Walmart partners with Pawp to offer free pet telehealth

Walmart is jumping into the burgeoning pet telehealth market. 

The mega-retailer has inked a deal with veterinary telehealth provider Pawp to offer Walmart+ subscribers access to the startup’s membership for a year, the companies confirmed to CNBC. 

Unlimited access to veterinary telehealth via video or text will be available to Walmart+ subscribers beginning on Tuesday, when Walmart is expected to announce the partnership publicly. Remote vet visits are growing industry-wide as consumers seek convenience, but some vets say the practice could be risky for pets.

The offer will be available for a limited time, Walmart said. Walmart+ subscribers will have until Nov. 19 to opt in.

The terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. Pawp’s annual membership starts at $99.

Walmart’s foray into veterinary telehealth comes as the company looks to deepen loyalty with shoppers, attract and hold on to higher-income customers and better compete with Amazon by making its subscription service more valuable with the addition of perks.

Walmart+ costs $98 annually, or $12.95 a month. Like Amazon Prime, the Walmart service gives members access to unlimited free deliveries and a range of other benefits, such as free access to Paramount+ and discounts at the gas pump.

Amazon Prime, which costs $139 annually or $14.99 monthly, offers its own partnerships, as members currently get free access to GrubHub+ for a year, along with other perks like photo storage and discounts on prescriptions. By adding Pawp to its subscription, Walmart hopes to keep its membership service competitive with Prime.

“It’s undeniable that over the past decade, we started thinking and looking at pets as part of the family,” Pawp’s CEO Marc Atiyeh told CNBC. “[Walmart has] a very strong thesis around the pet category and yes, they want to be a big player in pet care and pet health in general, and Pawp really allows them to leapfrog the competition and do something that none of the other players have done.” 

The deal comes as the $123.6 billion U.S. pet market explodes, with more and more American households shelling out big bucks to keep their furry family members healthy and happy. 

The U.S. market is expected to grow to $200 billion by the end of the decade, and pet health care is driving that boom, according to research from Bloomberg Intelligence.

As Amazon has deepened its investments into human health, including through its $3.9 billion acquisition of primary care provider One Medical, Walmart has been growing its pet business. It’s already one of the larger players in pet food, prescriptions, insurance and hard goods like toys and beds.

Walmart’s expansion into pet telehealth signals the largest U.S. retailer is ready to grow its share of the market.

“[Walmart] has become the…