Pet
Owners Completely Overlook This 1 Disastrous Scenario. A New Tech Startup
Thinks It Has the Solution
Tailsafe addresses an issue that for
years most pet owners have never thought about.
EXPERT OPINION BY HOWARD TULLMAN, GENERAL MANAGING PARTNER, G2T3V AND CHICAGO HIGH TECH INVESTORS @TULLMAN
Jun 8, 2026
If there was one modest
benefit to the COVID-19 debacle, it was that pet adoptions skyrocketed as
millions of Millennials and Gen Zers discovered the joys of having some
affectionate and uncomplaining home companionship as they worked remotely and
spent most of their days cooped up at home. The same, as we all sadly learned,
couldn’t necessarily be said for roommates, spouses and younger offspring. But
no one loves you more than your pets, especially if you live alone. And to be
clear, no one is more at risk than your pets if something unexpected happens to
you which keeps you from getting home to make sure that their needs are taken
care of.
These days, these same
folks make up the majority of pet owners, and over 60 percent are remote
workers, entrepreneurs, and/or retirees with flexible schedules. Millions own
more than one pet and, when asked, single, divorced and older pet parents will
expound at length on the extent to which their pets have become increasingly
important “members” of their family. As the Trump economy continues to worsen
and may soon be circling the drain, we hear regular news stories about men and
women of all ages who are going without food themselves, but who are unwilling
to see their dogs and cats suffer or starve.
It’s largely the same
painful and problematic situation with the exponentially growing costs of vet
care as the private equity pirates continue to roll up the Mom and Pop and
smaller veterinary practices, immediately hike the service and support prices across
the board, farm out basic lab work to expensive third-party providers, and make
it harder and harder for conscientious owners to provide the kind of
professional care for their animals that they understand is appropriate and
necessary, but which they also struggle every day to try to afford.
Frankly, having seen at
least a dozen startup attempts, I’ve
never understood why pet insurance has never broken through to the mainstream
buyers and scaled dramatically right along with the escalating costs of care.
In my heart, I’m reluctant to admit that —like 90 percent of the dental insurance
programs for humans—the current pet insurance plans are relatively costly, may
protect you in the case of catastrophic injuries to your dog or cat but in the
vast majority of cases turn out to be mostly worthless either because of
deductibles or because of policy exceptions and exclusions which never seem to
be mentioned in the promotional ads.
So, when I learned
recently about another pet-focused startup, I wasn’t overly excited until I
spoke with Shannon Smithers, the founder and CEO of Tailsafe, which
is her new app that addresses an issue that for years most pet owners have
honestly never thought about. Who will be able to care for your pets that are
left alone at home if you can’t be there?
In this age of
ubiquitous connectivity and cellphones in everyone’s pocket or purse, we all
automatically assume that we’ll never be out of touch. But there are plenty of
accidents and other unfortunate situations where that’s simply no longer the
case. Sadly, we read in the papers and see online every week—for all the worst
reasons and again courtesy of the Orange Monster and his rotten ICE
minions—that people all over the country are being dragged out of their cars,
spirited away from their workplaces, separated from their families, locked up
for no good reason by Trump’s goons, and not given any access to contact anyone
for days. Airline delays, storms, hurricanes and tornados, floods and other
natural disasters can instantly deprive us of the ability to make timely and
secure provisions for our pets.
Tailsafe has built a
simple app for your phone which lets you set up a simple daily notification
system that is totally designed to suit your needs and schedule. If you miss a
notification for a certain period of time and haven’t contacted their system, alerts
are automatically sent out to one or more persons that you have previously
designated as emergency care providers who know your pets, have information on
their schedules and feeding times, and can step in to take care of them in your
absence. It’s easy to implement, painless to have in the background looking out
for you and your pets, and very inexpensive for a subscription. At the moment,
it’s only available in the U.S., but the company is planning to keep expanding
and it’s available for Apple and Android phones.
Bottom line: remember
that, if anything unfortunate happens, it’s never the animal’s fault.
