PetMeds Express, Inc: Tele-health for Pets

PetMeds Express, Inc. (PETS) is a pet pharmacy/pet health expert delivering a prescription and non-prescription pet medications and other health products for dogs, cats, and horses. Especially during the hectic travel of the summer months, vet telehealth is an easy solution for pet parents who need added flexibility and speed in keeping their fur babies safe and healthy. PetMeds recently partnered with Vetster, the world’s fastest growing veterinary telehealth and pet care marketplace. This partnership will expand telemedicine access to 70,000 vets and over 2 million pet parents — allowing access to virtual care at a scale that has never been done before. This partnership represents the first time that pet telemedicine will be enabled for a mass market, which has historically been very niche.

Since COVID-19, there has been a massive change in how pet parents establish primary vet care; the demand for vets is currently at an all-time high due to the spike in pet adoptions during the pandemic. Hence, telehealth visits have now become a more attractive option for both pet owners and overworked vets. Watch this quick video to see how it works.

Matt Hulett, CEO and President of PetMed Express, and Mark Bordo, CEO and Co-Founder of Vetster, recently answered some questions about their collaboration?

Meagan Meehan (MM): Why did PetMeds decide to partner with Vetster?

Matt Hulett (MH): “PetMeds pioneered the online pet medication business over 26 years ago, and this partnership with Vetster is an important step in establishing PetMeds’ expanded strategy as the go-to expert in pet health. Simply put, we love Vetster’s business model, their team, and their technology, and we are excited for PetMeds’ customers to benefit from Vetster’s amazing telehealth and telemedicine services, available at their fingertips 24/7. We are looking forward to a partnership that improves the lives of pets and pet parents for years to come.

MM: Why did Vetster decide to partner with PetMeds?

Mark Bordo (MB): We’re very excited about the partnership and investment from PetMeds, which we believe truly represents a win-win for pet parents and their beloved pets, as well as for veterinarians. Pet parents receive the affordability and convenience of telehealth, pets benefit from world-class health care without the stress of a trip to the vet, and veterinarians tap into incremental revenue streams while providing quality care anywhere and anytime.

MM: How will this partnership work and what does it mean?

MH: Through the agreement — the first of its kind to enable pet telemedicine on a mass scale — PetMeds becomes the exclusive e-commerce provider of pet medications for Vetster, and Vetster becomes the exclusive provider of telehealth and telemedicine services to PetMeds customers. Under the partnership, customers of PetMeds will be able to seamlessly utilize Vetster’s technology to connect with a veterinarian from home or while traveling, and PetMeds will continue to provide fast and accurate delivery of prescriptions and over-the-counter pet medications.

MM: What does the future look like?

MH: We see the future of pet care and wellness as mirroring the human health market. We view our pets as members of the family and by extension expect to have the same services that we have for our own (human) family. We see pet telemedicine as a natural extension of our business and that services like digital delivered diagnosis and prescription services will become mainstream. There have been regulatory reasons why this capability hasn’t been unlocked. However, these issues are rapidly changing which means pet parents can order prescriptions like they do with any other delivery service today like Uber, Instacart, etc.