Meet Natalie Punt | Veterinarian, Founder of mPet

We’re so pumped about our conversation with Natalie Punt. Natalie is a Veterinarian, Founder of mPet and is also a content partner. Content partners help Voyage in so many ways from spreading the word about the work that we do, sponsoring our mission and collaborating with us on content like this. Check out our conversation with Natalie below.

It’s been too long since we last connected. Thanks so much for taking the time to share your thoughts with our community again. Some readers might have missed our prior conversations, so maybe you can kick things off for us with a quick intro to Natalie?
Natalie Punt is a small animal veterinarian residing in San Diego, California. She grew up on a small ranch in the San Joaquin Valley in Northern California where she liked to ride her horses next to the river and surrounding farmland. Natalie attended UC Davis for her undergraduate degree in microbiology and minor in International Relations. Although, she loved animals, she was initially attracted to the biological sciences and after graduating pursued her interest in biochemistry and molecular biology with a Masters degree in biochemistry and oncology at University of Buffalo. After completing her Masters degree she moved to Boston where she worked at Harvard University as a research assistant studying the epigenetics of a pediatric leukemia while pursuing additional courses in biochemistry and genetics at Harvard.

She applied to both PhD programs and veterinary school and after being accepted into schools for both programs- she decided that caring for pets and talking to pet owners about their pets would be a fantastic and fulfilling career choice. Natalie choose to return to California to be closer to family and attended the College of Veterinary Medicine at Western University of Health Sciences. Here, she was active in the research community and studied the anticancer mechanisms of the Naked Mole Rat resulting in a publication and the first thesis published at WUHS. As a veterinary student, she was NIH scholar twice and selected as a Howard Hughes fellow. After graduation, Natalie pursued an internship in Small Animal Medicine and Surgery at Iowa State University and a subsequent fellowship in oncology at Kansas State University.

Natalie chose to pursue a career in emergency medicine and started her business, Fidum Veterinary Services to provide speciality hospitals with relief. Since then, she has became licensed in twelve different states and expanded her services to provide consultation to pet health start-ups and veterinary hospitals. She is also the creative founder and CEO of mPet, a smart phone app for pet owners to store, manage and transfer their pets’ medical records and health information.

Why did Natalie decide to create mPet?
As an emergency veterinarian, Natalie realized a distinct need for pet owners to manage and transfer their pet’s medical records and health information. Many owners did not know their pet’s medical history or the medications they were taking and used unwieldy folders to store their medical history. Knowing a pet’s medical history when being seen on an emergency basis is critical for developing a diagnostic and treatment plan.

To address this need, Natalie created and developed mPet, a smart phone app for pet owners to store, manage and transfer their pet’s medical records and health information. It organizes medical records and stores lab work and radiographs. It also provides owners with notifications as to when vaccines and medications are due. A quality of life journal is built into the app to track a pet’s quality of life such as those undergoing hospice care for cancer or chronic kidney disease. The app is linked to VetSource for ordering medications and diets. mPet is available on the App Store (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/mpet-pet-health-and-wellness/id1488159440) and Google Play (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mpethealth.app). Additional information may be found on the website at https://mpethealth.org

Natalie, what has been the most frustrating challenge you’ve encountered with mPet?
Encouraging people to use mPet. Daily, I have clients who come into the veterinary office without their pet’s medical records and have to either find the records or request for them to be transferred from another hospital. It can take hours for these records and accessing records on a weekend or holiday is nearly impossible. I made mPet to circumvent that exact situation.

Why is mPet a good resource for pet owners?
Pet owners can access their pet’s medical records anywhere, anytime from their smart phones. This is so very helpful during a pet emergency, when traveling- and is smart pet parenting.

What else can mPet do?
mPet does other services including sending reminders to give medications and vaccines, is linked to an online pharmacy to order medications and diets with a prescription from a veterinarian and supplements.  In addition, it is linked to google maps to find pet service providers nearby and has a quality of life journal so pet parents can keep a journal of their aging pets or those requiring a little extra attention.

Whats next for mPet?
I want mPet to be used by pet owners. It is such a fantastic resource. Ideally, by partnering with veterinary hospitals, pet insurance companies and veterinary supply companies more people can use mPet.

Where can you find mPet?
mPet is available on the App Store (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/mpet-pet-health-and-wellness/id1488159440) and Google Play (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mpethealth.app). Additional information may be found on the website at https://mpethealth.org

Thank you so much again for sharing all of this with us. Before we go, can you share with our readers how they can connect with you, learn more or show support?
You can follow mPet on Instagram @mpethealth, on Facebook at mPet or on our website at mpethealth.org

Contact Info:

• Website: https://mpethealth.org/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nppunt/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalie-punt-17ab626/

Image Credits
Thesacredwildphotography Melyssa Gonzalez