Abbott Finds the Answer and it’s the Cat Meow
Given all the bad news coming out of the Abbott (NYSE:ABT) diabetes unit and their continuing efforts to turn gold into sand, the company appears to have a new strategy. According to an article published yesterday in the Edmond Sun; “A glucose monitor made by Abbott is now available and has been developed specifically for use in cats and dogs. You can purchase a starter kit from a veterinarian that will contain a monitor, a box of lancet tips, a lancet pen, a package of test strips and instructions for its use.”
Trying to capture the pet diabetes market may not be a crazy as it sounds. According to Wikipedia the diabetes incidence rate for cats and dogs is approximately 1 in 400. Statistics from about.com indicate there are 68 million dogs and 73 million cats in the United States. Sadly Diabetic Investor could not find any data on average testing frequency for dogs or cats. Nor could we find any data to see if the pet diabetes market was undergoing similar market dynamics as the human market.
Not satisfied with this lack of market data Diabetic Investor attempted to interview Muffin the wonder dog, who besides being a loyal dog, has an acute understanding of the diabetes market as her owner is a Type 1 diabetic. After several attempts and the use of a variety of incentives, Muffin failed to respond to repeated questions. Realizing that continued questioning was pointless Muffin was sent outside to play in the yard.
Sadly for Abbott the diabetes pet market is not devoid of competition as a quick search of the internet found competition for the pet with diabetes. It isn’t known whether or not if Abbott in an attempt to dominate the pet diabetes market will buy the competition and run another diabetes device company into the ground.
