Fitpet launches Ahead Care to cover some veterinary costs

Pet healthcare startup Fitpet said on the 14th that it has launched Ahead Care, a service that covers veterinary expenses for pets.

Ahead Care covers veterinary expenses for certain conditions when customers use Fitpet’s Ahead at-home pet testing kits. The first offering is Ahead Basic Care (hereafter, Basic Care). If a pet is treated for any of more than 10 urinary tract conditions detectable with the Ahead Basic urine test kit, the service covers up to 500,000 won in veterinary expenses, including surgery and boarding. Coverage lasts 30 days from the date of enrollment after the test is completed and applies to one claim.

Customers can use Basic Care at no additional cost when they buy Ahead Basic, which is expected to further reduce the burden of veterinary bills. Enrollment and claims have also been streamlined through KakaoTalk notifications sent after testing, making the service more convenient. Basic Care is currently available only for dogs aged 8 weeks to 11 years, with plans to extend coverage to cats.

First launched in 2018, Ahead Basic is a urine test kit that lets pet owners check for urinary tract conditions such as cystitis and urinary stones at home using a smartphone. With accuracy of more than 99.6%, ease of use and an affordable price, it has drawn strong interest from pet-owning households worldwide, with cumulative sales of about 400,000 units. The newly revamped kit includes Ahead Basic Care, expanding the service beyond testing to treatment and taking pet healthcare to the next level.

“Starting with Ahead Basic Care, we will introduce a range of Ahead Care offerings to ease costs for pet-owning households and build a sustainable pet healthcare system,” said Fitpet CEO Ko Jeong-wook. “We will continue to provide innovative healthcare services that anyone can trust, use easily and afford.”