After a decade of leadership at a well-funded animal shelter in San Francisco, Brandy Kuentzel decided to tackle pet behavioral issues.
“Even with two board-certified veterinary behaviorists on staff, access to behavioral care wasn’t accessible to many people,” she said about the shelter. “For those who could afford it, the wait was six months long, and behavioral care was even less accessible for those who didn’t live near a veterinary behaviorist or those priced out of the existing offerings.”
While working in the shelter, Kuentzel saw how behavioral issues could easily deteriorate the human-animal bond, leading owners to surrender their pets.
“It’s hard to course-correct when you’re at the shelter stage.”
That’s when she decided to start Ease Pet Vet, a company dedicated to pairing pet owners with board-certified veterinary behaviorists at no cost to the referring primary care veterinarian. Ease recently won the eighth annual VMX Pet Pitch Competition, which invites startup companies to pitch their products and services to a panel of judges.
“The idea for Ease was to get further upstream from the issue and offer earlier interventions when people are still receptive to that type of help,” she said.
An attorney by trade, Kuentzel was familiar with the issues surrounding veterinary telehealth and the veterinarian-client-patient relationship. She believed behavior was a specialty that would lend itself well to in-home care.
“I wanted to honor the relationship between the general practitioner and the behavioral specialist and use technology to make providing the care easier,” she said.
Behavior problems are pervasive, she said, and many people are starting to understand the importance of behavioral health and how it affects their pet’s welfare.
“Ease was born by recognizing an obvious problem and trying to address that problem before it was too late to fix,” she said.
Kuentzel had good network connections through her position at San Francisco’s SPCA, and she asked colleagues who to include in a “behavior medicine dream team.” Board-certified veterinary behaviorist Lisa Radosta was the first to sign on, followed by fellow behaviorists Kenneth Martin and Sheila Segurson.
“The call was easy,” Kuentzel said. “They get it because there are only so many hours in a day, and they wish they had more capacity to help more pets.”
Once the team was in place, the specialists brainstormed to determine common behavioral issues that a telehealth model could successfully address. Ease launched in April 2024, offering consultation and recommended treatment plans for specific behavioral problems, including separation anxiety, reactivity, noise phobia and house soiling. Within five months, Ease had partnered with veterinary clinics across 18 states, underscoring the urgent need for affordable, accessible behavioral care.
Veterinarians can partner with Ease free of charge and refer their clients for behavior consultations. The referring veterinarian handles all the testing and medications, and Ease provides specialist support to the veterinarian whenever needed.
Kuentzel is no stranger to competition. As the Season 10 winner of TV’s “The Apprentice,” she leveraged her business acumen to outshine her competitors. Her background in running the SPCA’s advocacy efforts also helped.
“Explaining big problems and why systems need to change is my jam,” she said. “Of course, winning the Pet Pitch Competition is amazing, but we were mainly glad we got to showcase that behavior is a problem. Getting on stage and explaining that this is something the industry should be thinking about was a win from the start.”
Ease doesn’t plan to slow down any time soon. According to Kuentzel, the company plans to launch one-on-one support with veterinary technician specialists in behavior to help pet owners manage treatment plans.
“We give our clients comprehensive resources, but people want to talk to a human,” she said.
Ease also plans to double its offerings to include inter-cat aggression, global fears, generalized anxiety and veterinary-associated fear and anxiety.
“I hope for the future we can be more proactive in helping pets live their best lives,” Kuentzel said. “Behavioral health is important for everyone.”
PET PITCH COMPETITION RESULTS
- First place: Ease Pet Vet
- Second place: Kubanda Cryotherapy for its minimally invasive cancer treatment, which improves a pet’s quality of life by offering a cost-effective alternative to traditional surgeries
- Third place: CoVet, an AI-powered scribe and copilot app designed to automate administrative tasks for veterinarians
- Audience Favorite Award: Kubanda Cryotherapy