Pets Care : Eugene man creates pet care insurance program - KVAL

Eugene man creates pet care insurance program - KVAL

Posted: 14 May 2012 06:18 PM PDT

EUGENE, Ore. -- Like the Pied Piper, Gene Tresenfeld's pets follow him everywhere. His cat, T-bien, scampers close behind him when he walks to the park.

Tresenfeld's love for T-bien and dog Liebe recently launched him into a new career path.

"It was a dark and stormy night heading back from Portland and it was raining heavily, and I suddenly got worried," said Tresenfeld. "It was a tough drive."

Tresenfeld worried what would happen to Liebe and T-bien if he got into an accident.

"I go to the hospital," said Tresenfeld. "They are thinking about patching me up and not about whether I have pets and whether anyone is going to take care of them."

To put his worries to rest, he came up with "Because You Love Them", a pet care insurance program that finds caregivers for your four-legged friends when you can't be there.

Members pay $30 a year to carry ID cards. Hospital staff members are trained to look for all forms of identification when a patient is in intake. After calling the toll-free number on the card, "Because You Love Them" then reaches one of the nine contacts you provide.

"From the hospital perspective, they want to contact somebody who is an In Case of Emergency contact and without our service, it takes a hospital an average of six hours to find somebody," said Tresenfeld.

The service is getting national attention; being featured in Animal Wellness and Bark Magazine.

Tresenfeld hopes he never has to use his own service, but if he does, he knows Liebe and T-bien will be just fine.

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