An Interview With Alex Douzet, CEO At Pumpkin Insurance, Pet Care Company

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Below is our recent interview with Alex Douzet, CEO at Pumpkin Insurance:

Q: Could you provide our readers with a brief introduction to your company?

A: Pumpkin is a direct-to-consumer pet care company and insurance producer founded to help ensure pets live their longest and healthiest lives. Pumpkin offers pet insurance plans for dog and cat owners to receive advanced veterinary care coverage. Our optional Preventive Essentials non-insurance add-on offers life-threatening disease prevention through refunding for vaccines and related annual wellness exam and lab tests, helping enable consumers to make data-informed care decisions based upon their individual pet’s health needs.

Q: Any highlights on your recent announcement?

A: In a new survey of nearly 1,000 dog parents across America, Pumpkin teamed up with Fi, the smart dog technology company, to explore how the pandemic has affected dogs’ weight. The survey, conducted from April 27, 2021, through May 7, 2021, revealed that 36% of dogs gained weight in the last year. The culprit: extra treats and table scraps. While 65% of pet parents claimed their dog’s food intake stayed the same, of those same respondents, 44% admitted to giving their pup extra treats and 42% admitted to sharing table food. But a lack of exercise is not to blame: owners also reported an increase in their pups’ exercise, a finding correlated by Fi’s step-count data from the past year.

Additionally, 56% of parents say their dog’s weight gain correlates with their own, with humans gaining 29 pounds on average during quarantine.

We conducted the survey to raise awareness around the health concerns that develop when dogs gain weight and what owners can do now to start addressing the issue. Specifically, significant weight gain in dogs can lead to arthritis, high blood pressure and heart disease, among others – all of which may ultimately shorten their life. While exercise is important, the most effective solution is to visit the vet to explore a change in diet and/or reduced food intake.

Q: Can you give us more insights into your offering?

A: We created Pumpkin because we think pet parents deserve a combination of best-in-class insurance coverage, optional non-insurance preventive care packs, a superior customer experience with a team of pet parents servicing customers and fast claims processing. We give every pet best-in-class health insurance – and nothing less. Despite the fact that 61% of Americans don’t have enough savings to cover a $1,000 pet emergency, less than 2% of dogs & cats in the U.S. have health insurance.* Pumpkin helps empower families to say “yes” to the best, most advanced veterinary care possible by providing every enrolled pet, young or old, purebred or mixed, healthy or sick, with extensive accident & illness coverage.

Q: What can we expect from your company in the next 6 months? What are your plans?

A: Pumpkin is as committed as ever to our goal of helping pets live their longest and healthiest lives. These recent survey results emphasize the continued need for awareness and knowledge pertaining to pet healthcare. In fact, just 2% of cats and dogs are insured in America, yet veterinary care is increasing in cost. We are constantly reevaluating our offering to improve it so more pet parents can turn to pet insurance or our optional non-insurance wellness program as a tool to help provide their cat or dog with access to quality veterinary care.

We are also expanding our focus on giving back to the shelter and veterinary community. We’ve conducted fundraisers in the past, including ArfMeowforVets, to help local veterinary clinics, and the Indoguration, which raised more than $200,000 for the Delaware Humane Association. We plan to continue our advocacy work in these arenas to further assist organizations that were hit hard by the pandemic and ensure we are helping as many pets as possible.

Q: What is the best thing about your company that people might not know about?

A: We take tremendous pride in our commitment to providing extensive insurance coverage with an amazing customer experience. Within our first year in business, Pumpkin was recognized by Business Insider as the best pet insurance for comprehensive coverage. Our customer experience team forms personal relationships with our customers and pets – as a customer, you’re really part of the Pumpkin family. At Pumpkin, preventive care is just as important as coverage for accidents and illnesses, which is why we offer our customers an optional best-in-class non insurance Preventative Essentials Package add-on to cover their cat or dog’s annual wellness exam, lab tests to help detect diseases early and vaccines.

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