Life by Petto: Providing Paw-some HMO Plans for Your Pet’s Health Needs

It’s no secret that since the beginning of 2020, when the world was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a surge in pet ownership across the globe. Many people turned to pets, particularly dogs and cats, to cope with loneliness as a result of social distancing and quarantine rules. If we’re talking about countries in Southeast Asia, the Philippines took the top spot as the country with the most number of pet-related searches in the region during this time, according to data from iPrice Group.
Millennials in particular are among the biggest pet owners among the generations. More than an aftereffect of the pandemic, many of them are also waiting longer than previous generations to start families and as a result, tend to treat their pets like their own children. Pet owners are now spending more money on their “fur babies” especially when it comes to veterinary care. Just imagine the thousands of pesos Filipinos spend on vet visits, from consultations down to prescribed medications.
That’s where Life by Petto comes in, the first app-based health and wellness service for your pet’s concerns. With this app, you can get the most paw-some care for your fur babies through health plans that cover the basics of your pet’s needs.
The Beat Manila sat down with the app’s co-founder, Eileen Borromeo, to tell us about the inspiration behind the business, the challenges and rewards of running it, and the offerings on the app that aim to provide your beloved pets with the well-lived life they deserve (and more).
A Business Born Out of a Need
Like many entrepreneurs, the seed from which this pet healthcare startup grew was from a need. Eileen told us about how her personal pet story shaped the idea for the business, when her cat, Bunny, was diagnosed with a disease known as Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP).
“If you're a cat owner, FIP is one of those things that are dreaded, and there's [over] 90% fatality rate. It’s basically a mutation of the coronavirus,” she explained. “The vet said, we'll send her home for palliative care, which is often code for just make her comfortable until she passes away. I was fortunate enough to have been directed to a Facebook support group that also dealt with such issues, so I was able to access experimental medicine, non-FDA approved, which I had to procure from one of the members of that group and which we had to obtain from Hong Kong. I spent over three to four hundred thousand [pesos] on her medication. Bunny was able to survive FIP, but not without leaving a huge dent in my pocket.”
Eileen had been lucky to receive the support she needed at that time, but most pet owners aren’t so lucky when it comes to supporting and handling their pets’ unexpected illnesses. This experience led to a realization that eventually gave birth to the business.
“My eventual co-founder and friend [Choco Cuaso], works for the people in the insurance industry and I asked, ‘Wala pa bang pet insurance (Isn't there a pet insurance yet)?’ This was in 2021, so that was really how it started,” she shared.

