How smarter diagnostics could transform veterinary medicine

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INTERVIEW WITH JAMIE SMITH, CEO AND CO-FOUNDER OF INNOVATIVE PET LAB

Innovative Pet Lab started in 2020, is that right?

We incorporated then, but we really didn’t start doing much until 2021–22. We’re a bit of a unique story in that my co-founders and I all worked together for years at a human lab. We brainstormed the idea in conversation, incorporated it, then did nothing for a bit - before deciding to back up and really jump in full time.

Were you bootstrapping all that time?

Yes, we were self-funded for the majority of it.

That sounds tough.

It is hard. It’s all the things you don’t realise are going to be hard that become so hard. It’s such a humbling journey. Setting up the lab was easy - we’re lab people. The difficult part was everything else: setting up the platform, deciding the kits, the language of the kits. We agonised over the instructions. There’s a joke one of us will say, like “rubber glove” or “plastic glove,” because we proofread the instructions countless times, only to send them to production and realise we’d listed “plastic glove” when it was actually latex. We just thought, “what were we thinking?”

Given your background in human diagnostics, what inspired you to move into pet health?

We’ve always had pets in our families. Every good start-up has a good origin story. My co-founder, Dr Betsy Redmond, had a dog named Linda who was showing the same symptoms we were seeing in human patients. The vet immediately prescribed antibiotics.

Antibiotics aren’t necessarily bad, but they weren’t addressing the root cause. Betsy wanted to run tests, and when she dug into the research, she found that many of the markers we used in humans had already been studied in animals, with similar applications. We’re all mammals - we’re very similar, actually.

So we asked: “why is nobody doing this for pets?” With our experience, we knew how powerful preventative testing could be. So it became, “why not us? We know how to do this stuff.”

That’s fascinating. So you believe nutrition plays a similar role in pets as it does in humans?

Absolutely. I’ve always worked in integrative and functional medicine, so I’m aware of not just what I eat, but what my food eats. The same goes for our pets. I feed my dog many of the same foods I eat - pumpkin, blueberries, broccoli, sweet potato. She loves green beans and pumpkin puree. Those foods are in my pantry already, so I can make something for my kids and share it with her. We’re really not that different.

What makes your product stand out in such a competitive market?

It’s our results. Testing biomarkers is one thing, but what makes us different is our knowledge of not just what to test, but what to do about it. Too often, you get a lab report and have no idea what it means. We educate pet parents about each analyte, for those who want to dive deep into the science. For those who don’t, we give clear recommendations about next steps.

For example, calprotectin is a great analyte - it’s highly stable, highly sensitive, and specific for inflammation. In humans, it was used by gastroenterologists to track inflammatory bowel disease. We apply the same principles to pets. If we detect elevated levels, we suggest diet changes, supplements like slippery elm or probiotics, or enrichment items. Then we recommend retesting in three months. If it’s still high, that’s the cue that something more serious is going on and a vet should be involved. We don’t diagnose disease - we give pet parents tools to intervene earlier.

So your kits are more about indicators of gut health overall, rather than diagnostics?

Exactly. We look at gut dysbiosis, leaky gut (or intestinal permeability), inflammatory levels. As pets are exposed to poor diet, parasites, or infection, their intestinal lining can start to separate, letting bacteria or food particles through. That presents as itching, scratching, diarrhoea. By healing the gut first - through diet and supplements - we can often resolve the symptoms before they become something chronic.

Would you ever pursue FDA approval for your tests?

We’ve talked about it. We’d like to work with bigger institutions on clinical research, but it’s a huge investment of time and money. For now, we’re focused on building evidence and fast-tracking applications in the pet space. We run our lab like a CLIA-certified, CAP-accredited human lab, because that’s our background, even though it’s not required in the pet world. What shocks us is how unregulated some labs are - sometimes people just start a lab because they love their dog, and that’s terrifying.

Regulation is a hot topic in pet care right now, especially in supplements and food. What’s your take?

There’s a lot of freedom to make claims that aren’t validated. Supplement companies can say things like “anti-inflammatory” or “anti-itchy” without proof. For us, that means we require more education - we can’t say something unless we know it’s true. It’s a challenge, but it’s also an opportunity to build trust.

What achievement are you most proud of so far?

Recently, we launched our new technology platform. Our first system was built on WordPress with a custom back end, and it just didn’t work the way we needed. Over the past two years we’ve designed a new one that customises recommendations, improves user experience, and collects data effectively.

That data is our real IP - we can use it to develop precision medicine for pets, like breed-specific or age-specific reference ranges. I’m also proud of our fundraising. Mars brought us into the Leap Venture Studio, and we partnered with Chris Moore, who immediately understood preventative testing. Bringing on people with that level of expertise was huge.

And the biggest challenge?

Realising that if you build it, they don’t just come. Getting in front of vets was nearly impossible - they’re incredibly busy, going from a puppy check-up to a euthanasia in the same day. We had to pivot to focus on pet parents directly.

That was hard, because it required so much education, and we were bootstrapped. We also went through accelerators that forced us to face tough feedback - they “called our baby ugly,” but that helped us improve. It was a big lesson: the hard work isn’t building the product, it’s finding and educating the customer.

Looking ahead, where do you see pet tech and lab-based wellness in the next three to five years?

I’m really curious about AI. We use it for operational efficiencies and data analysis, but I’m cautious. Predictive models need fact-checking against raw data. I think AI will revolutionise the space, but companies built only on AI without substance may collapse. For diagnostics especially, you can’t rely on AI alone.

Anything else you’d like to add?

Just that I have an incredible team. We’ve been together since the beginning, and it’s taken a lot of grit. I’m proud of what we’ve built together.

See you next week! 🐾 

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