Irish start-up launches pet compatibility app

An Irish start-up has launched an app intended to shift the decision about which pet to acquire away from breed preference and towards household circumstances. What?Pet is available for iOS and Android and is run by its founder, Victoria Loginova, who describes it as independent.

The app asks about home setup, weekday routine, budget, allergies, noise tolerance, travel and nights away, cleaning capacity and the presence of children or other animals, then compares species and breeds against that profile and returns percentage fit scores. According to the company, the scores are a comparison aid rather than a prediction of how an individual animal will behave, and the app does not provide veterinary advice.

A simplified version of the assessment runs free of charge on the company's website, alongside guides on ongoing costs, flat living, cat and dog comparison and rescue adoption; the guides reference published advice from the RSPCA, the PDSA and the ASPCA. One of the possible outcomes of the assessment is a recommendation to wait or to foster rather than acquire an animal.

For retailers, breeders and rescue organisations, the app sits upstream of first contact, addressing prospective owners while they are still deciding whether and what to take on – a stage that is hard to reach commercially, and one where a poor match later shows up as returns and relinquishments.