According to their website, Life by Petto enables access to health and wellness services from partner veterinarians and vet clinics, as well as retail services that help better our pet’s lives. Eileen mentioned how we should think of them as the HMO (health maintenance organization) for pets. She also explained further how the service works and what makes them stand out from other companies.
“What really differentiates Life by Petto from other pet insurance companies is that we're basically more preventive, more healthcare-focused. We don't cover death or loss. Again, knowing the market, we don't want to be responsible for people suddenly just picking up a stray or a rescue and pretending that it's their pet, only to claim it for insurance, for a death benefit.”
Eileen and her co-founder got to work in 2021 but didn’t launch it until 2022. Within that year, the entrepreneurs did their homework to understand and confirm if there was really a need, making sure they had the market identified. This was done through research, surveys, FGDs (Focus Group Discussions) and in-depth interviews with anyone they knew was related to the industry.
They also had to figure out ways that they could get defrauded to prevent falsified claims, “Whilst we’re not technically insurance, there are services that overlap with its functions. We're basically a pet membership platform that allows access to veterinary clinics. It’s really an HMO-inspired business.”
Eileen also told us that one of the reasons they decided to create a membership-style pet HMO is because pets are unfortunately considered "non-living things" under the insurance commission. She explained that one of the advantages of the business model is that people are aware of its importance and are actually spending more money on their pets than themselves.
“It's a big cultural shift, not just in the Philippines but also globally. Children are more expensive in general and pose huge responsibilities. There's also less of the stigma related to starting a family. I think it was more felt in older generations where if you're in your early 20s and unmarried with no kids, your parents or grandparents start asking you questions about when you’ll start a family,” Eileen said. “So, pets provide that fulfillment emotionally. They provide companionship.”
She further explained how this has also caused a premiumization of pet products as people are now more willing to spend on their pets, “We're happy that other industries or other companies actually launched because it means that we're not alone. It's not just us imagining that we need something like this, but it's a legitimate industry. Though it's still in its infancy.”
But like in any business, or in this case a startup, it is not without its challenges. “Because we're a startup, everything is pretty much run by myself and my co-founder. Customer service is a challenge and making sure the operation side is more efficient. So we know what the issues are and we've had a relaunch for version 2.0. That's something that we're already working towards improving and we do see those improvements happening by this month.”
“Another challenge is there's no standard yet. People are expecting certain coverages but unlike with people’s insurance, it’s more fixed. With pet insurance, there's still no standard. Everyone's still learning from each other, but the demand is there,” she added.
Life by Petto: Making Your Pets’ Lives Better
So what exactly is on the app and what can you expect as a member? Eileen walked us through some of the highlights and how it makes not only pet’s lives better, but also their owners’ lives easier with its accessible features and user-friendly interface.
One of the first things you’ll notice when you get on the app is how it reduces the pain of having to fill up multiple forms just to be able to share data.
“My co-founder is with the people in the insurance industry so he knows all the lengthy paperwork and requirements needed,” she said. The creators made sure that the registration feels like you're having a conversation with a chatbot, simplifying the entire process.
Life by Petto currently offers two types of health plans: the Basic Plan (P990) and the Plan+ (P1499). The "Basic Plan" is a health plan valued at PHP 100,000 and covers all the essentials including diagnostics, vaccines, and accidents. Meanwhile, the "Plan+" has an additional coverage of up to 20% of procedure cost which includes spay or neuter procedures, surgeries, and common illnesses.
The app is also partnered with a variety of pet service providers including veterinary clinics, grooming services, pet supplies, and animal welfare groups.
“The latest version of the app now has promotions and marketing initiatives from our retail partners. So we realized that pet owners pay for everything. We don't get benefits in any way. It's easy to get benefits for the pet, but we also want to reward the pet-friendly establishments. We hope to see more of, [you know,] vouchers for pet-friendly resorts so if you're a Life by Petto member, that's something that you can enjoy. Even if your pet's not getting sick, you can get all these rewards as part of the membership.”
When asked if the business plans to support other animals apart from cats and dogs, Eileen stated that they’ve yet to expand their offerings to other types of species due to a lack of data available. “In the Philippines, there's no actuary for pet insurance in general. There are some beginnings of it in Asia, but we're not a mature market like the U.S., Europe, or Australia where you can break down the services down to the breed. They have the data which we don't have yet.”
However, while talking about the future of the app, Eileen confirmed that she has made it her personal goal to add more animals to the mix including rabbits, hamsters, and Guinea pigs. She also stated that any feature they intend to add in future versions would be reliant on data like whether it would be more helpful to have specific plans for cats and dogs, rather than having one base plan that covers everything.
It’s also important to note that Life by Petto is the only service that includes senior dogs as Eileen noted that small and large breeds have big differences in terms of age like how smaller dogs can still be young and active at the age of seven or eight but larger breeds are considered to be seniors at that age.
The business is also gearing up to launch a new vertical this Q4 called, “Petto Daily,” which is meant to be the go-to guide for pet care. The inspiration behind the idea was based on personal experience as Eileen is familiar with the woes of not having access to important information, especially for new fur parents.
“One of the hardest things, for example, when you're starting out and you're not sure what to do, people just ask everyone else on social media and they're not vets. So, there's really no source of information or knowledge that guides pet parents and you have to do so much research and the data is so fragmented. That's what we're doing. We're like a specialist pet publication and marketing business. So, watch out for that.”
Petto Daily aims to give access to vetted and verified knowledge for all your pet care needs. The co-founder also revealed that they are working with companies to offer Life by Petto as a benefit to employees.


It's safe to say that Life by Petto definitely got us covered when it comes to securing our pets’ health and wellness needs. When asked about the best part of running the business, Eileen simply expressed a similar sentiment with pet owners, “Just being around dogs and cats because we visit our vet partners a lot. Also, being surrounded by things that you enjoy doing, so the marketing and product development [aspect] of it. It helps to be around inspiring vet partners as well, because they really love what they do and that also inspires us to do better.”
Life by Petto is available on the iOS App Store and Google PlayStore. For more information, visit their website or follow them on Facebook and Instagram.
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