Pet Parents Develop IoT Device To Checks Dog’s Temperature & Heart Rate

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Pet Parents Develop IoT Device To Checks Dog’s Temperature & Heart Rate

About seven years ago, Vivek Srinivas, a chartered accountant, noticed that his pet Boxer, Bruno, frequently fell ill, especially during his work trips. Concerned for Bruno’s well-being in his absence, Vivek struggled to find a solution.

Bruno often suffered from fits, but by the time Vivek reached the vet, the symptoms would subside. This made it difficult for the vet to assess the severity of Bruno’s condition.

Initially, Vivek reached out to his relative and fellow pet parent, Vani Aiyer, to explore possible solutions. Vani, who was navigating a demanding corporate career, was also grappling with the challenges of balancing work and her responsibilities as a pet parent.


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Their discussions soon expanded to include other pet parents, veterinarians, and influencers in the pet care space, as they searched for effective solutions. For Vivek, ensuring Bruno’s well-being was a top priority — he couldn’t afford to take any risks with his beloved dog’s life.

VETiNSTANT's co-founder, Vani Srinivas
Health emergencies, like Bruno’s, made Vivek and Vani realise the need for devices that could monitor a pet’s vitals.

“Vivek and I have been pet parents for life. The limited insights into our pets’ health, coupled with the sudden onset of health issues, prompted us to seek global solutions for pet healthcare. We came across wearables that functioned primarily as trackers. Driven by our personal needs for our own pets, we delved deeply into the animal healthcare sector, searching for predictive and preventive management solutions,” recalls Vani in a conversation with The Better India.

Health emergencies, like Bruno’s, made Vivek and Vani realise the need for devices that could monitor a pet’s vitals — similar to how humans track their blood pressure, oxygen levels, or blood sugar. When they couldn’t find reliable solutions, the Chennai-based duo decided to create their own.

In 2018, they founded VETiNSTANT, an animal healthcare startup.

Building an innovative platform for pet health

However, the real work began in 2021, when they launched the venture as a bootstrapped initiative using their own resources.

“In 2021, we began designing an Apple-esque platform comprising a bed, bowl, and collar. The bed was intended to measure weight and sync the data to the cloud, the bowl to monitor food and water intake, and the collar to track vital signs,” recalls Vani. “However, when we presented the concept to veterinarians, they urged us to create a device capable of providing precise measurements and actionable data for accurate diagnosis and prognosis.”

When Vivek and Vani started the business, the first agency they hired was a Chennai-based law firm ‘KRIA Law’ as they had patents to file on their inventions. They were recommended to the IIT Madras Incubation Cell by the founder of KRIA Law, M S Bharath.

“As we worked on the bed, bowl, and collar platform and began developing our proprietary device, we sought the expertise of KRIA Law, a legal agency that guided us in filing patents and a PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) for our IoT devices,” shares Vani.

Their journey took a significant turn when Bharath introduced them to Professor Ashok Jhunjhunwala, who was thrilled by their innovative efforts. “The Incubation Cell has been instrumental in our growth, offering everything from office spaces to insightful mentoring sessions and valuable industry connections,” she adds. “They’ve supported us through funding discussions, pitch deck management, and more. They continue to be the wind beneath our wings.”

Assisting Vivek and Vani are chief technology officer Karthikeyan Gururaj, who also lost two of his pets to medical emergencies. For Karthikeyan, the startup was initially a client for technology platform development but he soon realised that the devices they were developing could have saved his dogs, and decided to join their mission. The fourth key person to join them was S Rajkumar, who is pursuing his master’s in biomedical design at IIT Madras.

Exam D: A non-invasive solution for accurate diagnoses

Both Vani and Vivek have three pet dogs each. As Vani argues, a major challenge in dealing with pet dogs is their high tolerance for pain, which makes it difficult for pet owners like her to recognise any real signs of discomfort. With a human child, you check their forehead to see if they have a fever and give them some soup. With dogs, however, you can’t touch their forehead and gauge whether they have a fever or not. Instead, you use devices like a rectal thermometer.

VETiNSTANT replaced traditional rectal thermometers with a non-invasive device for diagnosing animal health. They also introduced a mobile app, making it easier for pet parents to connect with veterinarians for timely diagnosis and care.

