VetBook is the digital platform created by a dog trainer from Gorizia who searched for an oncologist for her dog for months and now aims to revolutionize Italian veterinary healthcare
Finding the right vet is sometimes a challenge. This is where the idea of VetBook came from, a startup born from the dog Greta’s fight against a rare tumor and her owner Enrica Cevenini, who transformed a difficult personal experience into an entrepreneurial project. It is the first Italian digital platform designed to help pet owners find specialist veterinarians based on the specific needs of their animals. All this at a time of strong expansion of the so-called pet economy. In Italy over 54% of families live with at least one pet and the market linked to the care and feeding of pets reached a value of in 2025 5.3 billion eurosup 2.5% compared to 2024.
Greta’s story: when finding the right vet becomes a challenge
The idea of VetBook was born in Gorizia from a story that many families with pets know well. When Greta, the dog of dog instructor Enrica Cevenini, falls ill with osteosarcoma, a particularly aggressive and rare form of cancer, a race against time begins to find professionals capable of offering the most appropriate treatments. Phone calls to veterinary clinics, requests for information in social groups, contacts obtained through word of mouth and long journeys to reach qualified specialists. A process that will allow Greta to live over a year longer than initially expected, but which highlights a structural criticality of the Italian veterinary system: the skills exist, but they are often difficult to identify. “I realized that many highly qualified professionals are barely visible in the eyes of the owners,” explains Enrica Cevenini. From this awareness, the idea of creating a tool capable of bringing together supply and demand of specialist veterinary skills takes shape.
What is VetBook and how the platform works
VetBook is a digital system that allows you to identify professionals in a targeted way, going beyond the logic of generic searches on the web. The platform allows veterinarians to create a detailed professional profile, indicating specializations, species treated, services offered and available visit methods. Owners can thus carry out searches based on specific criteria, such as pathology, medical discipline or type of animal. It can be used by those looking for a veterinary oncologist for a dog suffering from cancer, by those who need an expert in animal behavior or by those who own unconventional animals such as rabbits, ferrets, geckos or snakes. On the platform you can book visits, do teleconsultations and have a digital medical record which collects and preserves all the animal’s documentation, so as to have it accessible at any time and in any place.
Pet economy: a 5.3 billion euro market
The pet sector is constantly growing in Italy. According to the Assalco-Zoomark 2025 Report, the Italian pet care and feeding market has reached an overall value of 5.3 billion euroswith an increase of 2.5% compared to 2024. There are over 53 million pets in Italian homes. The most numerous are fish, which exceed 25 million specimens, followed by 11 million cats and over 9 million dogs. The presence of exotic and unconventional animals is also growing, including reptiles, amphibians and small mammals. The main expenditure is on food, which is worth around 4.2 billion euros, but attention towards health services, well-being and prevention is also increasing. The pet care segment, which includes health, hygiene, accessories and litter, now exceeds one billion euros and is recording significant growth, especially in the field of cat health. In parallel, new market segments are developing such as online commerce, which now represents over 11% of sector sales, and so-called pet tourism, which according to estimates could generate a potential turnover of more than 15 billion euros in Europe.
