Pet owners across the U.S. will soon have on-demand access to 24/7 veterinary care through a new web and app-based platform called VetX. VetX is pioneering a new frontier by allowing users to contact a local veterinarian at any hour for an unlimited video consultation of $14.99.

Users new to the service or unsure if they need an actual consultation can also post general questions on the platform’s social feed, which are also answered by the team’s veterinarians. VetX also caters to pet owners who travel often or leave their pets in the custody of others by allowing users to store their pet’s medical records on the cloud.

Founders of VetX Tan Kabra and John Dillon came up with the idea when Tan’s cat began licking its stitches a few nights after surgery. “I tried to take her to a clinic, but it was closed so we had to take her to an animal hospital,” Tan said. “It took 90 seconds and costed $250 for the vet to tell us she was fine.”

“We are both pet owners and it made immediate sense,” said John. “There are millions of pets in the United States. Everyone we know that has a pet loves them dearly and there is an increasing trend where people see them as actual members of their families. Physical vet visits can often be massively inconvenient – that’s where we step in.”

“A tricky part for us was to define what medical advice can and cannot be given remotely through a digital platform”, said Tan. “Our success has been in our ability to craft win-win relationships with our brick-and-mortar partners and help offer them a valuable source of referral business”.

When asked about their growth plans, John said: “The feedback from people has been tremendous and we’re already in talks with some of the largest institutional players in the country about partnering up. The amount of information that we can glean from users’ questions, in combination with their pets’ health records is tremendous. We’re also looking at ways to improve our pets’ lives more holistically – like adding interactive social features for the pet owners, tracking pets’ daily wellness and providing special member discounts for food and gear. We’re really excited about the possibilities.”