Tuesdays with Shlomo is a series from Felix&Fido featuring informal, topical chats with co-founder Dr. Shlomo Freiman. It aims to answer the questions that pet parents might ask if they sat down with Shlomo for coffee.

The reason for the format is simple: Shlomo is passionate about demystifying the vet industry for everyday people. Sure, Shlomo is an expert — besides having nearly three decades of experience in the industry, he founded his own clinic, pioneered the use of telehealth in that clinic, and co-authored two pet telehealth patents — but all that experience has taught him that helping pet parents understand their pets’ care is just as important as delivering that care.

While he’s lectured and written extensively about the veterinary industry, his understanding of how technology intersects with veterinary medicine made it clear to him that there was a fundamental lack of clear, easy-to-understand information about pet care online. While there’s plenty of information on the internet, a lot of it is highly technical and geared towards identifying symptoms. Shlomo wanted to see more content about things like preventative medicine, pet wellness, and telehealth, to help pet parents avoid panicked Googling situations in the first place.

To help him accomplish that goal, Felix&Fido brought in Tobias Coughlin-Bogue, a Seattle area writer and journalist. Tobias begrudgingly inherited a handsome orange cat from a long gone roommate, with no idea that he and Catticus Finch would soon be inseparable. However, as someone who just kind of fell into pet parenting, he never had a regular vet or learned about how to plan for Catticus’ care. What better time to learn than the present, though?

While the subject matter is a little less serious, the idea is similar to its namesake, Tuesdays With Morrie: passing on one’s accumulated wisdom. Hopefully, as Tobias learns from Shlomo all the things no one ever taught him about being a good pet parent, you, the reader, will learn along with him.