New Delhi, March 14 -- Pet parenting in India is harder than it should be." Vineet Khanna, co-founder of pet support platform Supertails, leans back in his chair and gives two examples that illustrate the lack of an ecosystem and low awareness about pets and pet parenting that make it so difficult.

Two girls tele-consulted the Supertails vet, saying their newly acquired cat was making "a strange sound". The call switched to video, but the cat, unaware of the attention, took some time before she made the mysterious sounds that had her minders worried. Turns out that the girls had misinterpreted the sound-the pet was purring, happy to have a new toy.

On another occasion, someone called to say that he had started giving his cat packaged fo...