Vetinstant's non-invasive device for Pet Parents

“It’s a handheld, IoT-driven, at home diagnostic device, that unlike its wearables counterparts, provides pet parents exact data with range information for temperature, heart rate or SpO2 (oxygen saturation),” says Vivek. It took them about two years and four prototypes to arrive at their final product ‘Exam D’, which is “integrated with our VETiNSTANT tracker app.”

Vani goes on to describe the motivation behind Exam D: “The need for a user-friendly consumer interface product for veterinarians and pet parents inspired us to develop Exam D. This product is easy to use and features a graphical user interface that simplifies customer interaction. For the past two years, we have tested our prototypes in specific markets to validate usage, gather data, and gain acceptance from both veterinarians and pet parents.”

How to use Exam D?

Once the VETiNSTANT app is downloaded from the App Store or Play Store, users are asked to add their profile details followed by their pet’s details — whether they are one or many and what species they belong to. Users can buy the device from the startup’s website.

There are two versions of Exam D. One measures temperature and performs heart, lung and abdomen auscultation, and is priced at Rs 6,500 (inclusive of taxes). The other performs all the above but also gives pet owners readings for SpO2 and heart rate, and costs Rs 9,000.

“You only need to pair the app and device the first time when you buy the device. After that, all information presented in an executive summary will be available as a user goes through the prompts of the app and device’s graphic user interface,” explains Vani.

Professor K Rajkumar, head of the Veterinary Clinical Complex at Rajiv Gandhi College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Pondicherry, explains, “This device is very convenient, especially for pet owners. They can easily use it to measure their pet’s temperature, heart rate, and lung (respiratory) sounds by simply placing it near the animal. The recorded data can then be shared with a veterinarian through telemedicine for further analysis.”

Exam D device developed by Vetinstant for Pet Parents
It took them about two years and four prototypes to arrive at their final product ‘Exam D’, which is “integrated with our VETiNSTANT tracker app.”

“With this device, we can accurately diagnose a pet’s condition using the recorded cardiac and lung sounds,” he adds. “Another key advantage, particularly for dogs, is that it’s non-invasive. Unlike rectal thermometers, which require regular sterilisation, Exam D offers a more comfortable alternative. Such devices are not yet available in India, so when the project proposal to standardise this equipment came to us, I was very excited.”

For vets, the startup has introduced ‘Exam D Pro’, designed to help busy professionals on the go. It enables instant tracking of multiple vitals and provides quicker access to data during emergencies.

“It tracks multiple metrics that vets are trained to interpret, such as murmur identification and grading for early detection of heart conditions, lung abnormalities, and insights into issues like COPD, asthma, and wheezing,” explains Vani. “It also provides trend analytics, continuous care insights for proactive health monitoring, and ECG readings to detect heart irregularities.” Exam D Pro was launched alongside Exam D in early 2024.

Going further, they also brought on board medical professionals and developed a digitised system called PAWS (Pets Administration and Workflow System) for pet parents and veterinary clinics.

Through this system, pet parents can directly connect with their vets. Vani said in a past interview, “With the device, there is an app that connects with the SaaS solution that the vet has. He has an app version, so he has data at his fingertips. All the data goes in a click of a button to the vet. They can set up calls online or offline.”

Regarding vets, PAWS is “a system to digitise the veterinary clinic from end to end,” says Vani. “It not only takes care of billing, stock management, queuing systems for online and offline consults, but it also helps the vet with SOAP notes or voice-to-text transcriptions of the prescription in 99 plus languages,” she adds.

The startup’s future looks promising, with around Rs 1.55 crore in funding secured so far. Over 50 pet parents and veterinarians have already adopted their device, Exam D. Currently serving cats and dogs across all species and locations, the company plans to expand its services to include other animals. Looking ahead, they aim to establish a strong presence in international markets, particularly in the United States and Canada.

(Edited by Pranita Bhat; Images courtesy VETiNSTANT)

Additional Source:
‘A healthcare paw-TNER’ by Express News Service; Published on 24 October 2024 courtesy The New Indian Express


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