When Dr Rachel Tong, 36, and her brother Junyong found out their pet Shetland Sheepdog dog Leslie had terminal nose cancer, their lives were devastated.
They loved him dearly, but unfortunately, his cancer was detected too late.
This experience spurred Dr Rachel to become a veterinarian and form her own clinic. Still, she and her 35-year-old brother, an investment banker, noticed a similar issue they faced with Leslie.
With the Covid-19 pandemic popularising telemedicine to avoid overcrowding clinics, the Tong siblings decided that if owners weren’t bringing pets to vets, they’d simply have to bring the vet to them.
And so, Pawlyclinic, a platform that links up vets with owners through video calls, was formed.
Leslie was the siblings’ first dog, and “the first (dog’s death) always hits the hardest”, according to Dr Rachel, who was 16 when her beloved canine passed on.
Though Dr Tong had already wanted to become a vet, their experience with Leslie spurred her to really become one over a career in human medicine.
But after she started Spring Veterinary Care in Hougang and Punggol, she realised there were several issues with veterinary care in Singapore.
Pet owners simply weren’t bringing their furkids to the vet often enough — rather than bring them for checkups, the owners would only bring them in when they were sick.
But by then, it is often too late for vets like Dr Rachel to do anything for these pets.
While talking to each other, the siblings hit on the bugbears that motivated Dr Rachel to become a vet in the first place, and Leslie’s death was brought up.
After spending 10 years in Wall Street and then Citibank as an investment banker, Mr Tong decided during the Covid-19 pandemic that it was time to put what he’d learned to use and start his own business.
From there, the gears began to spin on a new product that would be known as Pawlyclinic.
Keeping with the ethos of proactive healthcare, Pawlyclinic aims to bring vets to homes.
This is because, according to Dr Rachel, at least 40% of patients who come to the vet are for non-urgent cases.
Such cases can be handled remotely through telemedicine, and the vet can suggest a referral if there’s a need for further checks at a physical clinic.
Source: Pawlyclinic
Pawlyclinic also offers medicine delivery and telemedicine checkups, which mirror what several healthcare platforms offer for humans.
“This way, it eases congestion at vets,” Dr Rachel said. It also allows for better triaging before the vet decides if the pet requires further attention at a physical clinic.
Arranging for prescription medicine deliveries also saves owners the trouble of travelling to a clinic.
Another benefit of checking pets through telemedicine is that fur friends are less stressed in a familiar environment.
This allows the vet to examine them in their natural habitat and more easily figure out their issues, as well as prevent them from becoming worse.
Pawlyclinic also offers the option of storing medical records on the platform, providing a centralised system that any vet can access easily without having to go through a lengthy process of recounting the pet’s history.
All this lines up with the goal of not repeating what happened to Leslie when his nose cancer was detected too late.
Working with your sibling can either be a bane or a boon — because you grew up with each other, you’d know about all of their strengths, but spending all that time together can also be a pain.
Such is the case for Junyong and Dr Rachel, who may not live together anymore but still often meet for family dinners.
They may disagree on all sorts of things, but when MS News met them, they presented a united front on what they wish to achieve with Pawlyclinic.
Of course, no relationship is smooth-sailing, but it probably helps that both of them know their roles as co-founders.
Dr Tong is in charge of the specialist vet issues and suggests features for the platform, while Mr Tong handles the business and marketing side of things from an office with a team.
Drawing on each others’ specialities has allowed the duo to work together despite having differing opinions.
More importantly, both siblings are pet owners themselves, having collectively owned more than 10 pets over the years. Back then, Leslie was the first dog that Mr Tong warmed up to as a kid, and now, he’s the owner of two large dogs.
Like other platforms such as Grab, which doesn’t offer direct services but serves as a link between consumers and businesses, Pawlyclinic partnered with more vets to provide its services to more customers.
While Pawlyclinic was only started during the Covid-19 pandemic, it is already serving overseas customers, such as from Indonesia.
As it’s harder to get around in Indonesia with a pet, Pawlyclinic proved surprisingly popular despite no localised marketing. Hence, the platform has expanded to Indonesia, with a dedicated team serving the region.
It goes to show that the business is very scalable and may expand to more countries in the future.
While the siblings declined to share exactly how much they’ve invested, the amount is “seven figures”, and profits are reinvested into the business.
It appears the sky’s the limit for animal telemedicine, as an early starter and potential.
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Featured image by MS News.
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