A few years ago I had a small mixed-breed dog named Kiki. She was tiny, sharp, and loved everyone who walked through the door.
When Kiki got pregnant for the first time, I wasn't worried. I figured it would happen naturally. I didn't research, didn't ask a vet, didn't know what labor looked like or which clinics stayed open past midnight. I thought I'd figure it out when the time came.
That night I heard a sound I hadn't heard before — not barking, just a low, continuous whimper. I understood immediately. It was almost 1am. I had no idea where to go, so I drove around the district looking for an open clinic.
I finally found one. Kiki had two puppies that night. One moved and cried. The other was still. The vet shook his head. I stood there, hands still shaking from the ride, and said nothing.
A few years later, Kiki stopped eating as much. I noticed, but told myself she just wasn't hungry. Then she got quieter, less playful. I thought it was normal. When I finally took her to the vet, they told me it was tick fever — advanced stage. Caught early, it's just a course of antibiotics. But I had no record of how much weight she'd lost over those months, no history to look back on. By the time I knew something was wrong, it was already too late.
I built Tendpaw so that when you hear your pet making a sound you don't recognize at midnight, you know exactly where to go. And so you always know how your pet is doing — tracking every small change, every meal, every weight — so you never have to stand in front of a vet wondering what you missed.
— Tendpaw founder