WebVet, The "WebMD for Pets", Launches

When you’re looking for reliable information about human medical conditions, you can always turn to health portals like WebMD, RightHealth, OrganizedWisdom or iMedix. But what if your cat has stopped eating or your dog has started losing its hair? You’d probably resort to Googling the symptoms in hope that you could save yourself a trip to the vet.

WebVet is a content site launching today that aims to provide a comprehensive collection of articles regarding pet health so you don’t have to scratch around the net for this information. It begins by focusing on dogs, cats, bird and other small animals, but founders Hope Schultz and Bill Zaccheo plan to expand coverage to include exotics, fish and farm animals.

The two main components of the site are medical abstracts and featured articles. The medical extracts cover topics like Cushing’s disease, Lyme disease, rabies and tickets. They include the common symptoms of each condition and, while written by former editors of consumer pet manuals, show the names of the last veterinarians to review them for accuracy.

The featured articles are intended to draw visitors back to the site even when their pets aren’t sniffling or exhibiting other worrisome behavior. They cover not only health issues but also topics like gifts, fashion, holistic care, counseling, hotels, and travel tips for pets. Most of the articles will be written exclusively for WebVet by a team of 25 freelance writers.

Competitors include sites like Petside, Petplace, and PetEducation. We first covered WebVet in May when the company discussed its business plan at a Women 2.0 pitch event.