Just For Fun

The worlds oldest golden retriever, Augie, turned 20 years old recently. The pup celebrated the occasion with a party that included a dog-friendly carrot cake. (CNN)  Go Augie!