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A new touch-screen network from a Yarmouth company helps educate pet owners.

By TOM BELL, Staff Writer October 26, 2007

TOPSHAM — Roger Curran recently brought his 90-pound Great Dane, Simba, to the Androscoggin Animal Hospital for a check- up. As he waited in the exam room, Curran looked at the touch- screen monitor mounted on the wall and entered his dog's age and weight.

After a few screens, the monitor displayed a digital animation showing a dog's teeth and different stages of tartar build-up. Curran said Simba's teeth looked almost as bad as the tar- incrusted teeth featured in the image labeled "abundant calculus."

"He probably needs a dental cleaning at some point," Curran said.

The monitor is the centerpiece of a new education system for pet owners developed by Todd Paige, a former Idexx Laboratories employee who ran the marketing and communications department.

The system makes it easier for veterinarians to explain a pet's medical conditions and needs to owners.

Paige said many veterinarians find it difficult to convince people to take up practices that will keep their pets healthy, such as getting a dog's teeth cleaned every few years or agreeing to complex medical procedures -- for instance, surgery to repair a canine's hyperextended knee ligament.

"We are trying to close that gap by using visuals and hands-on learning," Paige said.

Paige left Idexx in 2005 to develop the system and establish a Yarmouth-based company, Pet Health Network, where he's the president and chief executive officer.

He said the equipment enhances a new trend in veterinary care that puts more emphasis on preventive care, such as annual "wellness exams."

The touch-screen units are connected to the Internet, allowing Pet Health Network to upload new information daily. They also allow clients to e-mail home any interesting information they find. The system includes videos and digital animation produced by Image Works, a Portland-based Internet-development company.

Paige said the system replaces the educational brochures and videos typically found at veterinarian offices.

Pet Health Network sold its first three units in March to Androscoggin Animal Hospital. It now has units in 20 veterinarian offices located in 11 states, including three offices in Maine.

A practice that buys three units would pay $18,200 for a two- year content license and customer support. It can renew the license after two years for a smaller fee.

The company has six employees, five of whom are former Idexx employees who own stock options in the startup. The company's chief operating officer, Mary Gale, was Idexx's first vice president of marketing.

Paige said his company is an example of the kind of creative business development that can occur when there is a concentration of talent due to the presence of an industry- leading company like Idexx.

The Westbrook company makes technology-based products and services for veterinary medicine, as well as for food and water applications. It has more than 4,000 employees worldwide.

Paige said he has invested about $150,000 of his own money in Pet Health Network. The Maine Technology Institute gave him a $10,000 seed grant in 2006, and in 2007 gave him a $200,000, no-interest, two-year loan.

Also, several individual investors in southern Maine and New Hampshire have bought shares. Paige and his wife, Julia Paige, own one-fourth of the company shares.

The company has roughly $2 million invested in it now, and expects to close on more equity financing next week.

"People think you can't get money in Maine," Paige said. "But you can. If you have really good people and good ideas, people will invest."

He found the investors through Maine Angels, an investment group that helps wealthy investors locate startups that offer both high risks and the potential of high return.

The group's president, Chris Speh, who is also an investor in Pet Health Network, said the company's product appears to be different from anything else on the market. More important,...