My Kingdom for a Pet

The rate for one 20- to 30-minute visit starts at $24, for up to two pets. During the visit, services include walking, feeding, brushing and giving the pet its medicine, "but it's mostly about giving the pet attention," Hollis says.

"We tend to service upper-class families that pamper their kids -- I mean, their pets," Hollis corrects, adding that often the pets she cares for are like children to their owners. The owners are very specific in their directions; as Hollis points out, "they really want you to do this or that."

Polly Wanna Doctor?

Four years ago, Laura Bennett and Alex Krooglik were just two classmates at Wharton Business School in Philadelphia toying with the idea of starting up a pet insurance business.

At their graduation a year later, the pair, along with two other students, won the year's Wharton Business Plan award for a business based on the idea.

Now, 40-year-old Bennett and 33-year-old Krooglik are co-founders of Cleveland, Ohio-based Embrace Pet Insurance and are set to launch their first policy in August.

Although the company officially started in July 2003, it took more than three years to get it running, Bennett says.

"We had a difficult time finding an insurance partner in the U.S.," she explains. Eventually they had to travel to the U.K., where the concept of pet insurance is more established, to get an insurer to back their agency.

Despite the hurdles that seemed to come in their way, Bennett and Krooglik were determined to stick with their idea.

"It was a unique opportunity to do something in a market that is so ready to take off," Bennett says.

The market is poised to grow for a number of reasons, Bennett explains. First, there is a growing use of human technology in the veterinary world, which is making vet care much more expensive. Also, there is the factor of the growing trend of the humanization of animals, where people are demanding higher standards of care for their pets.

And finally, there is more disposable income for people between the ages of 35 and 54 as children leave the household, Bennett points out. As this happens, pets become these people's surrogate children, and owners begin to spend more money on them. Rates and coverage vary widely, but policies can run from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars per year.

	In Purrfect Health

Although pet insurance does exist in the U.S. now, less than 0.5% of cats and dogs in the country are insured. Compared with the U.K., where more than 20% of dogs and cats are insured, this is minimal, Bennett says, on the basis of research she compiled.

The pet insurance business has been growing 30% a year, and once people become aware of it, if will grow even faster. "Soon it won't be a novelty," Bennett says. "It will be a normal thought that people will [consider] when bringing a new pet to the family."

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